EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 4 December 2002
at the request of Sveriges Riksbank
on a draft proposal for a regulation on the oblig ation to report information to Sveriges Riksbank
for its balance-of-payments statistics
(CON/2002/29)
1. On 5 November 2002, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Sveriges
Riksbank for an opinion on a draft proposal for a regulation entitled The Riksbanks regulation onthe obligation to report information to the Riksba nk for its balance-of-payments statistics (RBFS
2002:4) (the draft regulation). The ECB has also received a memorandum prepared by SverigesRiksbank explaining the background to the proposal (the explanatory memorandum).
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing
the European Community and the third and fourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by nationalauthorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1 as the draft legislative proposal relates to Sveriges
Riksbank and the collection of balance-of-payments statistics. In accordance with the first sentenceof Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council ofthe ECB has adopted this opinion.
3. The draft regulation refers to a new survey-based system for the collection of data for balance-of-
payments statistics that Sveriges Riksbank has decided to implement. The proposed new system isintended to replace the so-called BOK system for th e reporting of individual foreign payments via
Swedish banks for balance-of-payments purposes. The introduction of the new system is scheduledto take place on 1 January 2003. Since the consultation concerns an implementing regulation tobe issued by the Riksbank under the Sveriges Riksbank Act (1988:1385), the draft regulationshould be read against the background of that Act. There has recently been a proposal to amend theSveriges Riksbank Act to change the data collection system and to clarify the reportingrequirements for balance-of-payments statistics and a reference is made to the ECB opinion in thatmatter (CON/2002/21).
                                                
1 OJ L189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
24. Under the present rules, the Riksbank collects th e information needed for its balance-of-payments
statistics on the basis of Chapter 6, Article 9 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act and the Riksbanksregulation on the obligation to report information to the Riksbank for its balance-of-paymentsstatistics (1997:4). It is proposed in the explanatory memorandum that, for practical reasons, theexisting regulation should be replaced by the proposed draft regulation (2002:4) in order tointroduce the new survey-based system for collecting data, instead of making amendments to theexisting regulation. Chapter 6, Article 9 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act will continue to apply, asamended.
5. The draft regulation is rather general in its formulations and it is suggested that some additional
more specific rules might be useful. For instance, the draft regulation could contain provisions withmore detailed practical specifications concerning the reporting framework, e.g. possiblethresholds/sampling, accurate definitions of transactions/positions to be reported, detailedclassifications, which information is to be provided at what frequency; and it could be specifiedwhere to find the reporting forms referred to in Article 13. The ECB is conscious that more detailedprovisions may make the draft regulation less flexible and, as an alternative, such further rulescould possibly be set out elsewhere and be referred to in Article 13 or in a new Article 14 of thedraft regulation.
6. Moreover, compliance with internationally agreed standards for balance-of-payments statistics and
international investment positions statistics could be further considered (see the IMF Balance ofPayments Manual, fifth edition, (BPM5)). Although the ECB recognises that this topic can beaddressed outside the draft regulation, some additional specifications in the draft regulation maynevertheless be useful in order to avoid inconsistencies. For instance, in Article 1 of the draftregulation, a foreign counterparty is defined as [a] legal person, physical person, authority,branch or international organisation with a foreign address. This is not, however, completelyconsistent with the BPM5s residency criteria (e.g. the German Embassy in Stockholm does nothave a foreign address but is nonetheless a foreign counterparty; conversely, the SwedishEmbassy in Berlin, although it has a foreign address, is not a foreign counterparty).
7. The draft regulation states that information for balance-of-payments statistics purposes needs to be
reported on request. The recurring use of the locution on request may however need aclarification. Depending on the data collection method, it appears that the reporting obligation forthe economic agents involved may be ongoing rather than on request. Furthermore, it is stated inthe explanatory memorandum that it must be clear from the draft regulation that the reportingobligations only apply on the request of the Riksbank. However, it is not expressly stated in thedraft regulation that the requests triggering an obligation to report will be made by the Riksbank.Rather, it is silent on who is to make such requests. The ECB believes that this point should beclarified.
8. The explanatory memorandum also states that rules must be laid down in the form of a regulation
in order to enable the Riksbank to impose fines on institutions failing to fulfil their reporting
3obligations. Sanctions in the form of fines should be available for the Riksbank in cases of wilful
misreporting or failure to report. As such fines are provided for in Chapter 6, Article 9 of theRiksbank Act the ECB assumes that, in order to ensu re their applicability with regard to the draft
regulation, they do not need to be referred to also in the text of the draft regulation itself.
9. In addition, the ECB would like to make the fo llowing drafting comments. Firstly, the ECB notes
that contrary to the proposed changes to the second paragraph of Chapter 6, Article 9 of theSveriges Riksbank Act, there has been no addition of a reference to the international investmentposition statistics in the title of the draft regulation. Instead, these statistics are mentioned inArticle 2 of the draft regulation. The ECB suggests th at the fact that they come within the scope of
the draft regulation could be made more explicit through a change of its title. Secondly, the ECB
assumes that Swedish holdings and foreign holdings in Article 8 of the draft regulation refer tothe residence of the holder, but would welcome clarification on this point. Finally, the ECBsuggests that the meaning of the terms Swedish  financial instruments and held in custody
abroad in Article 9 could be clarified.
10. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this
opinion publicly available at their discretion. This  opinion will be published on the ECBs website
six months after the date of its adoption.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 4 December 2002.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG