EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 29 August 2013 
on a new statistical task of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique  
(CON/2013/68) 
 Introduction and legal basis 
On 29 July 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) r eceived a request from the Vice Prime Minister and 
Minister for Economy, Consumers and North Sea, for an opinion on a draft law entrusting a new statistical task to the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Na tionale de Belgique (NBB) (hereinafter the 
‘draft law’).   
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the fourth i ndent 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 relates to the collection, compilation and distribution of 
monetary statistics. In accordance with the first senten ce 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  The draft law
2 relates to the allocation of statistical  tasks between the National Institute of 
Statistics, the National Accounts Ins titute and the NBB. In this resp ect: (a) the National Institute of 
Statistics is the national statistical authority in Belgium in accordance with Article 5(1) of Council 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Pa rliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on 
European statistics3; (b) the NBB collects and compiles statistics in its fields of competence in 
accordance with Article 5 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the 
European Central Bank and Council Regulati on (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 
concerning the collection of statistical in formation by the European Central Bank4; and (c) the 
National Accounts Institute is an independent bod y endowed with legal pe rsonality and subject to 
oversight by the Ministry of Economic Affairs which is responsible for providing government 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 Article 2 of the draft law, amending Article 108 of the Law of 21 December 1994 on social and other provisions 
(hereinafter the ‘Law of 21 December 1994’) with regard to the creation of the National Accounts Institute.   
3 OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.  
4 OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8. 
ECB-PUBLIC 
2 finance statistics5 with the support of the NBB and the Fede ral Office for Planning. Since 1994, the 
NBB has compiled the national, regional and public  sector accounts, which serve as a basis for the 
production of excessive deficit procedure (EDP ) statistics by the National Accounts Institute6. The 
NBB has therefore developed specific expertise in  EDP statistics, which is complementary to 
financial banking statistics and the compilation of  annual accounts of Belgian undertakings by the 
NBB central balance sheet office. 
1.2 The draft law formally recognises these existing arrangements by: (a) entrusting the National 
Accounts Institute with responsibility for providi ng EDP statistics; and (b) providing that the 
National Accounts Institute will be assisted in th e compilation of these EDP statistics by the NBB, 
which will, for this purpose, rely on data collect ed by the National Institute of Statistics and 
compiled by the National Accounts Institute as well as on data transmitted by entities subject to 
reporting obligations  to the National Accounts Ins titute or via the general database established on 
1 October 19917. It is proposed that the Belgian State will compensate the NBB in advance and on 
an annual basis in respect of additional costs directly related to the compilation of the abovementioned statistics in accordance with an ag reement to be entered into between the Belgian 
State and the NBB
8.  
1.3 The explanatory memorandum states that the a bovementioned amendments are designed to reflect 
the fact that the provision of EDP statisti cs is now a stand-alone task under Council 
Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive 
deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community9. Carrying out this 
new task requires additional financial and human resources, as the European Commission 
(Eurostat)10 has recommended improving the coverage, timing and accuracy of EDP statistics. 
 2.  General observations 2.1 The ECB notes that, in compliance with Regulation No 479/2009, the draft law vests statutory 
responsibility for EDP statistics with the National A ccounts Institute, which will be assisted in the 
task of compiling such statistics by the NBB. Th e ECB considers that entrusting the NBB with this 
new statistical task is compatible with its Eur opean System of Central Banks (ESCB) tasks. The 
ECB welcomes the fact that the draft law formalises a pre-existing practical arrangement, thus improving the transparency of institutional arrange ments and the division of responsibilities with 
respect to the compilation and provision of EDP statistics. 
                                                 
5 By virtue of Article 108 of the Law of 21 December 1994, the National Accounts Institute provides the National 
Accounts, the Financial Accounts, the annual and quarterly accounts of Gene ral Government, the quarterly national 
accounts and the gross regional products. 
6 Article 109, third paragraph, of the Law of 21 December 1994. 
7 Article 3 of the draft law amending the third paragr aph of Article 109 of the Law of 21 December 1994.   
8 Article 4 of the draft law amending Article 118 of the Law of 21 December 1994. 
9 OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. 
10 European Commission (Eurostat), Final Findings, EDP dialogue visit to Belgium, 27 June 2012, available at the Eurostat 
website at http://epp.eu rostat.ec.europa.eu.  
ECB-PUBLIC 
3 2.2 The ECB notes that the assumption of new task s by a national central bank (NCB) in the ESCB 
should generally not infringe upon the NCB’s inde pendent execution of tasks within the ESCB 
framework and the NCB’s existing tasks11. The ECB considers that the draft law raises no concerns 
regarding the financing of the performance of this  task by the NBB, since it provides for the  
compensation of the NBB in advance, on an annual basis, in respect of additional costs directly 
related to the compilation of EDP statistics.  
2.3 The ECB notes that, as the statistical authority b earing the ultimate responsibility for the provision 
of EDP statistics, the National Accounts Institute shall be responsible for the permanent dialogue 
with the Commission in accordance with Artic les 11 to 13 of Regul ation No 479/2009. In 
accordance with Article 12.2 of Regulation 479/2009,  the NBB shall, in respect of services directly 
or indirectly involved in the production of govern ment accounts, provide Commission officials with 
the assistance necessary to carry out their duties,  including making documents available to justify 
the reported actual deficit and debt da ta and the underlying government accounts12. As the 
Commission (Eurostat) has the right to access the accounts of all government entities in the context 
of its methodological visits, this may require the assistance of other national authorities who have a 
functional responsibility for the control of public accounts. As EDP statistics do not fall within the 
ambit of ESCB tasks, the ECB considers that th e NBB’s assumption of this new statistical task, 
along with the conduct of dialogue and methodological  visits by the Commission, in conjunction 
with the National Accounts Institute, raises no con cerns as regards the functional independence of 
the NBB, which is safeguarded under the Treaty and the Organic Statute of the NBB in respect of 
the ESCB tasks performed by the NBB13.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 August 2013.  
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI  
                                                 
11 See paragraph 2 of Opinion CON/2013/56. 
12 OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1.  
13 See Article 22.1 of the Law of 22 February 1998 establishing the Organic Statute of the NBB.