EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 25 January 2007 
at the request of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank on a draft regulation on the scope of information to be 
supplied for the central bank information system for the compilation of balance of payment 
statistics and on data supply methods and deadlines  
(CON/2007/2) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 15 December 2006 the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request from the Magyar Nemzeti 
Bank (MNB) for an opinion on a draft regulation on th e scope of information to be supplied for the 
central bank information system for the compilation of  balance of payment statistics and on data supply 
methods and deadlines  (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the fourth indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft regulation relates to the collection and compilation of balance of 
payments and international investment position sta tistics. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 
1.  Purpose of the draft regulation  
1.1 The purpose of the draft regulation is to ensure the collection of high quality data for the 
compilation of balance of payments and international investment positi on statistics. To this end, the 
draft regulation establishes a direct reporting system, which is expected to come into effect on 
1 January 2008.  
1.2 The current reporting system for the compilation of the balance of payments and international 
investment position statistics, which is based on the monitoring of cash transactions, is to be 
replaced by a new system relying on the following three main sources of information: (i) direct 
reports from economic agents carrying out transactions  with non-residents; (ii) statistical data 
supplied by the Central Statistical Office in cluding data on goods, services, compensation of 
employees and current transfers; and (iii) data already collected by the MNB’s Statistics 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Depart ment f or securities statistics.  In addition,  the MNB co mpiles data on reserve assets and its 
cross-border transactions. 
 
2. General observations  
2.1  The ECB wel comes the draft regulation and its pur pose to ensure t he collection of high quality  data  
for the com pilation of balance of pay ments and international inve stment position statistics i n line 
with the regi me established under Gu ideline E CB/2004/ 15 of 16 Jul y 2004 on the statistical 
reporting req uirements of the European Central Bank in the field of balance of pay ments and 
international invest ment position statistics,  and the international reser ves te mplate2 (the 
‘Guideline’ ). At the same  time, the draft regula tion aims to lim it the adm inistrative burde n for  
reporting agents to the extent possible3. Although the  Guideline does not apply to the MNB, as a 
national centr al bank of a Mem ber State that has not adopted the euro, achieving consistency  with 
the ECB’s st atistical  stand ards will  enable reporti ng agents to become fam iliar with the st atistical  
reporting regi me that will appl y once the eu ro has been introduced i n Hungar y.  
2.2 The ECB draws the consulting aut hority’s attenti on to  the f orthcom ing am endment of th e 
Guideline as well as to other relevant future deve lopments, including the up dating of the Balance of 
Payments Manual of the International Monetary  Fund which is expected by  the end of 200 8. The 
consulting authorit y is the refore invited to m onitor developments in this fi eld and take them into 
account in its national arrangem ents, notabl y when setting up surve ys. 
2.3  The ECB understands that the draft regulation w ill apply  alongside t he provisions  for the collection 
of data on goods, services,  compensatio n of em ployees and curren t transfers to be adopted by  the 
Central Stati stical Of fice and the legal acts on securities st atistics currently  in force in Hun gary. 
Since the envisaged reporting s ystem  will draw on these data, i t will be im portant to update the 
required legal fra mework in due course, to the extent necess ary. 
2.4 This opini on is without prejudice to any futu re assessment by the ECB of whether the direct  
reporting s ystem applicable in Hungar y and the st atistical information reported to the MNB fulfil 
the ECB’s reporting req uirements for balance of  pay ment and international investm ent position 
statistics.  
 
3. Specific obse rvations 
3.1 The draft reg ulation prov ides that so me of its forms – namely  R02 to R11 – are to be u sed for  
reporting by ‘designated business entities’ . The ECB i nvites the consulting authority  to consider a 
more explicit statement in the draft re gulation ab out the criteria and procedure to be used for 
                                                 
2  OJ L 354, 30.11 .2004, p . 34. 
3  The ECB r efers to Opinion CO N/2005/31 of 2 9 August 2005 at  the requ est of  the Belgian  Ministr y of Finance on a 
preliminar y draft law that amen ds the Law of 2 8 Februar y 2002  regulating th e compilation of th e balance of p ayments 
and th e int ernational investm ent position  of Belgium  and am ending the Decr ee L aw of 6 Oct ober 1944 on foreign 
exchang e contro l and various leg al provisions. In parti cular, paragraphs 5 and 6 outlined th e benef its of a direct repo rting 
system, such as that proposed un der th e draf t regulation , noting that oth er Memb er States recently  also in troduced similar  
systems or are in the process of d oing so.  
2 
selecting ‘designated business entities’ , in accordance with internationa l standards for the definition 
of units. 
3.2 When definin g ‘residents’, in Annex 2 of the draft regulation, the ECB suggests making a specific 
referenc e to t he ‘centre of  econo mic interest’  as defined in paragraph 62 of th e IMF Balan ce of 
Payments M anual (5th edition)4 and in paragraph 1.30 of t he European S ystem  of Nationa l 
Accounts 95 (ESA 95).  
3.3 The ECB r ecommends ensuring that the defin itions of the institutional sectors in the draft 
regulation are such that t he statistic s derived fro m this regulation are fully  consistent wi th the  
definitions in Chapter 2 of the ESA 9 5 and the definition of m onetary  financial institutions in 
Regulation E CB/2001/1 3 of 22 November 2001 co ncerning the consolidated b alance sheet of the 
monetary financial institutions sector5.  
 
This opini on will be publis hed on t he ECB’s website. 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am  Main, 25  January 200 7. 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
                                                 
4  Availab le on www.imf.org. 
5  OJ L 333, 17.12 .2001, p . 1. 
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