EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 April 2007 
on an amendment to the Law XV of 2003 on the prevention and combating of money laundering 
(CON/2007/10) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
 On 26 February 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from Hungary’s Ministry of 
Finance (hereinafter the ‘Ministry’) for an opini on on a draft amendment to Law XV of 2003 on the 
prevention and restriction of money laundering (hereinafter the ‘draft law’).  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third and fifth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the ECB by national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions
1, as the draft law relates to the national central  bank and payment and settlement systems. 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 According to the Ministry’s letter of 26 February 2 007 (hereinafter the ‘letter’), the draft law intends to 
bring Hungarian legislation into line with Regulatio n (EC) No 1781/2006 of the European Parliament and 
Council of 15 November 2006 on information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds (hereinafter the ‘Regulation’)
2.  
 2.  General observations 2.1 First, the ECB would like to stress its commitment to contributing to the adoption, implementation 
and execution of measures preventin g the use of the financial syst em for terrorist activities, as 
expressed in its public statement on 1 October 2001. 
2.2 The ECB welcomes the enhanced clarity of the money laundering legislative framework that the 
draft law will introduce. In particular, this new sanctioning power will allow the relevant authority 
to respond within its legal framework to future challenges in the fight against money laundering.  
                                                     
 
1   OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2   OJ L 345, 8.12.2006, p. 1.  
 
2 2.3 The eighth recital of the Regulation refl ected the ECB’s recommendations in Opinion 
CON/2005/2, according to which any natural or le gal person providing payment service providers 
solely with messaging or other support system s for transmitting funds or with clearing and 
settlement systems do not fall within the scope of the Regulation. This is also consistent with 
recital 34 of the Third Money Laundering Directive3.The ECB notes that obligations are already 
imposed on credit institutions and financial ins titutions to combat money laundering. Hence, 
whenever the payment system operator ensures that only supervised credit institutions may 
participate, no further requirements should be imposed on the payment system itself4. In light of 
this, the ECB submits that reporting obligations and, consequently, the imposition of sanctions, 
should apply only to payment and settlement system participants, and not to payment, clearing and 
settlement systems operators, including the Magyar  Nemzeti Bank, because such operators fall 
outside the scope of the Regulation. Against this background, the Ministry is invited to bring its 
interpretation into line with the Regulati on and the Third Money Laundering Directive. 
2.4 The Ministry indicates in the letter its view th at the draft law will also extend the supervisory 
powers of the State Supervisory Authority of Fina ncial Organisations (hereinafter the ‘PSZÁF’) to 
the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as a financial servic es provider, although the draft law does not 
expressly provide this. In addition, Section 5 of  the draft law introduces provisions regarding the 
PSZÁF’s sanctioning power, empowering the PSZÁF, inter alia, with the right to restructure 
internal rules of the subject in  question, suspend the activity cau sing the breach, prohibit it to carry 
out money transfer activities, carry out on-site inspections and impose a fine. The ECB welcomes these proposed changes inasmuch as they are address ed to payment system participants as opposed 
to payment system operators, in line with applicable Community legislation. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 April 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The Vice-President of the ECB 
Lucas PAPADEMOS 
                                                     
 
3  OJ L 309, 25.11.2005, p. 15.  
4  See also paragraph 5 of ECB Opinion CON/2002/4 of 18 Januar y 2002 at the request of the Danish Ministry of Economic 
and Business Affairs on a draft act amending the Act on money laundering.