EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 November 2005 
at the request of the Czech Statistical Office 
on proposed amendments to the Act on the State statistical service and to the Act on Česká národní 
banka 
(CON/2005/46) 
 
1. On 19 September 2005, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Český 
statistický ú řad (ČSÚ) (Czech Statistical Office) for an opi nion on specific provisions of a draft law 
amending the Act No 89/1995 Coll., on the State st atistical service, as amended, and other related 
laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’)1. The related laws amended by th e draft law include the Act No 
6/1993 Coll., on Česká národní banka, as amended (hereinafter the ‘ ČNB Act’). The ECB’s 
comments are confined to the specific provisions of  the draft law on which it has been consulted.  
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the fourth indent of Article 2(1) of 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the c onsultation of the European Central Bank by 
national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions2, as the draft law relates to the collection 
of statistical information. In accordance with th e first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of 
Procedure of the European Central Bank, th e Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
3. The main purpose of the draft law is to amend the current legal framework for statistical registers 
maintained by ČSÚ, in order to gradually reduce reliance on annual statistical surveys by using 
statistical data obtained from other State authorities.  In particular, the draft law amends the Act on 
the State statistical service No 89/1995 Coll., as amended (hereinafter the ‘Act’) and inserts a new reciprocal provision into the ČNB Act to permit the sharing of individual data between Česká 
národní banka ( ČNB) and ČSÚ
3. Moreover, under new Article 17(1)(f) of the Act, ČSÚ is required 
                                                      
1  The specific provisions are the ne w Article 17(1)(g) of the Act No 89/1995 Co ll. and the new Article 41(6) of the ČNB 
Act. 
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
3  See the draft Article 17(1)(g) of the Act, which provides: ‘Authorities carrying out the State statistical service […] (g) 
[shall] transfer individual data to Česká národní banka for statistical purposes, if  this is necessary to fulfil international 
obligations arising from international agreements by which the Czech Republic or Česká národní banka are bound.’ The 
draft Article 41(6) of the ČNB Act states ‘(6) Česká národní banka may transfer to the Czech Statistical Office for 
statistical purposes individual data that it has obtained to fulf il its tasks if this is necessary to fulfil obligations from a n 
international agreement by whic h the Czech Republic is bound.’ 
2 to transfer confidential data to other lega l entities for research pur poses in accordance with 
Community law4. 
4. The ECB welcomes the proposed amen dments to the Act and to the ČNB Act, which will enable 
individual statistical data to be exchanged between ČNB and ČSÚ for statistical purposes. As this 
extended data-sharing is meant to prevent duplica tion in the collection of statistical data, it is 
expected that the proposed amendments will reduce the survey burden on the Czech reporting 
population. At the same time, they may further enhance the quality of the statistics concerned. 
5. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 November 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                     
 
4  Draft Article 17(1)(f) of the Act provides: ‘Authorities carry ing out the State statistical service […] (f) [shall] transfer 
confidential data for the purposes of scien tific research to legal persons whose ma in object is scientific research, on the 
basis of an agreement providing for the fulfilment of conditions for the protection  of such data and the precise method 
of their use in accordance with the law of  the European Communities; the data shall be provided in such a format as to 
make it impossible to identify directly the reporting agent to which the data provided relate.’