EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
 OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 5 December 2013  
on the legal status of Lietuvos bankas’ assets and the scope of its public audit 
(CON/2013/85) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 11 November 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Lithuanian 
Ministry of Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Lietuvos bankas and on a draft law amending the Law on the State Audit Office (hereina fter together the ‘draft laws’). On 26 November 
2013, the ECB received updated draft laws, wh ich form the basis of this opinion. 
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 Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions
1, as the draft laws relate to Lietuvos bank as. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Eur opean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft laws 
1.1 The draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos ba nkas are aimed at specifying the legal status of 
Lietuvos bankas’ assets in order to address con cerns about the institutional and financial 
independence of Lietuvos bankas. The draft amendm ents to the Law on the State Audit Office are 
intended to define the scope of the public aud it of Lietuvos bankas conducted by the State Audit 
Office. 
 As part of the preparations for the introduction of  the euro in Lithuania,  the draft laws aim at 
dealing with the Lithuanian legal non-converg ence issues referred to in  the ECB’s Convergence 
Reports of 2010 and 2012
2. 
1.2 The draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos banka s explicitly specify that the Lithuanian State’s 
ownership in Lietuvos bankas is expressed by the capital of Lietuvos bankas and that Lietuvos 
bankas has legal title to the assets belonging to it. 
1.3 The draft amendments to the Law on the State Audit Office specify that the public audit of 
Lietuvos bankas conducted by the State Audit Office: (a) is without prejudice to the activities of 
                                                 
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2 See the ECB’s Convergence Report, of 2012, p. 242. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 Lietuvos bankas’ independent external auditors; (b) covers Lietuvos bankas’ performance audit, 
with the exception of its European System of Ce ntral Banks and Eurosystem tasks; and (c) respects 
Lietuvos bankas’ independence and prohibits the State Audit Office from giving instructions to Lietuvos bankas, the members of its decision-ma king bodies and staff as regards the performance 
of their tasks.  
 In the Law on the State Audit Office, the term ‘p erformance audit’ is defined as ‘evaluation of the 
economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the publ ic and internal administration activities of the 
audited entity’
3. 
 2. Legal status of Lietuvos bankas’ assets 2.1 The ECB welcomes the fact th at the draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos bankas clarify the 
legal status of Lietuvos bankas’ assets as well as th e State’s ownership in Lietuvos bankas, which is 
expressed by the capital of Lietuvos bankas. 
2.2 The ECB also welcomes the fact that the legal status of Lietuvos bankas’ assets is specified by 
virtue of the law. The ECB understands that the requirement for Lietuvos bankas to apply to an 
administrative authority, i.e. the State Enterprise Cent re of Registers, with regard to the change of 
the rights in rem  of its assets, for which no deadline is given
4, is part of national administrative 
procedures and does not make the specification of the legal status of Lietuvos bankas’ assets conditional upon the actions of Li etuvos bankas or of those of the administrative authorities. 
2.3 Based on this understanding, the draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos bankas address the 
ECB’s concerns as regards the institutional and financial independence of Lietuvos bankas, as 
raised in previous ECB opinions
5 and Convergence Reports6. 
2.4 Since that clarification will continue to apply if and when Lithuania adopts the euro, the Law on 
Lietuvos bankas that will enter into force on the introduction of the euro in Lithuania7 should also 
be amended accordingly. Additiona lly, if the provisions of such future draft law amending the 
abovementioned Law on Lietuvos bankas that will en ter into force on the introduction of the euro 
in Lithuania are different from the provisions of the current draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos bankas, the ECB should be consulted on such a future draft law. 
 
                                                 
3 Article 2(8) of the Law on the State Audit Office. 
4 Article 2 of the draft amendments to the Law on Lietuvos bankas. 
5 See paragraph 2.1 of Opinion CON/2010/ 42; paragraph 4.3.1 of Opinion CON/2011/ 91; and paragraph 3.4.2. of Opinion 
CON/2011/99. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at  www.ecb.europa.eu. 
6 See the ECB’s Convergence Report, 2012, p. 242. 
7 Law amending Articles 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12,  14, 19, 20, 25, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 47, 49 , 50, 53, 54, 54(1), 55, titles of fourth 
and fifth sections, repealing Articles 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 37 and supplem enting the Annex to the Law on Lietuvos 
bankas. Valstybės žinios , 29-04-2006, No 48–1699. Pursuant to Article 33 of th is Law, it will come in to force on the date 
on which the Council of the European Union abrogates the dero gation of Lithuania in accordance with the procedure laid 
down in Article 140(2)  of the Treaty. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 3. Scope of the public audit of Lietuvos bankas 
The ECB welcomes the fact that the scope of the pu blic audit of Lietuvos bankas conducted by the State 
Audit Office is clarified in national legislation,  which addresses the ECB’s concerns stated in the 
Convergence Reports as regards Lietuvos bankas’ independence8. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 December 2013. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
8 See ECB’s Convergence Report, 2012, p. 242.