EN 
 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 9 August 2010 
on amendments to the legislation on official statistics 
(CON/2010/66) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 15 July 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Romanian National 
Institute of Statistics for an opinion on a draft law amending and supplementing Law No 226/2009 on the 
organisation and functioning of official statistics in Romania1 (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
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 and the fourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consu ltation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions2, as the draft law relates to Banca Na ţională a României 
(BNR) and the collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems 
and balance of payments statistics. 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 law 
1.1  The draft law supplements Law No 226/2009 on the organisation and functioning of official 
statistics in Romania with some provisions of Regulation (EC) No 223/20093 in order to bring 
Romanian legislation on official statistics into li ne with the changes to the European Statistical 
System framework. 
1.2 In particular, the draft law introduces the fundame ntal principles of official statistics, which are 
professional independence, impartia lity, objectivity, reliability, statis tical confidentiality and cost-
effectiveness. The definitions of these principles are identical to tho se of the statistical principles in 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.  
                                                 
1 Law No 226/2009 on the organisation and functio ning of official statistics in Romania, Monitorul Oficial al României No 
397 of 11 June 2009. 
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
3  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament  and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics 
and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 
transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to  the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council 
Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, a nd Council Decision 89/382/EEC,  Euratom establishing a 
Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164 ). 
2 1.3 Furthermore, the draft law extends the compos ition of the Romanian National Statistical Council, 
an advisory body, with six new members co mprising two representatives from the Presidential 
administration and four representatives from the Parliament (two representatives from each of its two chambers) to ensure the impartiality, transpar ency and scientific nature of the activities related 
to official statistics. 
1.4 In addition, in line with Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the Romanian National 
Institute of Statistics is designated as the national statistical authority responsible for coordinating 
all activities at national level for the developm ent, production and dissemination of European 
statistics. The Romanian National Institute of Statistics is also the contact point for the Commission (Eurostat) on statistical matters. 
1.5 Finally, the competence of the Romanian National In stitute of Statistics is intended to be enhanced 
by entrusting it with the tasks, within its scope  of competence, of negotiating and concluding 
international treaties at department le vel and other international agreements
4. 
 
2. General observations 2.1 In Opinion CON/2009/42
5 on the draft of Law No 226/2009, the ECB welcomed the provisions 
that recognised and preserved the independence of BNR as a participant in the National Statistical 
System and as the producer of official statistics in  its areas of competence. It was noted that the 
statistics developed, produced and disseminated by BNR as part of the European System of Central 
Banks are governed by statistical principles6 that are close but not iden tical to the principles in 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.   
2.2 The ECB also welcomes the intention of the Ro manian authorities to update and streamline the 
provisions of the national legal framework on statis tics to follow changes at European level and to 
meet the needs of the statistical data users.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 August 2010.
 
[signed] 
  
The Vice-President of the ECB 
Vítor CONSTÂNCIO 
                                                 
4  According to Article 2(1) of Law No 590/2003 on treaties, Monitorul Oficial al României No 23 of 12 January 2004.  
5  All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www. ecb.europa.eu.  
6  See Article 5 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank and Council 
Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 concerning the collection of st atistical information by the European Central Bank (OJ L 
318, 27.11.1998, p. 8).