EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 February 2009  
at the request of the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice 
on a draft law supplementing the Law on Administration 
(CON/2009/13) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 19 January 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Bulgarian Minister for 
Justice for an opinion on a draft law supplementing the Law on Administration and amending, inter alia , 
the Law on the prevention and disclosure of conflicts of  interests (hereinafter the ‘Law on conflicts of 
interests’)1 and the Law on Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) (BNB) (hereinafter the 
‘Law on BNB’)2 (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 indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 
on the consultation of the European Central Bank by  national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions3, as the draft law relates to Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) (BNB). 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 
1.1 The draft law supplements the Law on Administratio n and brings all relevant Bulgarian legislation 
in line with the Law on conflicts of interests.  In this latter regard, the draft law amends, inter alia , 
the Law on the BNB by (i) introducing additional eligibility criteria for membership in BNB’s 
Governing Council, and (ii) providi ng details as to the competent authority to which information to 
be disclosed under Article 12(1) to (4) of the La w on conflicts of interests should be provided.  
1.2 According to the provisions of the draft law amending the Law on conflicts of interests, BNB’s 
Governor, Deputy Governors and Governing Council members are exempt from the prohibition on 
entering into an employment or any other agre ement with certain business entities or cooperatives 
or becoming a partner in, holding interests or  shares in, and acting as a manager or 
                                                 
1 Published in Darjaven vestnik  No 94, 31.10.2008 (in force as of 1.1.2009). 
2 Published in Darjaven vestnik No 46,  10.6.1997. 
3 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
management/ supervisory  body  member of such business entities and cooperatives for a period of 
one year follo wing their ten ure of office4. 
 
2. General observations  
2.1 The ECB we lcomes the B ulgarian authorities’  efforts to align the  Law on BNB and the Law on  
conflicts of interests with t he Statute of the Eur opean Sy stem  of Central Banks and of the Eur opean  
Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘ESCB Statute’ ) and with the conclusions contained in the ECB’ s 
May 2008 Convergence Report5. 
2.2 However, it is im portant to note t hat the Bulgar ian aut horities failed to com ply with their obligation 
to consult th e ECB prior to adoptin g the Law on conflicts of interests on 16 October 2008 . The 
ECB should have been consulted on the Law on c onflicts of i nterests, since it sets addit ional 
groun ds for the dism issal of BNB’s Governing Cou ncil members and, therefore, clearly  falls within 
the scope of t he third i ndent of Article 2(1) of Decision 98/415/E C as it relates to national central  
banks, which is expressly  listed am ong the areas in which the ECB is co mpetent.  
 
3. Specific obse rvations 
Law on conflicts of interest s 
3.1 The Law on conflicts of interests provides a defin ition of ‘confli cts of interests’ and regula tes the 
prevention a nd disclosure of conflicts of interests of public offic e holders. It also establish es a 
procedure for identify ing the existence of conflic ts of interests an d the consequences resulting from 
such situations. Under the Law on conflicts of in terests, non-com pliance with its provisions a nd the 
fact that a conflict of int erests exists are suffi cient grounds for  dism issal an d could lead to the 
termination of the affected  person’ s appointm ent/mandate. According to Article 3(13) of  the Law 
on conflicts of interests, BNB’s Governor, De puty Governors and Governing Council mem bers fall 
within the definition of public office holders. As a result, the Law on conflicts of interests specifies 
grounds for their dism issal that are in addition to  the two grounds contained in the ESCB Statute. 
3.2 Governors and ot her m embers of the NCBs’ decision-making bodies who are involved  in the  
performance of ESCB-rela ted tasks may not be dism issed for reaso ns other than those mentioned in 
Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute6. The draft law does not rem ove these additional grounds of 
dism issal. Therefore, the Law on conflicts of inte rests is still incom patible wit h ESCB Statute and 
Treaty  requirem ents on central bank independence.  The ECB ur ges the Bulg arian authorities to 
                                                 
4 See § 47  of the d raft law proposi ng amendments to Article 21(1)  of the Law on conflicts  of in terests. 
5  Available on the ECB’s we bsite at www. ecb.europa. eu. 
6  See th e ECB’s  Convergence R eport of May  2008, p. 19, which  specif ies th at ‘NCB statutes must ensure th at Go vernors 
may not be dis missed for reasons other than those menti oned  in Article 14.2  of the Statute. The purpose of this 
requirement is to preven t the authorities invo lved in  the appo intment of Governors, particu larly the governm ent or 
parliament, from  exercising thei r discretion to dis miss them as Go vernor. Th e NC B statutes should eith er contain grounds 
for dismissal which ar e compatib le with those laid down in Article 14.2 of the St atute, or omit an y mention of gro unds 
for dis missal (since Art icle 14.2 is directly applicable) .’ 
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fully align  the provisions of Article 33(1) of the Law on conflict s of interests with Article 14.2 of 
the ESCB Statute. 
Law on BNB  
3.3 The proposed amend ment to Article 11(4) of th e Law on BNB sets out additiona l eligibilit y criteria 
related to the appointm ent and election of BN B’s Governing C ouncil m embers. Specifically, a 
person may  not be appoi nted or elected as a mem ber of BNB’s Governing Co uncil if, at the time of 
their appoint ment or election the y (i) are pur suing a business activity  und er any  legal form  
whatsoever or are acting as a manager, procur ator, liquidator, receiver or m ember of the  
management or a supervisor y body of a com pany or cooperative7, or (ii) are a spouse of, are living 
with, are a relative in direct lineage o r lateral lineage up to and  including f ourth degree, or are 
connected b y marriage up to the an d incl uding  the second degree to  a member of BNB’s Governin g 
Council8. 
3.4 The ECB notes that the first ground for  rem oval in Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute states that a 
Governor m ay be relieved from  office only if he no longer fu lfils the conditi ons required for the  
performance of his duties. The ECB ack nowledges that  Member States ar e free to set the conditions 
required for the appointm ent of the NCB Governi ng Council members. However, Article 14(1) of 
the Law on BNB, which regulates the groun ds for d ismissal for appointed  or e lected members of 
the BNB’s Governing Council, contains grounds fo r dism issal in addition to Article 14.2 of the  
ESCB Statute by cross-referencing to the appoi ntment and election conditions set out i n 
Article 11(4) of the Law o n BNB9. Article 14(1) of the Law on BNB should, t herefore, be fully 
aligned with t he wording of Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute. 
 
This opini on will be publis hed on t he ECB’s website. 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am  Main, 16  February 20 09. 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
7  See par agraph  1 of § 13  of th e draft law proposin g the inser tion of  subparagr aph 4  in Article 11(4)  of the Law on B NB.  
8  See par agraph  1 of § 13  of th e draft law proposin g the inser tion of  subparagr aph 5  in Article 11(4)  of the Law on B NB.  
9  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May  2008, p. 229,  paragraph 3.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/73 of 21 November  
2008 at the req uest of Българска народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) on a draft law amending the Law on 
Българска народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) , and paragr aph 3.2.1 of ECB  Opinion CON/200 8/21 of 
21 May  2008  at the request of Česká národní ban ka on a draft law  on Česká národ ní bank a. 
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