EN ECB -PUBLIC  
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 25 August  2022  
on the reporting to the Central Bank of Ireland of certain insurance data  
(CON/20 22/27) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 1 July 2022 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Chairman of the Oireachtas  
(Irish National Parliament) Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach 
(hereinafter the ‘Catha oirleach ’) for an opinion on the Judicial Co uncil (Amendment) Bill 2021 (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/EC1, as 
the draft law relates to the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) . 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 As noted in the Catha oirleach’s consultation request, t he purpose of the draft law is to make provision 
for the reporting of the effects of  the personal injuries guidelines adopted by the Irish Judicial Council2 
on the cost of insurance. These personal injuries g uidelines contain general guidelines as to the level 
of damages that may be awarded or assessed in re lation  to personal injuries3. 
1.2 The draft law allows the Minister for  Finance to make regulations that shall require insur ance 
provider s to provide information to the C BI about the effect of the personal injuries guidelines on 
individuals who hold insurance policies with insurance providers. The regulations may specify the 
information to be provided under the draft law each year for  a period of four years . This information 
may include, for example, amounts paid under relevant insurance policies or charged by providers 
by way of premiums under such policies . The draft law requires the CBI to present  a report , at least 
annually , that relates to information collected under the draft law , to the Minister for Finance,  who 
must lay that report before each House of the Oireachtas4.  
 
 
1  Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29  June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p.42).  
2  These guidelines have been given effect under the Judicial Council Act 2019 . 
3  See section 90(1)  of the  Judicial Council Act 2019.  
4  See section  2 of the draft law, setting out a new section 100 to be inserted into the Judicial Council Act 2019.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
2 2. Assessment of the CBI’s task under the draft law  
2.1 The ECB understands that the CBI will be tasked with collecting and managing the information 
collected under the draft law and analysing it in order to ascertain whether reductions in personal 
injury awards and corresponding impact on the costs of claims are being passed on by insurers to 
policyholders.  
2.2 The draft law does not substantially extend or change the existing tasks of the CBI. Under the Central 
Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018, the CBI is given the general task  to provide 
for the collection and study of data from insurance undertakings on the income generated by, and 
costs associated with, the carrying on of relevant non -life insurance business5. The same Act sets 
out examples of the type of data which the CBI may collect from insurance undertakings6. In addition, 
under the same Act, the CBI is tasked with, at least annually, publishing a report about that data for the purpose of, inter alia, increasing the level of information as concerns the relationship between 
insurance premiums and related costs, identifying the factors that cause movements in the price of 
relevant non- life insurance business, presenting statistical analyses of income and costs related to 
providing relevant non- life insurance business, and presenting a statistical analysis of each particular 
settlement channel used in respect of such claims
7. 
2.3 It follows that the draft law does not confer a new task on the CBI, but rather specifies further 
examples of the type of information that the CBI shall collect . Consequently, it is not necessary to 
assess whether the conferral of a new task on a national central bank complies with the prohibition 
of monetary financing in this case.  
 
3. Reimbursement of the CBI  
3.1 The ECB recalls that in a previous opinion it assessed  the conferral on  the CBI of the general task  
of studying and reporting data under the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Bill 
2018 for its compliance with the prohibition of  monetary f inancing under Article 123 of the Treaty. For 
the purposes of that prohibition, Article 1(1)(b)(ii) of Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/938 defines 
‘other type of credit facility’, inter alia, as “any financing of the public sector’s obligations vis -à-vis 
third parties ”. Therefore , the task of financing measures, which are normally the responsibility of the 
Member States, and which are financed from their budgetary sources rather than by the national 
central banks (NCBs) in the European System of Central Ba nks (ESCB) , must not be entrusted to 
NCBs. Applying the criteria endorsed by the Governing Council for determining what may be seen 
as falling within the scope of a public sector obligation within the meaning of Article 1(1)(b)(ii) of Regulation (EC) No 3603/93, the ECB found that the CBI’s task under the Central Bank (National 
Claims Information Database) Bill 2018 is a government task, i.e. a task within the responsibilities of 
the Member State, not a central bank task
9. 
 
5  See section 8(2) of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018.  
6  See section 8(4) of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018.  
7  See section 8(6) and (7) of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018.  
8  Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 specifying definitions for the application of the prohibitions 
referred to in Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty (OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p.1).  
9  See paragraphs 2.2 to 2.10 of  Opinion  CON/2018/43. All ECB Opinions are available on EUR -Lex. 
ECB -PUBLIC  
3 3.2 Consequently, in order to ensur e compliance with the monetary financing prohibition, the CBI had to 
be fully and adequately remunerated for carrying out the task of collecting and studying data from 
insurance undertakings on the income and expenditure associated with the carrying on of business 
of certain relevant classes of non- life insurance business. Because of this, the ECB invited the 
consulting authority to clarify that any anticipated or actual shortfall of funds to defray the CBI’s 
expenses will always be granted by the Minister for Finance on a regular and prompt basis as the 
costs arise to ensure that the CBI does not have to fund the cost of its task from its own funds. In addition, the ECB suggested that it could be helpful to clarify that repayment terms for amounts 
advanced by the Minister for Finance are, in all cases, subject to the overarching principle that the 
CBI may not use funds from its own resources to defray its expenses with respect to this task
10. 
3.3 The ECB notes  that under existing Irish law , the CBI shall not provide any funds from its own 
resources to defray the CBI’s expenses incurred in the performance of the  general task under the 
Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018. Rather, the CBI’s expenses are 
defrayed by levies to be paid by insurance undertakings or by advances from the Minister for 
Finance11.  
3.4 Since the task of CBI set down in the draft law is a specification of the CBI’s general task in relation to informatio n collected from non- life insurance undertakings under the Central Bank ( National 
Claims Information Database) Act 2018, which in turn is a government task, the requirement of full 
and adequate remuneration of CBI also applies to the draft law. As the draf t law is drafted as a 
standalone bill, the reimbursement mechanism set out in section 11 of the Central Bank ( National 
Claims Information Database) Act 2018 would not apply directly to the specifications developed in the draft law. The draft law does not i ntroduce a comparable reimbursement mechanism. In order to 
ensure compliance with the prohibition of monetary financing under Article 123 of the Treaty, and in 
order to ensure consistency in the financing of the CBI’s existing general task  and its proposed 
specific ations  under the draft law, the ECB suggests introduc ing a comparable reimbursement 
mechanism in respect of the latter .  
 
This opinion will be published on EUR -Lex.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 August 2022.  
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB  
Christine L AGARDE  
 
10  See paragraph 2. 6.3 of Opinion CON/2018/43.  
11  See section 11 of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018.