EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 15 November 2007 
at the request of the Slovenian Office for money laundering prevention  
on a draft decree implementing Regulation (EC) No  1781/2006 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 15 November 2006 on information on  the payer accompanying transfers of funds 
(CON/2007/36) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 24 October 2007, the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Slovenian Office for 
money laundering prevention (hereinafter the ‘Office ’) for an opinion on a draft decree implementing 
Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 of the European Par liament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 on 
information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds (hereinafter the ‘draft decree’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third indent 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 
provisions1, as the draft decree relates to Banka Sloven ije. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Europ ean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft decree 
1.1 The purpose of the draft decree is to implement Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006. The draft decree: 
(i) establishes a list of offences  that relate to the infringement  of individual obligations under 
Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006; (ii) specifies the authorities responsible for monitoring 
implementation and taking decisions in offence proceedings; and (iii) provides for an exemption 
from Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006. 
1.2 Pursuant to Article 2 of the draft decree , Banka Slovenije is responsible for monitoring 
implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 and taking decisions with regard to the offences 
set out in the draft decree
2, with the exception of point 2 of Article 3(1) of the draft decree3 which 
                                                      
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  See Articles 3 and 4 of the draft decree. 
3  This relates to the case where a payment service provider fails to submit required information within three days of 
receiving a request from the Office. 
2 falls within the scope of the Office’s competence. By virtue of this provision, Banka Slovenije’s 
powers are expanded to include new tasks relate d to the prevention of money laundering and 
terrorist financing (in addition to those already contained in the Law on the prevention of money 
laundering and terrorist financing4) and in particular as regard s the imposition of sanctions in 
offence proceedings . In this context, the draft decree exte nds the range of entities subject to Banka 
Slovenije’s supervision. Under the Law on payment transactions5, only legal persons may act as 
payment service providers6 and are therefore subject to Banka Slovenije’s supervision. Since 
natural persons are covered by the definition of payment service provider in Article 2 of 
Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006, they would also fa ll within the scope of the Banka Slovenije’s 
supervision.  
 2. General observations 2.1 The ECB would like to reiterate
7 its commitment to contributing to the adoption, implementation 
and execution of measures preventing the use of th e financial system for terrorist activities, as 
expressed in its public statement of 1 October 2001. 
2.2 Without prejudice to the Governing Council’s powers under Article 14.4 of the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, the ECB considers that 
Bank Slovenije’s new tasks referred to in paragraph 1.2 would not in terfere with the objectives and 
tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Nevertheless, these new tasks would be performed on the responsibility and liability of Ba nka Slovenije, and would not be regarded as 
being part of the ESCB’s functions. 
2.3  The ECB understands that the underlying reason for allocating the tasks referred to in 
paragraph 1.2 to Banka Slovenije  is linked to its supervision of payment service providers. The 
ECB is of the opinion that monitoring implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006, as provided for under the draft decree, could further enhance the supervisory function. 
2.4 Banka Slovenije will have to commit additional resources, both human and financial, to carrying 
out the tasks referred to in paragraph 1.2. In this  context, the ECB has consistently emphasised that 
‘Member States may not put their NCBs in a position where they do not have sufficient financial resources to carry out their ESCB- or Eu rosystem-related tasks, as applicable’
8. Accordingly, the 
ECB expects that, when granting additional tasks to Banka Slovenije, due care will be taken to 
                                                      
4  Zakon o prepre čevanju pranja denarja in financiranja terorizma , adopted on 22 June 2007, published in the Official 
Gazette No 60/2007.  
5  Zakon o pla čilnem prometu , adopted on 20 March 2002, published in the O fficial Gazette No 3/2002. The Law as last 
amended by the Law on banking (Official Gazette No 131/2006). 
6  Article 3, point 8, in conjunction with Article 4 of the Law on payment transactions. 
7  See ECB Opinion CON/2007/10 of 16 April 2007 on an amendment to the Law XV of 2003 on the prevention and 
combating of money laundering. 
8  See e.g. the ECB’s Convergence Report 2007, p. 19, available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.int .  
3 ensure that it has sufficient financial and personne l resources, both in terms of quantity and quality, 
to carry out all its tasks, and in particular that its capacity to carry out its Eurosystem-related tasks 
will not be affected9. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 15 November 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB  
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                     
 
9  See paragraph 3.3 of ECB Opinion C ON/2007/29 of 5 October 2007 at the request of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance 
and Public Administration on a draft decree-law amending the legal framework of credit institutions and financial 
companies, paragraph 2.1 of ECB Opinion CON/ 2007/23 of 2 August 2007 at the request of Banca Na ţională a României 
on a draft law on non-banking financial institutions, and para graph 3.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/17 of 18 June 2007 at 
the request of the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs a nd Finance on a draft law on the regulation and supervision of 
markets and the functioning of the competent independent authorities.