EN ECB -PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 19 August 2013  
on the provision of  payment service s by Banka Slovenije for budget users  
(CON/201 3/62) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 5 July  2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenia n Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on the provision of payment services to budget 
users  (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 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 law relates to Banka Slovenije . 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 Law on the provision of payment services  to budget  users2 (hereinafter the ‘Law’) governs the 
tasks and organisation of the Public Payments Administration of the Republic of  Slovenia 
(hereinafter the ‘PPA’)  and the provision of payment services to ‘budget users ’3. 
1.2 Within this framework , the Law regulates  certain aspects of the functioning of the single treasury 
account system as  one of the characteristics of the public finance system in Slovenia . There is one 
single treasury account system for the State and one for each municipality , and each system has an 
account with Banka Slovenije4. In order to carry out and record public finance monetary flows  and 
to provide payment services to budget users, the  PPA maintains s everal types of sub-accounts 
within each single  State and municipal  treasury ac count system5. In addition, the Law provides that 
budget users may open special -purpose  transaction accounts with Banka Slovenije for the separate 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p.  42.  
2  Zakon o opravljanju plačilnih storitev za proračunske uporabnike (ZOPSPU)  (Ur.l. RS No 59/2010). 
3  ‘Budget users ’ include the State, municipal authorities, administrations and organisations, public funds, institutes and 
agencies established by the State or a muni cipality. See Article 1 of the Law in connection with Article 3 of the Law on 
public finance ( Zakon o javnih financah  (ZJF)) (Ur.l. RS No 11/2011, as amended). 
4  See Article 61 of the Law on public finance . 
5  The PPA maintains (a) treasury sub -accounts o f the State and of municipalities, intended for the management of funds of 
each single treasury account system; (b) sub -accounts to which fiscal revenues are paid in; (c) sub -accounts maintained 
for the provision of payment services to budget users, (d) ot her types of accounts provided for by laws and other 
regulations. See Article 22 (1) of the Law.  
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2 management of funds allocated to a specific programme or project.  For cash withdrawals and cash 
lodgements , budget users may open special ze ro balance accounts with commercial banks. Budget 
users may not open accounts with other payment service providers outside the single treasury 
account system, unless explicitly provided for by the Law or other laws and regula tions6. The PPA 
collects and distributes all relevant information on payments to and from the  abovementioned  
accounts, maintains a register of budget users  and performs other tasks  assigned by law7. Further 
detailed rules regarding the PPA and its tasks are laid down in other laws and regulations . Pursuant 
to the explanatory memorandum  to the draft law , the existing arrangement s have be en effective for 
managing budget liquidity  and establish ing a comprehensive system for, inter alia , processing 
relevant dat a for budget , tax, statistical , analytical  and other purposes , as well as  supervisin g 
monetary flow to and from the budget . 
1.3 The Law is now being amended to: (a) incorporate new services and tasks entrusted to the PPA8; 
(b) define urgent tasks of the PP A which shall be performed during a strike9; (c) lay down further 
requirements with respect to  maint aining the budget users register10; (d) provide for the mandatory 
use of electronic invoices in public administration11; (e) further specify certain rules reg arding the 
accounts of budget users and how payment services  are provided  to them12; (f) align the sanction s 
regime  with other amendments to the Law13. 
 
2. General observations  
In the single treasury account system , Banka Slovenije acts as a payment services  provider to budget 
users . It also maintains special -purpose transaction accounts for them . The provision of such services is in 
line with Article 21.2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central 
Bank , which provides that the ECB and national central banks  (NCBs)  may act as fiscal agents for Union 
institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, central governments, regional local or other public authorities, 
other bodies governed by public law, or publi c undertakings of Mem ber States . This  is reflected in  
Article  12 of the Law on Banka Slovenije14, pursuant  to which Banka Slovenije may act as a payment 
and/or fiscal agent for the State and maintains accounts for the Republic of Slovenia, St ate bodies and 
public entities.  
The ECB was  previously  consulted on the Law and issued Opinion CON/2010/5515. With regard to the 
relevant provisions of the Law  which  (a) require  Banka Slovenije to provide to the PPA information on 
                                                 
