EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 27 January 2009 
at the request of the Banque centrale du Luxembourg 
on the legal framework for the compilation of stat istics and the role of the Banque centrale du 
Luxembourg in the fields of balance of payments and quarterly financial accounts statistics 
(CON/2009/7) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 3 December 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Banque centrale 
du Luxembourg (BCL) for an opinion on a draft law on the organisation of the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies ( Institut national de la statis tique et des études économiques , referred 
to by the acronym STATEC) (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
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 Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, since the draft law contains both provisions on the BCL and on the 
collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking and balance of payments statistics. In accordance with the first sentence of  Article 17.5 of the Ru les of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft law  
The draft law sets up a comprehensive legal fra mework for STATEC, to replace the Law of 
9 July 1962, which it repeals. Primarily, it lists the tasks of STATEC, among which are the coordination and production of Community statistics as a partner of Eurostat and the European Statistical System. Furthermore, it re inforces the obligations of public authorities, public bodies, legal 
and natural persons to provide st atistical information requested by  STATEC, which may, in case of 
non-compliance with such obligations, use its rights to investigate and impose sanctions. Finally, the draft law sets up a comprehensive regime on st atistical confidentiality, also providing for the 
circumstances in which access to individual statistic al data may be granted for scientific purposes. 
More particularly, by virtue of Article 3 of the draft law, one of STATEC’s tasks is to ‘compile, jointly 
with the BCL, the balance of payments and the financial accounts’; the methods of cooperation being laid down in an agreement between STATEC and the BCL. This provision complements but does not 
                                                
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 repeal the Law of 28 June 2000 amending the grand-ducal Regulation of 10 November 1944 relating to 
exchange control (hereinafter the ‘Law of 28 June 2000’), which already provided for the distribution of powers between STATEC and the BCL in relation to balance of payments statistics. In this respect, the additional costs incurr ed by the BCL are covered by a multi- year, renegotiable agreement between 
the BCL and the Luxembourg Government. While Guideline ECB/2002/7 of 21 November 2002 on the statistical reporting requirements of the ECB in the field of quarterly financial accounts
2 requires the 
BCL to submit quarterly financial accounts statisti cs to the ECB, the ECB un derstands that under the 
draft law this task will be allocated to the BCL for the first time at national level. 
This opinion focuses on those asp ects of the draft law that are directly relevant to the BCL.  
 2. General observations In general, the ECB welcomes the draft law to the ex tent that it optimises the reliability and efficiency 
of the statistical production process , in line with the recent proposal for a regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on European Statistics
3. In view of the BCL’s statistical reporting 
obligations in the fields of balance of payments4 and quarterly financial accounts5, the ECB takes 
particular note that the draft law is in line with its previous recommendation6 and organises the 
cooperation between STATEC and the BCL in these areas. Ensuring effective cooperation between the 
national central bank (NCB) as a produ cer of statistics and other statisti cal authorities is often vital to 
ensure the availability, quality an d cost-effectiveness of the statis tics required by the ECB. Specific 
national cooperation arrangements should also fully preserve the N CB’s independence, which derives 
from the NCB’s participation in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) in general and from its duty to collaborate with the ECB on  statistical matters in particular
7. 
 3.  Specific remarks 3.1 Adaptation of the Law of 23 December 1998 on mo netary status and on th e Banque centrale du 
Luxembourg (hereinafter the ‘BCL  Law’) and the Law of 28 Ju ne 2000 to strengthen the 
reliability and efficiency of the statistical production process  
The draft law aims to set up a comprehensive fra mework fostering the production of reliable and 
efficient statistics. However, ru les governing the production of statistics in Luxembourg remain 
                                                
 
2  OJ L 334, 11.12.2002, p. 24.  
3  See in this respect ECB Opinion CON/2007/35 of 14 November 2007 at the request of the Council of the European 
Union on a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics. 
4   Under Guideline ECB/2004/15 of 16 July 2004 on the st atistical reporting re quirements of the ECB in the field of 
balance of payments and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves template, OJ L 354, 
30.11.2004, p. 34. 
5 Under Guideline ECB/2002/7. 
6 See ECB Opinion CON/2008/17 of 15 Ap ril 2008 at the request of the Luxembourg Minister for the Treasury and the 
Budget on a draft law improving the legislative framework for Luxembourg as a financial centre and on a draft law 
relating to social insurance contributions, in particular, paragraph 4.3. 
7  See in this respect, ECB Opinion CON/2008/6 of 1 Febr uary 2008 at the request of the Portuguese Parliament on a 
draft law on the principles, rules and structure of the National Statistical System. 
3 dispersed between the draft law, the BCL Law a nd the Law of 28 June 2000. There is also a 
partial overlap between the draft law and the Law of 28 June 2000 as both provide for the joint compilation of balance of payments statistics by  STATEC and the BCL. Furthermore, there is a 
risk of inconsistency between these two texts, since the financial aspect s of the cooperation 
appear to be governed not only by an agreement between STATEC and the BCL
8 but also by an 
agreement between the BCL and the Luxembourg Government9. The ECB recommends that the 
draft law should address this overlap and inconsiste ncy and that the Law of 28 June 2000 should 
be amended accordingly.  
Another issue to be resolved is how the new provisions of the draft law stipulating the BCL’s 
power to compile financial accounts statistics togeth er with the STATEC will  fit into the current 
legal framework governing the BCL’s activities. To  ensure that the BCL may fulfil its regulatory 
powers and responsibilities in the fields of balance of payments and financial accounts statistics, 
and, as already recommended on the occasion of  recent extensions of the BCL’s powers10, the 
legislator should consider expressly listing the BCL’s tasks in the BCL La w, along the lines of 
Article 3 of the draft law. 
3.2 Preservation of the BCL’s independence 
The ECB has emphasised that the principle of independence of NCBs is of utmost importance for 
the quality and integrity of stat istics, which must not be subj ect to political considerations11. The 
statistical framework set up by the draft law shou ld be scrutinised carefu lly in the light of the 
principle of independence. Institutional indepe ndence prohibits NCBs fro m seeking, taking or 
receiving instructions from any government body which may affect  the fulfilment of the NCB’s 
ESCB-related tasks. The ECB notes that under the current draft law the BCL’s institutional independence may be affected. For that reason, the ECB suggests amending Article 3 of the draft 
law in such a way that STATEC fulfils its statistical tasks without prejudice to the BCL’s independence. A comparable safeguard should be introduced into Article 10 (obligation to provide statistical information), Article 11(1) (right of investiga tion) and Article 12 (sanctions) 
of the draft law. Against the above background, it should also be ensured that all cooperation mechanisms between STATEC and the BCL, incl uding the overall coordination, centralisation 
and consultation prerogat ives and with the possible participation of the BCL in the ‘Coordination 
Commission’ ( Commission de coordination des statistiques publiques )
12, and the joint power to 
compile balance of payments and financial accounts statistics, may in no way impair the BCL’s independence, as enshrined in Article 108 of the Treaty and reflected in Ar ticle 5(2) of the BCL 
Law. The particular stipulation in Article 7(2) of the draft law that prior notification to STATEC 
                                                
 
8  Under Article 3.3. of the draft law. 
9  Under Article 1bis (4) of the grand-ducal regulation of 10 November 1944 relating to exchange control, as amended 
by the Law of 28 June 2000.   
10  See paragraphs 4.2 and 4.8 of ECB Op inion CON/2008/42 of 10 September 2008 at  the request of the Banque centrale 
du Luxembourg on amendments to the draft law improving th e legislative framework for Luxembourg as a financial 
centre and amending the Law of 23 December 1998 on mone tary status and on the Banque centrale du Luxembourg. 
11  See the ECB’s Convergence Report, May 2008, p. 5.  
12  See Article 6(2) of the draft law.  
4 of ‘any statistical survey in the general intere st carried out by a public or private body’ is 
‘without prejudice to the application of statistical  powers conferred upon national or international 
public bodies’ is, in the ECB’s view, insufficient to ensure due compliance with the principle of 
the BCL’s independence. Moreover, the draft law as currently worded does not make it clear in 
connection with the BCL’s new join t prerogatives for balance of payments and financial accounts 
statistics whether the BCL will benefit from the specific regime set up under the BCL Law, in 
particular in relation to its independence and regulatory powers. In this context, the ECB 
recommends that the draft law should provid e that all the abovem entioned cooperation 
mechanisms between the BCL and STATEC are with out prejudice to the principle of the BCL’s 
independence. Moreover, the BCL’s overall independence would be jeopardised if it could not autonomously avail itself of sufficient financial resources to fulfil its mandate. 
3.3 Reciprocity in the exchange of information between STATEC and the BCL 
The ECB notes that by virtue of  Article 33(2) of the BCL Law, statistical confidentiality 
provisions do not prevent the exchange of information with STATEC, ‘subject to reciprocity to the extent necessary to the perfor mance of the BCL’s tasks’. For consistency in the mechanism 
of statistical information exch ange, the ECB recommends that a similar provision should be 
inserted in Article 13 of the draft law which sets up STATEC’s statistical confidentiality regime.  
3.4 Right of investigation and sanctions  
The ECB notes that the draft law gives STATEC ri ghts to investigate and impose sanctions to 
ensure due compliance by public authorities and public bodies as well as by natural or legal persons to provide the requested statistical information. In line with its previous opinions
13, the 
ECB reiterates its recommendation that the BCL Law should be amended to give the BCL 
similar powers to impose sanctions. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 27 January 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The Vice-President of the ECB 
Lucas D. PAPADEMOS 
                                                
 
13  See ECB Opinion CON/2008/17, in particular paragra ph 4.3, and paragraph 4.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/42.