EN ECB -PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 26 April 2013  
on a consumer credit register  
(CON/20 13/29) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 5 April 2013 , the European Central Bank  (ECB) received a request from the Minister for Economic 
Affairs and Finance for an opinion on a draft law on consum er credit  (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/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates to the Banque de France . 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 
1.1 The draft law relates to consum er credit  and in particular to the setting up of a new consumer credit 
register called ‘registre national des crédits aux particuliers ’ (national  register of consumer credit ) 
(hereinafter the ‘Register’) which will be managed by the Banque de France.  It aims to prevent 
natural persons becoming  over-indebted and to supply  credit institutions wit h information for 
assessing the solvency of persons applying for loan s. The Register will record loans  granted to 
natural persons for non- professional purposes . Included are consumer credit  agreement s and loans 
for house purchases. The Register will also r ecord repayment  incidents linked to those loans, as 
well as information rela ting to situations of over -indebtedness . 
1.2 Under t he draft law , credit institutions are required to record relevant information in the Register , 
and to consult the Register  befor e gran ting loans . Committees on over -indebtedness  and court 
clerks will be obliged to report to the Banque de France information relating to situations of over -
indebtedness.  
1.3 The draf t law also contains  rules on maintaining and deleting the information in the Register. The 
Banque de France and credit institutions will be authorised to collect, use and keep the individual’s 
national identity number until the loan application has been refused or a unique identifier  has been  
created  by the Banque de France  for that person . The Banque de France will not be subject to  
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
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2 professional confidentiality requirements in respect of circulating  information on identifiable 
persons contained in the Register to the credit institutions as well as to committees on over -
indeb tedness and court clerks. It shall be a criminal offence for t he Banque de France, the credit 
institutions , the committees on over -indebtedness and court clerks to provide to anyone information 
contained in the R egister . Exceptions to this rule are  cases w here information is provided to 
interested parties exercising their right  to access the information2, officials from the Prudential 
Control Authority, the Banque de France and the National Commission on Computer Technology 
and Freedom and, where applicable,  credit institutions in the U nion, other than in France , who 
receive loan applications from individuals resident  in France . 
1.4 Collection of the information contained in the Register by any entity other than the Banque de 
France and those specifically re ferred to in the draft law is punishable by law . Breach of the 
obligation to consult the Register and to report the relevant information is also punishable by law . 
1.5 The draft law also provides for the abolition of the ‘fichier national des incidents de 
remboursement des crédits aux particuliers ’ (national file of consumer credit repayment incidents) , 
which is managed by the Banque de France  and which records information on the opening of and 
dealing with over-indebtedness files, and on loan repayment inc idents . Further provisions deal with 
deferred entry into force and transitory measures. The Register must be operational on a date 
specified by decree , and at the latest two years as from its publication.  
 
2. General observations  
The new consumer credit register will contribute to the improvement of the financial institutions’ credit 
risk management, as well as risk assessment for the financial sector as a whole. It will also be beneficial 
for the exercise of prudential supervision by the ‘ Autorité de contr ôle prudentiel ’. 
 
3. Prohibition o f monetary financing  
In the absence of any provision on the financing of the new task entrusted to the Banque de France in the 
draft law, the ECB underlines the importance of safeguarding compliance with the prohibition of  
monetary financing laid down in Article 123(1) of the Treaty. The prohibition is designed to prevent 
central banks from providing overdraft facilities or any other type of credit facility to the public sector , 
e.g. financing of the public sector’s obligat ions vis -à-vis third parties. The ECB notes that  the new task 
entrusted to the Banque de France under this amendment is not a central banking task  in the French 
context . Rather, the ECB understands that the new task entrusted to the Banque de France is lin ked to a 
State task and is performed in the interests of the French State. Therefore, if the Banque de France is to be 
entrusted with such a task, it needs to be adequately remunerated in advance, in order to ensure 
compliance with the monetary financing prohibition3. 
                                                 
2  Law no  78-17 of 6 January 1978.  
3  See p aragraph 2.1 of ECB Opinion CON/2011/30.  All ECB opinions are p ublished  on the ECB’s website at 
www.ecb.europa.eu.  
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3  
4. Central bank independence  
The financing of the  operation and maintenance of the Register  must comply with the principle of central 
bank independence, under which a national central bank (NCB) must have sufficient means not only to 
perform its ESCB -related tasks, but also its national tasks, e.g. financing its administration and own 
operations4. As pointed out in previous ECB opinions5, when allocating specific non- ESCB related tasks 
to the NCBs, e.g. tasks in the area of consumer protection, additional human and financial resources must 
also be allocated for these tasks so that they may be carried out in a manner that will not affect the NCBs’ 
operational capacity to perform their ESCB -related tasks.  These  requirements of financial independe nce 
would be satisfied if, as indicated by the Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance6, the costs of setting 
up and operating the R egister are covered by fees and charges levied on the credit institutions  concerned.  
 
5. Information contained in the Register 
5.1 The ECB notes that national central credit registers (CCRs) provide useful additional information 
to supervisory authorities on credit concentration. The information contained in CCRs supports the 
analytical process, allow ing early detection of po tentially fragile institutions which are under  
supervision  as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding on the exchange of information 
among national central credit registers for the purpose of passing it on to reporting institutions 
(MoU)7. 
5.2 The draft  law contains a general prohibition on the dissemination of data contained in the R egister, 
and provides for a limited number of exceptions. The ECB recommends that the exceptions8 are 
expanded to include a general reference to ‘competent authorities’ as d efined in Directive 
2006/48/EC  relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions9, and NCBs  
operating CCRs, to ensure that such data can be exchanged under the provisions set out in the 
MoU. This  MoU provides a framework for the regular exchange of information among national 
CCRs and allows reporting institutions  to obtain a more complete overview of the indebtedness of 
a borrower on a cross -border basis.  
5.3 The ECB considers that it would be useful to differentiate between the r etention of personalised 
and depersonalised information as recommended by the World Bank in its report entitled ‘ General 
Principles for Credit Reporting ’10. Moreover, the ECB recommends that the information contained 
in the R egister should not be immediatel y deleted after full repayment, as it constitutes positive 
                                                 
4  See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, p. 25, and paragraph 2.2 of Opinion CON/2013 /20. 
5  See, for example, paragraph 4 of Opinion CON/2012/74.  
6  See the letter of the Minister  for Economic Affairs and Finance to the President of the ECB , dated 3 April 2013, 
requesting the opinion of the ECB on the draft law.  
7  Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu . 
8  New Article L. 333 -15 of the Consumer Code.  
9  Directiv e 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and 
pursuit of the business of credit institutions, OJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1.  
10  See paragraphs 62 and 117 of the report , available on the World Bank’s we bsite at http://web.worldbank.org . 
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4 information on borrowers and their ability and willingness to pay back loans . Such positive 
information should be kept  for a longer period than negative information.  
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  
Done  at Frankfurt am Main, 26 A pril 2013.  
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB  
Mario DRAGHI