EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 27 January 2010 
on the tasks of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank relating to Hungary’s membership of  
the International Monetary Fund 
(CON/2010/13) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 6 January 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Hungarian Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law integrating  several amendments to the Ar ticles of Agreement of the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF) into Hungarian  law, as well as amending the Law on the Magyar 
Nemzeti Bank (MNB)1 (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 provisions2, as the draft law relates to the MNB. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Euro pean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft law 
1.1 Under Hungarian law
3, generally binding international agre ements to which the Republic of 
Hungary is a party  have to be incorporated into national law by means of a legal act . The Articles 
of Agreement of the IMF (hereinafter the ‘Ar ticles of Agreement’) as they stood on 6 May 1982 
were incorporated into Hungarian law by Law-D ecree 6 of 1982. The main purpose of Articles 1 to 
5 of the draft law is to implement  the amendments to the Articles of Agreement since 1982 (the 
Third, Fourth and the Fifth Amendments4) in Hungarian law. 
1.2 Article 1 of the draft law implements the Thir d Amendment to the Articles of Agreement, which 
concerns the consequences of a Member State fa iling to fulfil any of its obligations under the 
Articles of Agreement, such as, among others, the suspension of voting rights. As stated in the 
                                                 
1  Law LVIII of 2001, published in the Magyar Közlöny  2001/76 (VII. 5.). 
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
3  Article 16(1) of Law XI of 1987 on legislation. 
4  The Fifth Amendment consists of  IMF Resolution Nos 63-2 and 63-3. 
2 preamble of the draft law, the Third Amendment to the Articles of Agreement entered into force 
under international law on 11 November 1992 . Under Hungarian law, it will enter into force eight 
days after publication of the draft law . 
1.3 Article 2 of the draft law implements the Four th Amendment to the Artic les of Agreement, which 
concerns supplementing the existing reserve assets, authorising the IMF to allocate special drawing 
rights (SDRs) and the detailed regulations of the sp ecial one-time allocation of SDRs. As stated in 
the preamble of the draft law, the Fourth Amen dment to the Articles of Agreement entered into 
force under international law on 10 August 2009. Unde r Hungarian law, it will enter into force 
eight days after publication of the draft law.  
1.4 The purpose of Articles 3 to 5 of the draft law is to incorporate the Fifth Amendment to the Articles 
of Agreement. Articles 3 and 4 acknowledge the binding force of the Fifth Amendment to the 
Articles of Agreement. Article 5 refers to the appointment procedure for the alternates to the 
Executive Directors; the method of calculating the total votes of the members; the possible use of 
the currency held in the Investme nt Account, as well as the termination of the Investment Account; 
the possible use of the currency held in the Di sbursement Account; and, finally, the specific 
procedural regulations to be followed should th e IMF sell gold assets. These Articles will enter into 
force as regulated in the amendments to the Articles of Agreement.  
1.5 Article 6 of the draft law puts in place regulations  similar to those that previously existed for the 
MNB’s tasks relating to the Republic of Hungary’s IMF membership5 by amending the Law on the 
MNB. The tasks listed in Article 6 of the draft la w, which will be the new Article 42/A of the Law 
on the MNB, are the following: (i) the MNB will be  the agency making periodic payments to the 
IMF acting as agent on behalf of the Republic of Hungary; (ii) the MNB may issue non-negotiable and non interest bearing notes payable to the IM F in accordance with the Articles of Agreement; 
(iii) the MNB will perform the task of fiscal agent required by the Articles of Agreement on behalf of the Republic of Hungary and, in this context, the MNB will act as a beneficiary in its capacity as 
fiscal agent with respect to any amount transferred or paid to the Republic of Hungary based on the 
provisions of the Articles of Agreement; (iv) th e MNB will attend to the safekeeping of the IMF’s 
foreign currency reserves held in the Republic of Hungary as a designated depository. Article 6 will 
enter into force eight days after the publication of the draft law. 
 2. General observations The ECB reminds the Ministry of Finance that the tasks performed by the national central banks must 
comply with the monetary financing prohibition un der Article 123(1) of the Treaty, which prohibits, inter 
alia, overdraft facilities or any other type of credit f acility with the national central banks in favour of 
                                                 
5  Presidential Board Decision 7/1982 was rep ealed by Law LXXXII of 2007, published in the Magyar Közlöny  2007/83 
(VI. 29.).  
3 central governments6. However, Article 7 of Council Regulati on (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 
specifying definitions for the application of the pr ohibitions referred to in Articles 104 [now 123] and 
104b(1) [now 125(1)] of the Treaty7 provides that the financing by the national central banks of 
obligations falling upon the public sector vis-à-vis the IM F is not regarded as a credit facility within the 
meaning of Article 123 of the Treaty. The ECB notes therefore that, should there be any payment by the MNB of the Republic of Hungary's obligations to the IMF, such financing would fall within the scope of 
Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 and would not constitute a form of monetary financing 
prohibited by the Treaty. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 27 January 2010. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
6  See also other ECB opinions: CON/2009/5, CON/2009/ 33, CON/2009/35, CON/2009/41 a nd CON/2009/100, available 
on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  
7  OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1.