EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 13 March 2002
at the request of the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry on a draft
decree amending the Decree governing fina ncial relations with foreign countries
(CON/2002/09)
1. On 25 February 2002, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the French
Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry for an opinion on a draft decree amending theDecree governing financial relations with foreign countries (hereinafter referred to as the draft
decree).
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty
establishing the European Community, the second indent of Article 4(a) of the Statute of theEuropean System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank and the fourth indent ofArticle 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 decree relates to the collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial,banking, payment systems and balance of payments statistics. In accordance with the firstsentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank
2, the
Governing Council of the ECB has adopted this opinion.
3. The draft decree amends Decree No 89/938 of 29 December 1989, as amended, governing
financial relations with foreign countries. Title II of Decree No 89/938 of 29 December 1989, asamended, lays down provisions relating to statistical reporting carried out for the purpose ofFrance's balance of payments and international investment position statistics. While previouslythe companies involved in direct reporting were defined according to an overall amount ofsettlements in goods and services vis-à-vis non-resident counterparts, according to the draftdecree, companies or groups of companies for which transactions with foreign countries for atleast one category of service or income of the balance of payments exceed during one calendaryear an amount determined by order have to report directly to the Banque de France all theiroperations conducted with foreign countries or in France with non-residents.
                                                     
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
2 OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p 34.
24. The ECB welcomes the proposed amendments. Reference is made to transactions, instead of
settlements, which is in line with the opinion of July 2001 of the Committee for Monetary,Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics. A reporting threshold for balance of paymentsstatistics of EUR 12 500 for banks was introduced from 1 January 2002 in anticipation of thetime limit of 1 July 2002 laid down by Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the EuropeanParliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro
3.
Following the introduction of this threshold, certain information concerning some balance ofpayments items, mainly services and income, will be lost. Therefore, with a view to maintaining
the quality of statistics, it is important, as proposed in the draft decree, to collect from otherreporting agents statistical information on services and income for the purpose of balance ofpayments.
5. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this
opinion publicly available at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 13 March 2002.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG
                                                     
3 OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 13.