EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 3 August 2010 
on certain competences of the Governing Council of Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian 
National Bank) 
(CON/2010/61) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 7 July 2010 the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request from the Governor of Българска  
народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) (BNB) for an  opinion on a draft law amending the Law on 
payment services and payment systems1, the Law on the Bulgarian National Bank (hereinafter the ‘Law 
on BNB’)2 and other national legal acts3 (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 Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions4, as the draft law relates to BNB. In  accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Eur opean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1. Purpose of the draft law The main purpose of the draft law is  to transpose Directives 2009/44/EC
5 and 2009/110/EC6 into 
Bulgarian law, and to bring relevant  national legislation in line with these amendments. As a result, the 
draft law also adapts, through its transitional and fi nal provisions, Articles of the Law on BNB related to 
the competences of BNB’s Governing Council7. The need for such an adaptation evolves from the 
exclusion of electronic money institutions from th e scope of the credit institution definition under 
                                                 
1 Published in Darjaven vestnik No 23,  27.3.2009. 
2 Published in Darjaven vestnik No 46,  10.6.1997. 
3 These include the Law on credit institutions, published in Darjaven vestnik No 59,  21.7.2006. 
4 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
5 Directive 2009/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 am ending Directive 98/26/EC on 
settlement finality in payment and s ecurities settlement systems and Dir ective 2002/47/EC on financial collateral 
arrangements as regard s linked systems and credit claims (OJ L 146, 10.6.2009, p. 37). 
6 Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of  the Council of 16 September 2009 on the taking up, pursuit 
and prudential supervision of the business of electroni c money institutions amending Directives 2005/60/EC and 
2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/ 46/EC (OJ L 267, 10.10.2009, p. 7). 
7 See § 3. of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the draft law. 
2 Directive 2009/110/EC8 and from the subsequent implementation of Directive 2009/110/EC into national 
law9. Therefore, the draft law adjusts the competenc es of BNB’s Governing Council in relation to the 
legal regime under which it grants, refuses or revok es licenses for electronic money institutions. Under 
the draft law, the license procedure and terms under the Law on credit institutions no longer apply to 
electronic money institutions10. In addition, since electronic money institutions are no longer defined as 
credit institutions, the draft law removes them from th e list of types of credit institutions that BNB’s 
Governing Council may place under special supervisi on as a remedy measure for credit institutions 
pursuant to the Law on credit institutions11. 
 2. General observation Amendments to the Law on BNB  
2.1 The ECB understands the rationale of § 3 of the draft law. While welcoming it, the ECB considers 
that it would be beneficial for reasons of clarity an d legal certainty if proposed Article 16(15) of the 
Law on BNB lists the full range of institutions  for which the BNB’s Governing Council is 
competent to grant, refuse or revoke licenses, including for example payment institutions and 
financial institutions, which are subject to a licensing regime. 
2.2 The ECB also notes that the deletion of the word s ‘electronic money institutions’ in Article16(16) 
of the Law on BNB may be a source of uncertainty  in relation to identifying the relevant BNB body 
competent to exercise supervision of electronic m oney institutions and more  generally of payment 
services providers. This body should be clearly d esignated in the Law on BNB as is the case for the 
supervision of the banking system pursuant to Article 20(3) of the Law on BNB. 
2.3 Furthermore, it is advisable to adapt the termi nology of the Law on BNB to the new definition for 
credit institutions by replacing, where relevant, th e term ‘bank’ with the term ‘credit institution’. 
 
                                                 
8 See Article 20(1) of Directive 2009/110/EC amending Article 4(1) of Directive 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 (recast) 
(OJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1). 
9 § 4. of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the draft law provides for changes of Article 1(2) and Article 2(1) of the 
Law on credit institutions to align the definition for credit inst itution thereof to the amended definition pursuant to Article  
4(1) of Directive 2006/48/EC. 
10 See proposed Article 16(15) of the Law on the BNB. The draf t law, however, subjects elec tronic money institutions to 
the licensing procedure and terms for payment institutions under the Law on payment services and payment systems. 
11 See proposed Article 16(16) of the Law on the BNB. 
3 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 3 August 2010. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET