EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 7 March 2007 
at the request of the German Ministry of Finance  
on a draft Eighth Law amending the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank 
(CON/2007/6) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 5 February 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft Eighth Law amending the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank (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 
provisions
1, as the draft law relates to a national central bank. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Europ ean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1.
  Purpose of the draft  
The draft law reduces the number of Executive Board members of the Deutsche Bundesbank (hereinafter 
the ‘Executive Board’) from eight to six members and is aimed at making the Bundesbank’s decision-
making body more efficient. According to the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank currently in force, the 
Executive Board is composed of eight members, name ly the President, the Vice-President and six other 
members, whereby the President, Vice-President and two other members are nominated by the Federal Government and four other members are nominated by the Bundesrat  (the Upper House of Parliament). 
By means of the draft law, the Executive Board will be  reduced to six members, namely the President, the 
Vice-President and four other members, whereby the President, Vice President and one other member will be nominated by the Federal Government an d three other members will be nominated by the 
Bundesrat . Furthermore, the draft law amends the provision concerning the nomination of the Executive 
Board members under §7(3) by inser ting a new sentence whereby the Bundesrat  may propose a nominee 
for Vice-President to the Federal Government. The draft law also provides for an amendment of the 
transitional provision under §45 by introducing a tran sitional regime effective until 30 April 2009, during 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 which the Executive Board may consist of seven members (the President, Vice-President and five other 
members). 
 2. The ECB’s observations  2.1 The ECB welcomes the proposed amendments. Establishing a more efficient decision-making 
structure within the Deutsche Bundesbank was al so the express intention of the Seventh Law 
amending the Deutsche Bundesbank of 2002
2, and the current draft law represents a further 
measure to achieve this aim. 
2.2 As regards the transitional regime effective un til 30 April 2009 under §45 of the draft law, the ECB 
notes, as in earlier opinions3, that it should be compatible with Article 14.2 of the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank. 
2.3 In general, the principle of personal independe nce, as laid down in Article 14.2 of the Statute 
requires that the same rules for the security of te nure of office of Governor apply to other members 
of NCB decision making-bodies involved in the perf ormance of ESCB-related tasks. This applies 
in particular where a governor is first among e quals between colleagues with equivalent voting 
rights. Thus, any NCB reorganisation measure affecting the tenure of office of the members of its decision-making bodies involved in the performan ce of ESCB-related tasks should foresee that 
they continue to perform their duties until the en d of their appointed term, in accordance with 
Article 14.2 of the Statute
4.  
                                                 
2 See ECB Opinion CON/2001/17 of 2 August 2001 on a draft Seventh Law amending the Deutsche Bundesbank Act. 
3  See ECB Opinions CON/2006/44 of 25 August 2006 at the reques t of the Banca d’Italia on the amended Statute of the 
Banca d’Italia, CON/2004/16 of 11 May 2004 at the request of th e Italian Ministry of Econom ic Affairs and Finance on a 
draft law on the protection of savings, CON/2006/32 of 22 June 2006 at the request of the French Senate on draft law on 
the Banque de France and CON/2004/35 of 4 November 2004 at the request of the Hungarian Ministry of Finance on a 
draft law amending the La w on Magyar Nemzeti Bank. 
4  See the above mentioned opinions. 
3 2.4. The ECB notes that the end of the transitional re gime coincides with the expiry of the terms of 
office of two current Executive Board members. This will allow the reduction of Executive Board 
members to six without termination of their term of office before its expiry. Since all members of 
the Executive Board will therefore be able to comple te their term of office, the draft law does not 
affect the tenure of office of the Executive Bo ard members, i.e. the principle of personal 
independence. In view of the above, the ECB has no comments on §45 of the draft law. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 7 March 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET