EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 13 March 2006 
at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance 
on a draft law amending the Law on Banka Slovenije 
(CON/2006/17) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 13 February 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Slovenian Ministry 
of Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending th e Law on Banka Slovenije (hereinafter the ‘draft 
law’). 
 The ECB’s competence to de liver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and on the first, second, third and fourth indents of Article 2(1) and Article 2(2) 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, as the draft law relates to currency matters, 
means of payment, a national central bank (NCB), the collection, compilation and distribution of statistics 
and the instruments of monetary policy. 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 
The main purpose of the draft law is to bring th e Law on Banka Slovenije (hereinafter the ‘Law’) 
into line with the Treaty and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, in particular with regard to the legal integration of Banka Slovenije into 
the Eurosystem. The draft law amends, inter alia , provisions relating to Banka Slovenije’s 
independence, economic policy objectives, mone tary policy instruments, foreign reserve 
management, the issue and distribution of banknot es and coins and international cooperation, and 
introduces the correct spelling of the word ‘euro’ . Moreover, in view of the inclusion of bank 
credits in the single list of eligible collatera l for Eurosystem credit operations, the draft law 
introduces a register of financial assets. Finally, it also introduces sanctions for breaches of Council 
Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004 of 6 December 2004 c oncerning medals and tokens similar to euro 
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 coins2 and Council Regulation (EC) No 2183/2 004 of 6 December 2004 extending to the non-
participating Member States the application of Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004 concerning medals 
and tokens similar to euro coins3. 
 2. General observations 
Terminological considerations 2.1. In several parts of the draft law, the wording ‘int roduction of the euro as the monetary unit of the 
Republic of Slovenia’ is used. In order to be consistent with the terminology used in Council 
Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro
4, the draft law should 
refer to the ‘introduction of the euro as the currency of the Republic of Slovenia’5. 
2.2. The ECB welcomes Article 1 of the draft law, whic h provides that in the Law the word ‘evro’ ‘in 
all grammatical cases shall be replaced with the word “euro” in the appropriate case’. As a single 
currency, the name of the euro needs to be identical in the nominative singular case in all 
Community languages to ensure that its singlen ess is apparent. The European Council at its 
meeting in Madrid on 15 and 16 December 1995 conc luded that ‘the name given to the European 
currency shall be Euro’ and that ‘the name of the single currency must be the same in all the 
official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets’, 
and these conclusions were reflected in Regulation (EC) No 974/98. The Community, as the exclusive holder of competence in monetary matters, determines alone the name of the single currency. On the basis of these legal considerati ons, and in view of the supremacy of Community 
law, the name of the single currency in the nominativ e singular case is to be consistently written in 
all national legal acts as ‘euro’
6. The ECB expects that the correct spelling of the word ‘euro’ will 
be applied in all national legal acts using the name  of the single currency and invites the consulting 
authority to take a proactiv e approach to ensure this.  
Update of the structure of the Law  
2.3. The current structure of the Law would benefit fro m updating and consolidation in view of the fact 
that Slovenia has been a member of the EU since May 2004. The provisions applying today to Banka Slovenije are dispersed in various parts of  the Law, and in particular in Chapter 10 (on 
Slovenian EU membership), whilst the text still c ontains obsolete provisions. For reasons of legal 
                                                     
 
2  OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 1. 
3  OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 7. 
4  OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2169/2005 (OJ L 346, 29.12.2005, p. 1). 
5  In addition to being the currency of the ‘participating Member States’. See paragra ph 1.1 of ECB Opinion CON/2006/10 
of 23 February 2006 at the request of the Central Bank of Malta on a draft law on the adoption of the euro. 
6  See the following ECB Opinions: CON/2005/21 of 14 June 2005 at the request of Lietuvos bankas on a draft law on the 
adoption of the euro; CON/2005/51 of 1 December 2005 on a proposal for a Council Regulation amending 
Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro; and CON/2005/57 of 16 December 2005 at the request of the 
Slovene Ministry of Economic Affairs on the provisions of the draft Companies Act concerning redenomination resulting 
from the introduction of the euro. 
3 clarity, it would be advisable to consolidate a nd update the Law by deleting provisions that are 
obsolete and/or completing them with rights and obl igations that came into  force as a consequence 
of Slovenia’s accession to the EU. 
Banka Slovenije’s independence and integration into the Eurosystem 2.4. The draft law addresses most of the issues that the ECB raised in its Convergence Report 2004
7. 
The ECB welcomes those elements of the draft law that will contribute to achieving the required level of legal convergence. 
2.5. Concerning institutional independence, the draft law
8 amends Article 27 of the Law to expressly 
exclude the management of foreign reserves from th e scope of Banka Slovenije ’s contract with the 
Ministry of Finance, which will foster Banka  Slovenije’s independence in this respect.  
2.6. Concerning personal independence, the draft law9 partially aligns the wording of Article 39 of the 
Law (removal from office of Governing Board members)  with Article 14.2 of the Statute. It deletes 
the third ground for dismissal, namely that the Gove rnor has been found guilty of a criminal office 
and sentenced to imprisonment, which has no equiva lent in the Statute. However, the ECB would 
welcome further amendments to this Article to br ing the grounds for dismissal of the Governor of 
Banka Slovenije fully into line with the wording of  Article 14.2 of the Statute. In particular, the 
Law should specify, without supplementary cond itions, that a Governor may be relieved from 
office if they no longer fulfil the conditions required for the performance of their duties or if they 
have been guilty of serious misconduct. 
2.7. The draft law10 also introduces a new Article 39.a into the Law exempting the members of Banka 
Slovenije’s Governing Board from those provisions of the Law on the prevention of corruption that relate to the sanction of early termination of the term of office. 
2.8. In relation to the legal integration of Banka Slovenije into the Eurosystem, the amendment 
proposed in the draft law
11 to Article 58(2) of the Law specifi es which of Banka Slovenije’s tasks 
will be performed in accordance with the Treaty a nd the Statute from the day the euro is introduced 
in Slovenia. 
2.9. The ECB would also advise aligning the wording of  the second and third paragr aphs of Article 2 of 
the draft law concerning Banka Sl ovenije’s objectives with the word ing of Article 105(1) of the 
Treaty. Indeed, it is without prejudice to the objective of price stability that  NCBs must support the general economic policies in the Community with a view to contributing to the achievement of the 
objectives of the Community as laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty. 
                                                     
 
7  Convergence Report 2004, pp. 232-234. 
8  Article 8 of the draft law. 
9  Ibid., Article 15. 
10  Ibid., Article 16. 
11  Ibid., Article 28. 
4 2.10. Two further provisions adequately  address integration into the Eu rosystem: from the day the euro 
is introduced, Banka Slovenije will participate in th e ECB’s sanctions regime and will only be able 
to participate in international monetary  organisations after prior ECB approval12. 
 3. Specific observations 
Collection and processing of statistical data 3.1. Under the new point 11 of Article 12(1) of the Law
13, Banka Slovenije must also perform financial 
statistics tasks, as a minimum within the paramete rs required for the functioning of the European 
System of Central Banks (ESCB). The proposed definition of this task, limiting it to financial statistics, could be too narrow. For this r eason, the ECB recommends slightly amending the 
provision to make it clear that Banka Slovenije must as a minimum perform the statistical tasks which are required for the functioning of the ESCB,  but may also perform other financial statistics 
tasks. 
3.2. The draft law
14 amends Article 13 of the Law to extend Banka Slovenije’s responsibility to collect 
and manage statistical data and in formation. This is indeed of importance for the implementation of 
its tasks and consequently for the functioning of th e ESCB, as is also specified in Article 55 of the 
Law (concerning Banka Slovenije’s information system). However, the ECB would recommend 
refining the existing reference to ‘statistical data and information’ in the draft law by including an 
explicit reference to Article 5 of the Statute. 
Payment and settlement systems 3.3. In its assessment carried out in 2003 concerni ng securities settlement systems (SSSs) of accession 
countries
15, the ECB noted that Banka Slovenije’s oversight  role in relation to the foreign exchange 
bills settlement system that it operates had not yet been established. Th e draft law’s proposed 
amendment16 to Article 12(1) of the Law explicitly in serts point 15 on Banka Slovenije’s oversight 
of the operation of payment and settlement systems.  Pursuant to Article 14 of the Law, Banka 
Slovenije is already entitled to manage payment sy stems. The ECB would in addition suggest that 
the Law explicitly states that Banka Slovenije may operate a settlement system, as this would 
reflect the existing situation.  
Definitions of ‘banks’ and ‘savings banks’  
                                                      
12  Article 34 of the draft law, inserting new Articles 67.b and 67.a into the Law.  
13  Inserted by Article 3 of the draft law. 
14  Article 4 of the draft law. 
15 Presented in the report entitled ‘Assess ment of accession countries’ securities se ttlement systems ag ainst the standards 
for the use of EU securities  settlement systems in Eurosy stem credit operations’, January 2004; available on the ECB’s 
website at www.ecb.int .  
16  Article 3 of the draft law. 
5 3.4. The draft law17 inserts a new Article 14.a into the La w containing definitions of ‘banks’ and 
‘savings banks’. The ECB questions the scope of these definitions since they could be interpreted 
as being narrower than the Community  concept of ‘credit institutions’18. 
3.5. A broader definition of ‘banks’ an d ‘savings banks’ would also be compatible with certain other 
provisions of the draft law that already include references to entities other than banks and savings 
banks. The draft law’s proposed amendment19 of Article 43(1) of the Law extends Banka 
Slovenije’s supervision fr om banks and savings banks also to in clude ‘other persons pursuant to the 
law’. In the draft law’s proposed amendment20 to Article 44 of the Law, the deletion of specific 
references to ‘banks’ and ‘sav ings banks’ means the provision is extended to all relevant 
participants. For reasons of consistency, the E CB would suggest amending all other provisions of 
the Law referring to ‘banks’ and ‘savings banks’ accordingly. 
Immunity of foreign reserve assets 3.6. The ECB welcomes the proposed
21 new Article 22.a of the Law, which exempts the official foreign 
reserve assets of other countries and central banks  deposited at Banka Slovenije from any judicial 
or extra-judicial enforcement.  
Register of financial assets 3.7. The ECB notes with interest the provisions of  the proposed new Chapter 4.2.a of the Law
22, which 
establishes a register of bank credits and other fi nancial assets by means of which Banka Slovenije 
intends to secure liabilities to itself, the ECB a nd the NCBs of Member States. This proposal 
supports the ECB Governing Council’s decision pub lished on 18 February 2005 to include bank 
credits in the Single List of assets eligible  as collateral for Eurosystem credit operations23. The new 
register of financial assets which will be establis hed and administered by Banka Slovenije will 
contribute to ensuring that a valid security interest may be created over bank credits in a simple and 
certain manner and that the collateral can be swiftly  realised in the event of counterparty default.  
3.8. The ECB understands that the creation of collateral ri ghts over registered assets by way of entry in 
the abovementioned register, in accordance with the new Article 22.c of the Law, is without 
prejudice to any other method of creating collatera l in favour of Banka Slovenije, the ECB and the 
NCBs of Member States. In particular, it should no t affect the provision of book-entry securities as 
collateral either by way of an entry in the account s maintained by an SSS operator or by a similar 
method. It might be advisable to clarify the rela tionship between the different methods of creating 
                                                      
17  Ibid., Article 5. 
18  Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 relating to the taking up and 
pursuit of the business of credit institutions (OJ L 126, 26.5.2000, p. 1). Directive as last amended by 
Directive 2005/1/EC (OJ L 79, 24.3.2005, p. 9). 
19  Article 19 of the draft law. 
20  Ibid., Article 20. 
21  Ibid., Article 6. 
22  Inserted by Article 6 of the draft law.  
23  Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.int . 
6 collateral rights. In this respect, the ECB suggest s removing the reference to point 8 of Article 
12(1) which is contained in the proposed new Article 22.b of the Law.  
3.9. As regards the creation of collateral rights over bank credits in accordance with the proposed new 
Article 22.c of the Law, the ECB’s view is that the position of Banka Slovenije, the ECB and the NCBs of Member States as takers of collatera l would be considerably improved if the first 
paragraph of the proposed Article 22.c were complemented by a provision prohibiting set-off 
against opposing claims by the debtor of a bank cred it for the duration of the existence of collateral 
rights over such bank credit by way of registration. 
3.10. Furthermore, the ECB understands that the pr oposed new Article 22.f is intended to protect 
collateral rights of Banka Slovenije, the ECB and the NCBs of Member States that have been 
established in good faith against conflicting third-party rights. However, the current wording of 
Article 22.f may not fully convey this meaning. The ECB suggests considering rewording this provision, to make it clear that collateral right s of Banka Slovenije, the ECB and the NCBs of 
Member States which have been acquired in good fa ith have priority over any third-party claims. 
Prohibition on monetary financing 3.11. Under Article 24 of the Law, Banka Slovenije may not  grant overdrafts or any other type of credit 
facility in favour of ‘bodies of the Republic of Sl ovenia, of the European Union or of European 
Union Member States, or in favour of their regiona l and local authorities, and other public entities’. 
In order to ensure that this provision covers a ll categories of entities covered by Article 101 of the 
Treaty, thus avoiding any risk of discrepancy, the ECB recommends either using the exact wording 
of Article 101 of the Treaty in Article 24 of th e Law or inserting an explicit reference to the 
prohibition under Article 101 of the Treaty. 
Reporting of Banka Slovenije   
3.12. The draft law
24 amends Article 26, concerning Banka Slovenije’s obligation to report on its 
activities. It specifies that Banka Slovenije reports  exclusively to the National Assembly of the 
Republic of Slovenia at least biannually. This provision does not seem fully to recognise Banka 
Slovenije’s specific position as an ESCB member and,  after the euro is in troduced, a Eurosystem 
member, subject to and reporting to its d ecision-making bodies, and the ECB recommends 
rewording it to this end.  
Application of provisions of the Law on banking 3.13. The proposed new Article 42.a of the Law
25 stipulates that the provisions of the Law on banking 
shall apply mutatis mutandis  to Banka Slovenije’s procedure. The ECB understands this provision 
only to apply to the use of the provisions of Ch apter XV (entitled ‘Procedure for adopting decisions 
                                                      
24  Article 7 of the draft law. 
25  Inserted by Article 18 of the draft law. 
7 in individual matters’) of the Law on banking26 in individual matters  falling within Banka 
Slovenije’s fields of competence. For reasons of clarity, the ECB recommends making it clearer which provisions of the Law on banki ng will apply to Banka Slovenije. 
Creation of provisions and assets in the valuation accounts 3.14. The ECB welcomes the two new articles
27 in Chapter 9 (entitled ‘Inco me, expenditure and assets of 
Banka Slovenije’) that refer to Banka Slovenije ’s position after the euro is introduced.  
3.15. The proposed new Article 49.a of the Law makes it possible to create provisions for anticipated 
exchange rate, interest rate and price risks, in or der to maintain the real value of assets. However, 
such provisions may not be created if, together w ith unrealised exchange ra te differences, securities 
valuation effects and gold valuation effects, th ey would exceed 20 % of established net profit. 
3.16. Under the proposed new Article 50.a of the Law,  the unrealised income deriving from exchange 
rate and price changes must be allocated in its en tirety to the valuation accounts, and it may only be 
used to cover unrealised expenditure deriving from  the same types of change. After the allocation 
of the assets to the valuation accounts, the net prof it must be allocated to general reserves and the 
Slovenian budget. 
Issue and distribution of banknotes and coins after introduction of the euro 3.17. The following provisions of the Law govern th e issue and distribution of banknotes and coins: 
Article 59; Article 60 (containing the amendment proposed in the draft law
28); and the proposed 
new Article 60.a29.  
3.18. In Article 59, the reference to Article 7 of the Law,  which historically concerns the issue of tolars 
as legal tender in Slovenia, should be deleted. This would reflect the fact that Banka Slovenije will 
no longer have the right to authorise the issue of ba nknotes with the status of legal tender. After the 
euro is introduced, such authorisation will deri ve from the Treaty and the Statute and will be 
closely linked to the exclusive right of the EC B’s Governing Council to authorise the issue of 
banknotes within the Eurosystem. The ECB therefor e suggests also inserting an explicit reference 
to Article 106(1) of the Treaty and Article 16 of the Statute. 
3.19. Article 60 of the Law should be furt her amended to reflect the fact that the ECB’s competence with 
respect to coin issue is limited to authorising the volume. 
3.20. The ECB suggests reconsidering Article 60.a, which appears to be obsolete due to the existence of 
Articles 59 and 60 of the Law. It should at the very least be amended to ensure that the 
predistribution of banknotes and coins denominated in euro is subject to the rules and conditions 
that will be set out in the relevant ECB legal acts. 
                                                      
26  Zakon o ban čništvu ; published in the Official Gazette of the Repub lic of Slovenia, Nos 7/99, 59/01, 55/03 and 42/04. 
27  Proposed new Articles 49.a and 50.a of the Law, in serted by Articles 24 and 25 of the draft law. 
28  Article 29 of the draft law. 
29  Inserted by  Article 30 of the draft law. 
8 3.21. Also, for reasons of legal clarity and certainty, and in order to avoid duplication, it would be 
advisable for the draft law specifically to repeal the entirety of Chapter 3, which will be obsolete 
once the euro is introduced. 
Banka Slovenije tasks in the implementation of monetary policy 3.22. The wording of the proposed amendment
30 to Article 58(2) of the Law (on Banka Slovenije’s tasks 
after the euro is introduced) should be amende d to state that Banka Slovenije ‘implements 
monetary policy’, without any reference to ‘def ining’ monetary policy. Indeed, pursuant to 
Article 12.1 of the Statute, the Community’s monetary policy is exclusively formulated by the Governing Council
31. 
3.23. Moreover, the proposed amendment32 to Article 61(2) of the Law (on Banka Slovenije’s tasks in 
the implementation of monetary policy after the eu ro is introduced) should also include a reference 
to Banka Slovenije’s responsibility for the general liquidity of the banking system, as specified in 
point 3 of Article 11 of the Law (which sets out the ESCB’s scope of competence), and not refer only to the tasks under point 1 of Article 11 of th e Law. In addition, the proposed amendment to 
Article 61(2) of the Law should include a specific abrogation of Article 45 of the Law; the latter relates to Banka Slovenije’s supervisory measu res in connection with the implementation of 
monetary policy and does not sufficiently recognise the ECB’s powers in this field. 
Asset management after introduction of the euro 3.24. Pursuant to the amendment to Article 62 proposed in the draft law
33, Banka Slovenije will from the 
introduction of the euro manage: (i) the official fo reign reserves that it has not transferred to the 
management of the ECB; (ii) its other assets; and (iii) any other assets entrusted to it. This does not 
sufficiently recognise the ECB’s powers in this field and could create the misleading impression 
that Banka Slovenije is autonomous as regards th e management of foreign reserve assets. The ECB 
would therefore like to draw attention to Article  31.2 of the Statute concerning foreign reserve 
assets held by NCBs: this provides that all operations  in foreign reserve assets remaining with the 
NCBs after the transfer of foreign reserve asset s to the ECB under Article 30 of the Statute must, 
above a certain limit to be estab lished within the framework of Article 31.3 of the Statute, be 
subject to approval by the ECB in order to ensure consistency with the exchange rate and monetary 
policies of the Community. To this end, an explic it reference to Article 31 of the Statute and the 
legal framework adopted on the basis thereof should be added. 
Exchange rate list of Banka Slovenije  
                                                      
30  Article 28 of the draft law. 
31  See paragraph 11 of ECB Opinion CON/2005/60 of 30 Decemb er 2005 at the request of Lietuvos bankas on a draft law 
amending the Lietuvos bankas Act. 
32  Article 31 of the draft law. 
33  Ibid., Article 32. 
9 3.25. Under the proposed amendment to Article 67 of the Law34, after the euro is introduced Banka 
Slovenije ‘shall publish an exchange rate list on the basis of the reference exchange rates of foreign 
currencies determined and published by the Eur opean Central Bank, and shall determine and 
publish exchange rates of foreign currencies that ar e not on the exchange rate list of the European 
Central Bank’. The ECB suggests rewording Artic le 67 to provide for the possibility of Banka 
Slovenije publishing euro foreign exchange refere nce rates set by the ECB and any other exchange 
rates that are not on the list published by the ECB.  Otherwise this provision could be misinterpreted 
as a mandatory requirement to publish exchange rates. 
International cooperation of Banka Slovenije 3.26. The proposed new Article 67.a of the law
35 provides that from the day of the introduction of the 
euro Banka Slovenije ‘shall participate in intern ational monetary organisa tions after prior approval 
by the ECB’. The ECB suggests bringing this wording closer to that of Article 6.2 of the Statute, 
under which the NCBs may participate in internatio nal monetary institutions ‘subject to’ the ECB’s 
approval. 
Infringements by banks, savings banks and other entities 3.27. Point 1 of both Article 68(1) and Article 69(1) of the Law
36 could be slightly amended to specify 
more clearly that the imposition of a fine for an infringement of the obligation to submit data and 
information required by Banka Slovenije in perform ing its tasks is without prejudice to the broader 
requirement to impose a sanction for an infringement of the obligation to submit the statistical data 
and information which Banka Slovenije needs to perform its tasks as an ESCB member. The 
relevant sanctions are already laid down in  the proposed new Article 67.b of the Law37, which 
concerns the ECB’s sanctions regime.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 13 March 2006. 
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                     
 
34  Ibid., Article 33. 
35  Inserted by Article 34 of the draft law. 
36  Containing the amendments proposed in Articl es 35 and 36, respectively, of the draft law. 
37  Inserted by Article 34 of the draft law.