EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 13 September 2006 
at the request of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade 
on an amendment to the Law on Česká národní banka 
(CON/2006/47) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 18 August 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Czech Ministry of 
Industry and Trade for an opinion on an amendment to the Law on Česká národní banka (hereinafter the 
‘draft amendment’), which forms part of the broa der draft Government law amending certain laws in 
connection with Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of th e European Parliament and of the Council on 
consumer protection coopera tion and the Law on general product safety (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 
on the consultation of the European Central Bank by  national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions1, as the draft law relates to a national central bank (NCB). In accordance with the first sentence 
of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of th e European Central Bank, the Governing Council has 
adopted this opinion. 
 1.
  Purpose of the draft law 
The purpose of the draft law is to lay down the cond itions necessary to ensure the full application in the 
Czech Republic of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
cooperation between national authori ties responsible for the enforcemen t of consumer protection laws 
(the Regulation on consumer protection cooperation)2. The consumer protection laws covered by 
Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 include Directive 2002/65/ EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distan ce marketing of consumer financial services and 
amending Council Directive 90/619/EEC and Directives 97/7/EC and 98/27/EC3, as transposed into the 
national legal order of the Member States. In th e Czech Republic, however, Directive 2002/65/EC was 
largely transposed into Czech law through amendments to the provisions on consumer contracts in the 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  OJ L 364, 9.12.2004, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Directive 2005/29/EC (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22). 
3  OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 16. Directiv e as amended by Directive 2005/29/EC. 
2 Civil Code4 without explicitly designating an authority res ponsible for the enforcement of such consumer 
protection-provisions, as required unde r Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004. 
In order to ensure the application of the Regula tion in this area, the draft amendment: (i) expressly 
entrusts Česká národní banka ( ČNB) with the task of supervising compliance with the obligations set 
forth in the Civil Code concerning distance contracts on financial services5 by entities that are subject to 
ČNB’s supervision6; (ii) establishes ČNB’s competence to act under the Regulation in cases of cross-
border cooperation; and (iii) authorises ČNB to prohibit the supervised entities from continuing to 
commit infringements of collective interests of cons umers on the territory of a Member State of the 
European Communities or in another state fo rming part of the European Economic Area. 
 2. General observations 2.1 The new tasks entrusted to ČNB under the draft amendment are not  listed among the functions of 
the NCBs specified in the Statute of the European  System of Central Banks and of the European 
Central Bank. However, without prejudice to the Governing Council’s powers under Article 14.4 of 
the Statute, the ECB does not consider that these new tasks would interfere with the objectives and 
tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB)
7. It should also be noted that pursuant to 
Article 14.4 of the Statute, these new tasks woul d have to be performed on the responsibility and 
liability of ČNB, and would not be regarded as be ing part of the ESCB’s functions. 
2.2 In general terms, the ECB considers that the allocation of consumer pr otection-related tasks to 
ČNB under the draft amendment might helpfully complement ČNB’s existing supervisory powers, 
since following the recent integration of financia l market supervision in the Czech Republic, the 
majority of entities that normally conclude dist ance contracts on financial services with consumers 
are already subject to ČNB’s prudential supervision. The ECB is therefore of the view that ČNB’s 
new consumer protection-related tasks might cont ribute to the preservation of confidence in the 
marketplace. 
 3. Specific observations Financial implications for ČNB 
The ECB notes that ČNB will be required to commit additional resources, both human and financial, to 
carrying out the tasks referred to in paragraph 1 above.  In this context, the ECB would like to emphasise 
that ‘ Member States may not put their NCBs in a position where they do not have sufficient financial 
                                                 
4 See Articles 54a – 54d,  Section Five of the Law No 40/ 1964 Coll., Civil Code, as amended. 
5 These obligations include obligations to  provide consumers, well in advance be fore concluding a distance contract on 
financial services, with certain specific information on: (i) the supplier; (ii) the financial service provided; (iii) the 
distance contract on financial services, in particular as regards the possibility of withdrawing from the contract; and 
(iv) on possible remedies in cases of breach of the obligations under the distance contract on financial services. 
6 Pursuant to Article 44 of the Law No 6/1993 Coll., on Česká národní banka, as amende d, these entities include banks, 
cooperative banks, electronic m oney institutions, capital market  entities, insurance corpor ations and pension funds. 
7 See also ECB Opinion CON/2006/38 of 25 July 2006 at the request of the Bank of Greece on a draft provision on the 
Bank of Greece’s powers in the field of consumer protection. 
3 resources to carry out their ESCB- or Eu rosystem-related tasks, as applicable. ’8. Therefore, the Czech 
Republic will need to ensure that the perform ance of these additional tasks will not affect ČNB’s 
operational capacity to carry out ESCB-related tasks. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 13 September 2006. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
8  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2006, p. 65.