EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 13 February 2004 
at the request of the French Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Industry 
on a draft article of a Finance Law 
(CON/2004/6) 
 
1. On 29 December 2003 the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from the French 
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Indus try for an opinion on a draft article to be 
incorporated in a Finance Law (hereinafter the "d raft article"). On 19 January 2004, the French 
authorities communicated the wording of the draft article to the ECB. 
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is b ased on the second indent of Article 105(4) of the 
Treaty establishing the European Community, the second i ndent of Article 4(a) of the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks and of the Euro pean Central Bank, and on 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 re garding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft article 
concerns a guarantee in respect of exchange losses granted by the French State to the Banque de 
France. In accordance with the fi rst sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council of the ECB has adopted this opinion. 
3. In the context of managing the State’s exchange reserves in gold and foreign currencies with which 
it is entrusted by Article L. 141-2 of the Mone tary and Financial Code , the Banque de France 
enjoys a State guarantee in respect of the exch ange losses it could suffer if the State’s foreign 
currencies revaluation reserves and the State’ s gold revaluation reserves are insufficient. 
Article 2(2) of the Agreement of 31 March 199 9 between the State and the Banque de France on 
the management and accounting of the State’s exchange reserves, as amended (hereinafter the “Agreement”), expressly provides for this guarantee  as follows: “in the event that the State’s gold 
revaluation reserves are insufficient, the losses  shall be covered by Treasury support before 
settlement of the Banque de France’s accounts”. 
4. The draft article provides that “the State shall be  authorised, within the meaning of Article 61 of 
Organic Law No 2001-692 of 1 August 2001 on Financ ial Acts, to cover exchange losses suffered 
by the Banque de France  under the conditions laid down in Ar ticle L. 141-2 of the Monetary and 
Financial Code as provided by the Agreement of  31 March 1999 as amended between the State and 
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2 the Banque de France”. The ECB understands that the concept of “exchange losses” in the draft 
article covers the first and second paragraphs of Ar ticle 2 of the Agreement which refer to reserves 
in foreign currencies and reserves in gold.  
5. The ECB notes that the inventory of the guarantee s to be expressly authorised by the French 
Parliament in a finance law, in accordance with Ar ticle 61 of the Organic Law, aims to raise the 
French Parliament’s awareness of the State’s oblig ations “off balance sheet” and to contribute to 
the desired increase in transparency of public finances. The ECB welcomes this legitimate 
objective of the French authorities. The EMI ob served in its Opinion CON/98/12 of 13 March 1998 
on the Statute of the Banque de France that “the  Banque de France’s activities (…) are governed by 
the Treaty and by the Statute as well as the legal act s adopted by the ECB in this respect. Whilst it 
is assumed that the above Agreement leaves the Bank every freedom not to accept any procedures 
which might infringe on ESCB-related obligations, references to national rules, which may hinder 
the Bank's independence and status as an integral pa rt of the ESCB, must be deleted if the above 
procedures could have such an effect (…)”. The ECB understands that the pr esent arrangement will 
not raise any concern in this respect. 
6. The ECB would appreciate receiving for prior exam ination any subsequent amendments to the 
draft article, and being informed of any substantial change to the Agreement. 
7. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this 
opinion publicly available at their discretion. Th is opinion will be published on the ECB’s website 
six months after the date of its adoption. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main on 13 February 2004.  
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET