EN ECB -PUBLIC  
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 26 August 2022   
on the development and maintenance of a s tatistical register  and related laws  
(CON/20 22/29) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 28 July 2022  the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Minister for 
Economic Affairs and Climate Protection for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on the 
development and maintenance of a statistical register and related laws (hereinaft er 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 and fourth indents of Article  2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC1, as the draft law relates to Deutsche Bundesbank and the collection, compilation and 
distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of payments statistics . 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. The relevant provisions of the d raft law  
1.1. The draft law2 concerns  the Law on the development and maintenance of a statistical register3, which 
deals , among other things,  with the obligation of the Federal Statistical Office ( Statistisches 
Bundesamt ) to transmit statistical information to Deutsche Bundesbank4. For reasons of legal 
certainty , the draft law updates the reference to the relevant Union legal act5 and subclassifies the 
statistical entry ‘ number of employees ’ by types of employment relationship6. 
1.2. The draft law7 also amends  the Law on the use of administrative data for the purposes of economic 
statistics8. This amendment relates to the transmission of statistical information by Deutsche 
 
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  See Article 1 of the draft law.  
3  Gesetz über den Aufbau und die Führung eines Statistikregisters.  
4  Section 10  of the Law  on the development and maintenance of a s tatistical register.  
5  Section 10, paragraph 2, first sentence, No 1,  of the Law on the development and maintenance of a statistical register.  
The update concerns the addition of the wording ‘ in accordance with Annex VIII of Commission Implementing 
Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 ’. This update refers to  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 
2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European 
Parliame nt and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics  
(OJ L 327, 17.12.2019, p. 1) . Annex VIII deals with the ‘ variables linked to the detailed topics for the European 
framework for statistical business registers’ . The update replaces the reference to Regulation (EG) 177/2008 which is 
no longer  applicable.  
6  Section 10, paragraph  2, first sentence, No 2 of the Law on the development and maintenance of a statistical register.  
7  See Article 2 of the draft law.  
8  Verwaltungsdatenverwendungsgesetz.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
 
2 Bundesbank to the Federal Statistical Office  following the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 
2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council9. In order to implement the requirement 
of the Federal Statistical Office to deliver  statistical  information to Eurostat  under  Regulation (EU) 
2019/2152, the draft law stipulates  that the Federal Statistical Office receives  from Deutsche 
Bundesbank , in addition to statistical information relating to credit institutions  and specialised credit 
institutions , statistical information for other  parts of the area of financial services  relating to central 
banks , other financial institutions and a ctivities aux iliary to financial intermediation,  where such 
statistical information is at the disposal of Deutsche Bundesbank10.  
 
2. Observations   
2.1. The ECB welcomes the draft law as it fosters good relationships  between the statistical authorities 
at both the European and the national level11. The ECB also welcomes that  the draft law  does not 
envisage any additional reporting burden to be imposed on  data subjects to provide statistical 
information to Deutsche Bun desbank and the Federal Statistical Office  and clarifies  that only 
statistical information ‘as far as  is available at the Deutsche Bundesbank ’ must be transmitted to the 
Federal Statistical Office.  
2.2. Furthermore, the ECB welcomes that the draft law aims at  enhancing legal certainty, in particular by 
clarifying that the reference to Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 included in the draft law12 is of a 
dynamic nature by referring to the current version of  that act. The ECB understands that in German 
law it should be clarified whether references to other legal acts are dynamic or not , as opposed to 
Union law which is dynamic by nature13.  
2.3. Finally, the ECB understands that, as far as the obligation of Deutsche Bundesbank to transmit 
statistical information to the Federal Statistical Office for other parts of the area of financial service 
(including central banks ) is concerned, Deutsche Bundesbank must  only transmit , as far as is 
available,  reference data,  which consists of  the name, address, legal form,  economic sector, place 
and number of entry in the commercial register, l egal entity identifier,  and data of the profit and loss 
account , as well as the recorded data on headcount , as already exhaustively listed in the current 
version of the Law on the use of administrative data for the purposes of economic statistics14. 
 
 
 
9  Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European 
business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (OJ L 327, 17.12.2019, p. 1) . 
10  The draft law follows the classification s included in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities 
NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific 
statistical domains  (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1 ).  
11  See Article 5.1 of the Statute of the E uropean System of C entral Banks (ESCB)  and of the E uropean Central Bank; 
see also recital 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 951/2009 of 9 October 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 
concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank (OJ L 269, 14.10.2009, p. 1) , which 
provides that,  in line with Article 5.1 of the Statute, the ESCB and the E uropean Statistical System (ESS)  cooperate 
closely to ensure the coherence necessary to develop, produce and disseminate European statistics.  
12  See Article 2 of the draft law.  
13   References in Union legal acts to other Union legal acts are always to the version of the latter which is currently in 
force.   
14  Current version of Section 3b of the Law on the use of  administrative data for the purposes of economic statistics.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
 
3 This opinion will b e published on EUR -Lex.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 26 August  2022 . 
 [signe d] 
 
The President of the ECB  
Christine  LAGARDE