6  See Article 25 of the Law.  
7  See Article 4 of the Law.  
8  See amended Article s 4(1)(16) and 4(1)(7) of the Law  and new Article 26.a and new Article 6(2) of the Law.  
9  See new Article 4.a of the Law.  
10  See amendments to Articles 10 to 18 of the Law.  
11  See amended Article 26 of the Law.  
12  See amended Articles 22 to 25 of the Law.  
13  See amended Articles 31 and 32 of the Law.  
14  Zakon o Banki Slovenije (ZBS -1) (Ur.l. RS No  72/2006, as amended).  
15  All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  
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3 payments debited and credited to accounts  opened with Banka Sl ovenije  and on account balances  free of 
charge , and (b) authoris e the Minister of Finance to independently prescribe the method and deadlines for 
such provision of information, the ECB drew attention to the principle of central bank independence and 
the ri ght of Banka Slovenije to charge appropriate fees for opening these  accounts pursuant to 
Article  53 of the Law on Banka Slovenije16. The ECB welcomes that the draft law  takes into account  the 
ECB’s observations  in this respect . Amended Article 22(6)17 explic itly provides that the Ministry of 
Finance and Banka Slovenije will agree, in a contract or another legal act, the manner in which  the PPA 
and Banka Slovenije exchange information  with respect to  the maintenance of treasury single accounts 
and special -purpose transaction accounts and the provision of payment services through these acco unts. 
This separate agreement  will need to  ensure that the financial independence of Banka Slovenije is 
safeguarded . The ECB also welcomes that the sanction s regime  in amended  Article  31 of the Law do es 
not apply to Banka Slovenije.  
 
3. Specific observations  
Pursuant to the draft law , Article 22(7) of the Law provides that the Minister of Finance shall prescribe , 
inter alia , the procedures  and method s for maintaining the accoun ts of budget users, the obligatory 
content of instructions for the payment of fiscal revenues as well as rules on the provision of other 
information in connection with the relevant payment transactions . In Opinion CON/2010/55 , the ECB 
noted that i t is not clear whether these  rules would also apply to the accounts maintained by Banka 
Slovenije or otherwise impose additional obligations on the latter  and that it would be unusual for the 
Minister of Finance, as a customer, to define the terms and condition s for the accounts and services 
provided by  Banka Slovenije. In this connection it was also highlighted  that provision by central banks of 
fiscal agency services should comply with the monetary financing prohibition laid down in Article 123 of 
the Treaty by no t constituting central bank financing of public sector obligations in regard to  third parties 
or central bank crediting of the public . Any remuneration of the account held by the budget users with 
Banka Slovenije should  thus reflect market parameters18. In particula r, it is important to correlate the 
remuneration rate of the deposits with their maturity. As  noted  in past ECB opinions19, the prohibition on 
monetary financing by central banks of government activities is independent of its  form, i.e. loans or 
other direct financial means20 are covered by the prohibition. Interest payments above market rates  
constitute a de facto  advance distribution of profits. This, in turn, implies a de facto  provision of intra-
year credit, contrary to the objective of the monet ary financing prohibition. Therefore, the remuneration  
of deposits of public entities should not go beyond the remuneration applied to a similar deposit  made by 
market counterpart ies. If the remuneration mechanism for deposits of public entities  allows the  
Government to systematically steer the remuneration by a NCB  at a rate above the rate  at which a similar 
                                                 
16  See paragraphs 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 of Opinion CON/2010/55 in connection with Article 22 (3) and third indent of 
Article  22(5) of the Law.  
17  See also the third indent of amended Article 22(7) of the Law.  
18  See paragraphs 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 of Opinion CON/2010/55.  
19  See, in particular, Opinions CON/2008/10 and CON/2009/69.  
20 E.g. the provision of direct, non -reimbursable funding to the public secto r. 
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4 deposit would be remunerated by market counterpart ies, this would contravene  the objectives of the 
monetary financing prohibition under the Treaty.  
While the amendments  to the Law  do not seem to reflect these observations , which remain valid with 
regard to the draft law,  the explanatory memorandum  to the draft law  states that the amendments take into 
account Banka Slovenije’s  independence and observatio ns from Opinion CON /2010/55 . Pursuant  to the 
explanatory memorandum,  all of Banka Slovenije’s rights and obligations with respect to : (a) maint aining 
single treasury accounts f or the State and municipalities and special -purpose  transaction account s, and 
(b) providing  payment services through these  accounts , may be regulated with a contract or another legal 
act between the Ministry of Finance and Banka Slovenije. In line with its previous observations in 
Opinion CON/2010/55, t he ECB advises the Slovenian authorities to appropriately incorporate this  
explanation from the explanatory memorandum  into the draft law . 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website . 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 19 August 2013 . 
 
[signed]  
 
The Vice-President of the ECB  
Vítor CONSTÂNCIO