EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 12 December 2005  
at the request of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic on a draft law amending the State 
Treasury Act 
(CON/2005/55) 
 1. On 27 October 2005 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Ministry of 
Finance of the Slovak Republic on a draft law amending the Act No 291/2002 Coll. on the State Treasury and on amendments to certain laws, as last amended, and amending the Act No 523/2004 
Coll. on the budgetary rules of public administrati on and on amendments to  certain laws, as last 
amended (hereinafter the ‘draft law’).  
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consulta tion of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft law contains provisions concerning a 
national central bank (NCB). In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of 
Procedure of the European Central Bank, th e Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
3. According to the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, the amendments proposed in the draft 
law are based on practical experience with the operation of the State Treasury system in 2004 and 2005 and their main objective is to facilitate the maintenance and further development of the State 
Treasury system as an advanced tool for managing public finance in Slovakia. The ECB also notes 
that the draft law amends a number of provisions  of the current version of the Act No 291/2002 
Coll. on the State Treasury and on amendments to certain laws, as last amended (hereinafter the 
‘State Treasury Act’) in relation to Národná bank a Slovenska’s (NBS)  fiscal agency tasks and its 
compliance with the prohibition on monetary financing under Article 101(1) of the Treaty 
establishing the European Community.  
4. It is noted that the ECB was consulted recently on amendments to the Act No 566/1992 Coll. on 
Národná banka Slovenska, as last am ended (hereinafter the ‘NBS Act’)
2. In its Opinion 
CON/2005/26, the ECB assessed whether the proposed amendments to the NBS Act complied with 
the prohibition on monetary financing under the Tr eaty and also considered the the relevant 
                                                      
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  ECB Opinion CON/2005/26 of 4 August 2005 at the request of Národná banka Slovenska on a draft law amending the 
Act No 566/1992 Coll. on NBS, as amende d, and on amendments to certain laws. 
2 provisions of the State Treasury Act, noting  that ‘both the draft law3 [amending the NBS Act] and 
the State Treasury Act contain important safeguard s ensuring the compatibility of such operations 
with the prohibition on monetary financing contai ned in Article 101(1) of the Treaty establishing 
the European Community4’. Moreover, the ECB welcomed the new provisions concerned and noted 
that ‘the services currently provided by NBS to the State Treasury and the Agency for Debt and 
Liquidity Management do not appear to go beyond the scope of what is permissible5’. 
5. The ECB notes that the draft law partially reform ulates the provisions of the State Treasury Act 
concerning the ‘single account6’, which is a memorandum account containing a summary of the 
balances of all State Treasury accounts held with  NBS. The draft law provides for a new State 
Treasury client named the ‘State Debt’. Fina ncial operations performed on the State Debt’s 
accounts relate to financing of the state budget de ficit and the state debt, risk management and 
investment of temporarily uncommitted resources7. The ECB notes too that the State Debt may also 
open an account with NBS outside the scope of the State Treasury scheme in order to invest temporarily uncommitted resources and to carry  out financial operations relating to risk 
management. While the draft law lif ts the existing obligation for individual State Treasury accounts 
held with NBS to show a credit balance
8, the ECB welcomes the fact that the draft law stipulates 
that the single account9 held with the State Treasury as well as the State Debt account10 held with 
NBS must at all times show a credit balance. At the same time the ECB notes that pursuant to the 
NBS Act, NBS may carry out payments from State Treasury accounts only up to the level of the credit balance on these accounts
11. Finally, the ECB takes note that the draft law does not amend 
any existing provisions of the State Treasury Act which ensure compliance with the prohibition on 
overdraft facilities or any other type of credit fac ility with NBS in favour of the State Treasury as 
laid down in Article 101(1) of the Treaty. In fact, the draft law reproduces the important safeguard that the single account must at all times show a credit balance.
12 In order to ensure that the State 
Treasury observes its obligations in this respect, ther e are also safeguards to ensure that (i) only the 
State Treasury is empowered to settle payments from State Treasury accounts held with NBS and recorded in the single account
13; (ii) a client of the State Treasury  may request the State Treasury to 
execute expenditure only if the request for execution of the payment has been approved by the State 
                                                      
3  It is noted that the draft law [amending the NBS Ac t], which was the subject of ECB Opinion CON/2005/26, was 
published on 28 November 2005 in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic as the Act No 519/2005 Coll. on 
amendments to the Act No 566/1992 Coll. on Národná banka Slov enska, as amended, and on am endments to certain laws.  
4  See Paragraph 12 of ECB Opinion CON/2005/26. 
5  Ibid. 
6  See the proposed new Article 11 (1) of the State Treasury Act. 
7  See the proposed new Article 2c (1) of the State Treasury Act. 
8  Currently provided for in Article 11(2) of the State Treasury Act. 
9  See the proposed new Article 11 (2) of the State Treasury Act. 
10  See the proposed new Article 2c (5) of the State Treasury Act. 
11  Article 25(2) of the NBS Act. 
12  See the proposed new Article 11 (2) of the State Treasury Act. 
13  See the proposed new Article 11 (4) of the State Treasury Act. 
3 Treasury14; and (iii) the State Treasury must compare th e request for execution of the payment with 
the credit balance on the client account. Where ther e is a discrepancy between the total payment 
stated in the request for payment execution and the credit balance on the client account, the State 
Treasury may not approve the request for payment ex ecution and must inform the client thereof at 
the latest within one working day following th e maturity date of the requested payment15. 
6. The ECB takes note that the draft law refers to the State Treasury’s obligation ‘to compile 
aggregate data intended for intern ational organisations and the Eur opean Union in accordance with 
the requirements of the Ministry of Finance16’. In this context, the ECB notes that NBS and 
Štatistický úrad Slovenskej Republik y have to provide annual and quarterly government finance 
statistics in compliance with Community law, including with the requirements laid down in 
Guideline ECB/2005/5 of 17 February 2005 on th e statistical reporting requirements of the 
European Central Bank and the procedures for ex changing statistical information within the 
European System of Central Banks in th e field of government finance statistics17. In this regard, the 
basic statistical information provided by the St ate Treasury should ideally support the efficient 
performance of this obligation. A progressive a lignment of the Slovak public accounting system 
with national accounting standards would also su pport the provision of reliable information on 
public finances. 
7. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 12 December 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                     
 
14  See the proposed new Articles 9(4) and 9a(5) of the State Treasury Act. 
15  See the proposed new Articles 9(5) and 9a(6) of the State Treasury Act. 
16  See the proposed new Article 6(3 )(b) of the State Treasury Act. 
17  OJ L 109, 29.4.2005, p. 81.