EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 29 January 2013  
on new competences granted to Banca Na ţională a României concerning  sovereign debt and 
sovereign credit default swaps 
(CON/2013/6) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 16 January 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a 
României (BNR) for an opinion on a draft Govern ment Emergency Ordinanc e establishing certain 
measures for implementing Regulation (EU) No 236/ 2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on short selling and certain aspects of credit defa ult swaps  (hereinafter the ‘draft legal act’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union 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 legal act relates to BNR. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Euro pean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 
1.  Purpose of the draft legal act 
For the purposes of implementing Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 14 March 2012 on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps2, BNR is designated 
as the national competent authority responsible for ensuring the application of the Regulation in respect of 
transactions relating to sovereign de bt issued by Romania or related sovereign credit default swaps. To 
this end, BNR is also responsible for taking measures  and imposing sanctions against any natural or legal 
person who violates the provisions of the Regulation, any acts enacted at Union level under the scope of the Regulation, or any regulations issued by BNR un der the draft legal act. BNR is also given the power 
to coordinate cooperation and exchange of informatio n in relation to application of the Regulation with 
the European Commission, the European Securities and Markets Authority and competent authorities of other Member States, as well as with competent authorities from third countries. On the basis of the 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.   
2  OJ L 86, 24.3.2012, p. 1. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 explanatory memorandum to the draft law, such powers are assigned to BNR because of its functions 
related to the organisation of a Romanian market for sovereign debt instruments3.  
 
2. The appropriate time to consult the ECB  
As Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 has been applicable since 1 November 2012, the consulting authority 
invokes reasons of extreme urgency and asks the ECB to deliver its opinion by 31 January 2013. The 
ECB draws the consulting authority’s attention to the second sentence of Article 4 of Decision 98/415/EC 
pursuant to which the ECB must be consulted ‘at an appropriate stage’ in the legislative process. This 
implies that the consultation should take place at a point in the legislative process that affords the ECB 
sufficient time to carefully examine the draft legislat ive provisions and to adopt its opinion in the required 
language versions and which also enables the relevant  national authorities to take the ECB’s opinion into 
consideration before the provisions are adopted.   
 3. Impact of allocating additional tasks to BNR 
3.1 The ECB understands that powers related to the application of Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 in 
Romania are to be performed by two authorities which are to act as designated authorities under 
Article 32 of the Regulation: (a) the Ro manian National Securities Commission ( Comisia 
Naţională a Valorilor Mobiliare ) (CNVM), in relation to securities markets, with the exception of 
markets for Romanian sovereign debt and related sovereign credit default swaps
4, and (b) BNR, in 
relation to Romanian sovereign debt  and related sovereign credit default swaps. BNR is also to act 
as a coordinating authority under the second paragraph of Article 32 of the Regulation.  
3.2 BNR will need to commit additional human and financial resources to carry out the tasks derived 
from these new competences. The ECB has consiste ntly stated that, when allocating additional 
tasks to national central banks, it  must be ensured that they have sufficient human and financial 
resources, both in terms of quantity and quality, for all of their tasks, and in particular that their 
capacity to fulfil their European System of Ce ntral Banks or Eurosystem-related tasks is not 
affected5.  
 
                                                 
3  See Article 29 of Law No 312/2004 on the Statute of Banca Na ţională a României, Monitorul oficial al României  Part  I 
No 582/2004. 
4  See Law No 297/2004 on the capital market, Monitorul oficial al României Part I No 571/2004. The CNVM is scheduled 
to be replaced by the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority on 15 March 2013 (see Government Emergency Ordinance No 93/2012, Monitorul oficial al României Part I No 874/2012). 
5   See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, p. 25. See also Opinion CON/2011/105. All ECB opinions are published on 
the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 January 2013. 
 
[signed] 
 
The Vice-President of the ECB 
Vítor CONSTÂNCIO