EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 11 February 2008 
at the request of Banca Na ţională a României 
on two draft emergency ordinances amending Law No 58/1934 on bills of exchange and 
promissory notes and Law No 59/1934 on cheques 
(CON/2008/7) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 13 December 2007 the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a 
României (BNR) for an opinion on two draft emerge ncy ordinances (hereinafter the ‘draft emergency 
ordinances’) amending Law No 58/1934 on bills of ex change and promissory notes and Law No 59/1934 
on cheques, respectively. 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the second and fifth indents 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 provisions1, as the draft emergency ordinances relate to  means of payment, and to payment and 
settlement systems. 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 emergency ordinances 
In contrast to credit payment instruments, which may already be electronically processed under Romanian 
law, manual processing of paper-based debit payment inst ruments such as cheques, bills of exchange and 
promissory notes is currently the only permitted op tion. The main purpose of the proposed amendments 
introduced by the draft emergency ordinances is therefore to allow the electronic processing and 
presentment for payment of such debit payment instru ments as an alternative to their manual processing. 
In detail, the objectives of the draft emergency ordinan ces are as follows: (i) to regulate truncation; (ii) to 
define the concept of signature on cheques, bills of ex change and promissory notes more clearly; (iii) to 
eliminate post-dated cheques, the allonge  and data/references to data on the back of cheques, bills of 
exchange and promissory notes; and (iv) to introd uce a single period for presenting a cheque for payment, 
regardless of whether it is payable in the city where it was issued. 
 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 2. General observations 
The ECB welcomes the amendments proposed in the draft emergency ordinances, which will implement 
an automated processing solution for cheques, bills of  exchange and promissory notes in Romania. The 
use of truncation and electronic presentment for paym ent can increase efficiency in the clearing and 
settlement of such debit payment instruments.  
 3. Secondary legislation The draft emergency ordinances state that BNR will i ssue secondary legislation to implement them. Once 
such secondary legislation has been drafted, BNR s hould consider whether it would be appropriate to 
submit it to the ECB for consultation. As the ECB has pr eviously stated in this regard ‘an opinion should 
only be sought from the ECB on such draft secondary legisl ation if the subject matter is closely related to 
the ECB’s tasks and if the impact on areas within the ECB’s fields of competence is different from that 
resulting from the primary legislation itself’
2.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 11 February 2008. 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
2  See the Guide to consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorit ies regarding draft legislative provisions, 
p. 14. Also paragraph 2.5 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/ 27 of 21 September 2007 at the request of Banca Na ţională a 
României on a draft regulation on oversight of payment system s, securities settlement syst ems and payment instruments. 
Both available on the ECB’ s website at www.ecb.int.