EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 18 April 2016 
on the auditing of Banka Slovenije’s business operations 
(CON/2016/24) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 23 March 2016 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Banka Slovenije (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 Banka Slovenij e. 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 
Banka Slovenije is currently subject to an audit of its financial accounts pursuant to Article 27.1 of the 
Statute of the European System of Central Banks an d of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the 
‘Statute of the ESCB’). The purpose of the draft law is to also establish rules for the auditing of Banka Slovenije’s operations by the national Court of Audit, which would be compatible with the principle of 
central bank independence. The draft law provides for the introduction of these rules by adding a new 
Article to the Law on Banka Slovenije
2. 
 
2. Observations  2.1 As stated in past ECB opinions, notably in relation to various Slovenian draft legislative initiatives
3, 
whereas a state auditor may not undertake the audit of an NCB’s financial accounts, it is possible 
for a state audit office or similar body that controls the use of public finances, such as the Court of Audit, to undertake an audit in respect of an NCB’s activities and use of public finances. However, 
any state audit office or similar body entrusted with such competences must be subject to a number of safeguards designed to ensure compliance with the principle of central bank 
independence: (a) the scope of the control should be clearly defined by the legal framework; (b) the activities of the NCB’s independent external auditors should not be prejudiced; (c) in line with the 
principle of institutional independence, as enshrined in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of the 
                                                 
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  Zakon o Banki Slovenije (ZBS-1) (Ur. l. RS No 72/06 – official consolidated text, and 59/11).  
3  See Opinions CON/2015/57, CON/2015/8 and CON/2014/25. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website 
at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 Statute of the ESCB, the audit should: (i) comply with the prohibition on giving instructions to an 
NCB and its decision-making bodies, (ii) not interfere with the NCB’s ESCB-related tasks, and (iii) be carried out on a non-political, independent and purely professional basis. 
2.2 The ECB welcomes the fact that by establishing rules for the auditing of Banka Slovenije the draft 
law aims to take into account the principle of central bank independence and the related 
safeguards referred to in paragraph 2.1. In this res pect, it is noted that, according to Article 1 of the 
Law on the Court of Audit
4, the Court is the supreme audit institution for the supervision of the 
state’s accounts, the state budget and all public spending in Slovenia. In relation to other state 
authorities, the Court of Audit is an autonomous and independent authority. The scope of control of the Court of Audit in relation to Banka Slovenije’s operations is defined in paragraph 1 of the new 
Article introduced by the draft law. This paragraph provides that the Court of Audit must audit the ‘regularity’ and ‘efficiency’ of Banka Slovenije’s business operations. These terms derive from the 
Law on the Court of Audit: a ‘regularity audit’ is therein defined as ‘obtaining relevant and sufficient 
data to enable an opinion to be expressed on the compliance of the business operations with regulations and guidelines that any user of public funds is required to observe in the conduct of the 
operations’, while an ‘efficiency’ audit is one of the three types of audit that are categorised as so-called ‘performance audits’, which are defined as ‘obtaining relevant and sufficient data to enable 
an opinion to be expressed on the economy, efficiency  and effectiveness of the business 
operations’, respectively
5. Audits of the efficiency of Banka Slovenije’s business operations relate 
to the fields of its organisation, administration,  human resources and general operational efficiency. 
In this manner, and taken together with the explicit provision in paragraph 6 of the new Article 
introduced by the draft law, which states that when discharging its auditing duties, the Court of 
Auditors may not interfere with the activities of independent external auditors appointed in accordance with Article 52 of the Law on Banka Slovenije, the draft law also ensures that the Court 
of Audit may not audit the financial accounts of Banka Slovenije and interfere with or prejudice the activities of Banka Slovenije’s independent external auditors appointed in accordance with 
Article 27.1 of the Statute of the ESCB. 
Furthermore, paragraph 2 of the new Article introduced by the draft law explicitly excludes any 
actions representing the performance of duties under the Law on Banka Slovenije and the Statute 
of the ESCB from the scope of audit. This provisio n is important in that it ensures that the audit 
does not interfere with Banka Slovenije’s tasks
6. In this context, the ECB would remind the 
Slovenian authorities that, in line with the principle of independence specific to banking supervision, as set out in Article 19 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013
7, which applies to both the ECB 
and the national competent authorities when acting within the Single Supervisory Mechanism 
(SSM), as well as the limitations provided in  Article 27.2 of the Statute of the ESCB and 
Article 20(7) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 in relation to the supervisory tasks conferred on the 
                                                 
4  Zakon o ra čunskem sodiš ču (ZRacS-1) (Ur. l. RS No 11/01 and 109/12).  
5  See Article 20(1) of the Law on the Court of Audit in conjunction with Article 20(3) thereof.  
6  Pursuant to Article 2 of the Law on Banka Slovenije, the principle of central bank independence should be respected 
not only when Banka Slovenije performs ESCB-related tasks, but also when it performs national tasks. 
7  Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 of 15 October 2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank 
concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63). 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 ECB, the audit should: (a) not extend to the application and interpretation of supervisory law and 
practices in the context of the SSM; this is of particular importance in determining the scope of the abovementioned ‘regularity’ audit; (b) not interfere with and not include the tasks conferred on the 
ECB by Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013, nor be extended so that it results in an indirect audit of the ECB; and (c) be carried out on a non-political, independent and purely professional basis
8. The 
draft law and its implementation should ensure that these principles are respected. 
The ECB understands that by referring in paragraph 3 of the new Article introduced by the draft law 
to ‘recommendations’ of the Court of Audit and to the ‘comply or explain’ principle, the draft law 
aims to ensure that Banka Slovenije is not bound by the opinion of the Court of Audit and that the Court of Audit may not therefore give instructions to Banka Slovenije
9. To ensure compliance with 
the principle of central bank independence, the provision in paragraph 5 of the new Article proposed by the draft law is also relevant as excludes from the general duties and competences of 
the Court of Audit the proposal of the dismissal of a responsible person in certain cases laid down 
in the Law on the Court of Audit, with respect to the members of the Governing Board of Banka 
Slovenije
10. 
2.3 With reference to paragraphs 4 and 7 of the new Article proposed by the draft law, it is noted that 
reference is made to Article 37 of the Statute of the ESCB and also to the rules of the ESCB. For 
the sake of completeness, the ECB recommends that, in addition to references made to Article 37 
of the Statute of the ESCB and to the relevant ESCB rules, reference should also be made to the 
applicable Union laws, including those governing the exchange of statistical and supervisory 
information. 
2.4 Finally, in case this draft law undergoes substantial amendments of a non-technical nature 
compared with the version received and opined on herein, the ECB should be consulted in relation to those amendments
11.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 18 April 2016. 
 [signed] 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
8  See paragraph 4.3 of Opinion CON/2015/57.  
9  It is noted that Article 2 of the Law on Banka Slovenije does not contain a prohibition against the Government and 
other bodies giving instructions to Banka Slovenije or seeking to influence the members of its decision-making 
bodies; however a prohibition to this effect is contained in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of the Statute of the ESCB.
 
10  See Article 29 of the Law on the Court of Audit.  
11  See the Guide to consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions, dated October 2015. The Guide is available on the ECB’s website at www.europa.eu.