EN ECB-PUBLIC 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 10 November 2021 
on reporting requirements for cr oss-border service transactions  
(CON/2021/31) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 11 October 2021 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a r equest from the Oesterreichische 
Nationalbank (OeNB) for an opinion on a balance of payments rep orting regulation of the OeNB on the 
statistical collection of data regarding the provision of cross -border services (hereinafter the ‘draft 
regulation’)1. 
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 inde nts of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC2, as the draft regulation relates to the OeNB and the collectio n of balance of payments statistics. 
In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Ru les of Procedure of the European Central 
Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 
1. Purpose of the draft regulation 
1.1 The draft regulation replaces the existing balance of payme nts reporting regulation of the OeNB on 
the statistical collection of data governing the provision of c ross-border services3. The draft 
regulation implements Article 6 of the Law of 2004 on foreign e xchange under which the OeNB is 
responsible for compiling the Au strian balance of payments, int ernational investment position 
statistics, direct investment st atistics and all statistics reg arding cross-border transactions and 
positions in the context of the abovementioned statistics requi red by Union law. 
1.2 The draft regulation aims to reflect recent developments in  cross-border services transactions 
which have led to increased challenges in the compilation of hi gh-quality balance of payments data. 
For example, rapid digitalisation combined with an increased tr end towards globalisation have 
resulted in significant cross-border transactions organised thr ough online platforms and businesses 
accessing wider markets. Better communication and transport hav e also facilitated the movement 
of people for the purposes of tourism, migration, employment, a nd trade. These developments have 
resulted in a substantial increase in service industries and an  unprecedented growth in the volume 
 
1 Meldeverordnung ZABIL-DL 1/2022 der Oesterreichischen Nationalb ank betreffend die statistische Erfassung des 
grenzüberschreitenden Diens tleistungsverkehrs. 
2 Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation  of the European Central B ank by national authori-
ties regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998 , p. 42). 
3 Meldeverordnung ZABIL 1/2012 der O esterreichischen Nationalban k betreffend die statistische Erfassung des 
grenzüberschreitenden Dienstleist ungsverkehrs (Balance of Payme nts Reporting Regulation 1/2012). 
ECB-PUBLIC 
2 of international trade in services. In order to address these i ssues, the draft regulation aims to 
collect extended statistical data, while at the same time simpl ifying reporting obligations in Austria. 
For example, the direct reporti ng of card schemes for the purpo se of balance of payments statistics 
is substituted by reliance on st atistical data reported for oth er purposes. To improve the quality of 
the statistical information compiled in relation to the travel item in Austria, the draft regulation 
specifies the use of the additi onal information (merchant codes ) provided for in ECB payment 
statistics. By reorganising the reporting by non-financial busi nesses for the purposes of external 
statistics to make use of administrative data, the reporting re quirements are eased. In particular, 
by using VIES data (the Value A dded Tax Information Exchange Sy stem), the quarterly reporting 
can be focused on main transactors while the respondents and th e thresholds for annual reporting 
remain unchanged. In this vein, r eporting of international serv ices trade in the non-financial sector 
is separated into quarterly reporting (with a threshold of EUR 5 million) and annual reporting (with 
a threshold of EUR 500 000), subj ect to a uniform reporting con cept. 
1.3 Furthermore, the draft regulation aims to reflect new inter national legal requirements, specifically 
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the  Council4, which created a new 
common legal framework for business statistics focused on three  main principles: (1) the use of 
common methodological principles, definitions and quality crite ria; (2) the need for greater flexibility 
to respond to economic changes and emerging statistical needs; and (3) the identification of cross-
domain synergies and simplificat ions of data requirements to al leviate the burden on businesses. 
1.4 Finally, the draft regulation promotes electronic and stand ardised reporting by requiring all reports 
to be submitted electronically in accordance with the technical  standards prescribed by the OeNB 
or Statistics Austria, a Federal institution under public law5. Furthermore, the draft regulation 
requires that, whenever data is reported, the content of the re port must be structured in line with 
the specifications that can be accessed on the website of the O eNB or Statistics Austria6. Under 
the current legal framework, repo rts may still be submitted usi ng printed reporting forms. 
1.5 The draft regulation is intended to enter into force on 1 J anuary 2022 and replace the existing 
reporting regulation on cross- border service transactions7. 
 
2. General observations 2.1 A wide range of new applications of information technology in business models and products are 
transforming the economy and society at a rapid pace. The digit alisation of the economy and 
society affects the size, composition and way in which services  are traded across borders, which 
poses challenges for collecting data that offers a comprehensiv e view of cross-border economic 
activities in balance of paym ents statistics. In addition, the operations of multinational enterprises 
with extensive intra-group trade in services, as well as extens ive integration in global value chains, 
imply the need for new alternative data sources for good statis tical coverage in balance of 
 
4 Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and the C ouncil of 27 November 2019 on European busi-
ness statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of busine ss statistics (OJ L 327, 17.12.2019, p. 1). 
5 See Section 3(1) of the draft regulation.  
6 See Section 3(4) of t he draft regulation. 
7 Balance of Payments Repor ting Regulation 1/2012. 
ECB-PUBLIC 
3 payments statistics. The ECB ther efore welcomes the changes int roduced by the draft regulation 
to rationalise and collect extended statistical data for balanc e of payments, including card-based 
payments data that provide relevant information such as country  details of the transacting parties 
and merchant category codes. 
2.2 The ECB welcomes the fact that the draft regulation aims, i nter alia, to reduce the reporting burden 
on businesses while ensuring that  the quality of data and stati stics remain at a high level. These 
aims are in line with the statistical principles underlying Eur opean statistics produced by the 
European System of Central Banks (ESCB) set out in Article 3a o f Council Regulation (EC) No 
2533/988, and in particular the principles of minimisation of the repor ting burden and high output 
quality. 
2.3 The ECB understands that the draft regulation will not inte rfere with legal requirements imposed by 
the ECB in the field of statistics, in particular those set out  in Guideline ECB/2011/23 of the 
European Central Bank9 on external statistics and  Regulation (EU) No 1409/2013 of the European 
Central Bank (ECB/2013/43)10 on payment statistics. In this respect, the ECB understands th at the 
OeNB will continue to provide the ECB with the monthly and quar terly data required under 
Guideline ECB/2011/23. It is further understood that these data  will also continue to meet the quality 
standards set out in Guideline ECB/2011/2311. 
 
This opinion will be published on EUR-Lex. 
  
Done at Frankfurt am Ma in, 10 November 2021. 
 [signed] 
 
The President of the ECB Christine LAGARDE 
 
8  Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concer ning the collection of statistical information by the 
European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8). 
9  See Guideline ECB/2011/23 of t he European Central Bank of 9 D ecember 2011 on the statistical reporting require-
ments of the European Ce ntral Bank in the field of external sta tistics (OJ L 65 , 3.3.2012, p. 1). 
10  Regulation (EU) No 1409/2013 of the European Central Bank of 28 November 2013 on payments statistics 
(ECB/2013/43) (OJ L 352, 24.12.2013, p. 18). 
11  See paragraph 3.3 of Opinion CO N/2012/67 on a previous version  of the draft regulation on the reporting of cross-
border services referring to paragraph 7(ii) of Opinion CON/200 5/23. All ECB opinions are  published on EUR-Lex.