EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 14 January 2002
at the request of the Governor of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique
on a draft royal decree and draft accompanying reg ulations on the compilation of the balance of
payments and the international in vestment position of Belgium
(CON/2002/3)
1. On 13 December 2001, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Governor
of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationa le de Belgique (NBB/BNB) for an opinion on
a draft royal decree as well as accompanying regulations on the compilation of the balance ofpayments and the international investment position of Belgium.
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on the second indent of Article 105(4) of
the Treaty establishing the European Community (h ereinafter referred to as the Treaty), the
second indent of Article 4(a) of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the
European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the Statute), and on the third and fourthindents 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 provisions
1, as the
draft texts contain provisions concerning the collection, compilation and distribution ofmonetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of payments statistics by theNBB/BNB. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure ofthe European Central Bank, this opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of theECB.
3. The present proposals contain provisions implementing the proposed Law "organising the
compilation of the balance of payments and the international investment position of Belgiumand amending the Decree Law of 6 October 1944 on exchange control and various legalprovisions" on which the ECB has already issued an opinion (CON/2001/23) dated30 August 2001.
4. The present draft royal decree and draft regulations as well as the future law all aim at adapting
the 1998 regulations which entrust the Belgisch-Luxemburgs Wisselinstituut/Institut belgo-luxembourgeois du change with the task of compiling the balance of payments and international
                                                     
1OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
2investment position statistics of the former Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Whereas
the Belgisch-Luxemburgs Wisselinstituut/Institut belgo-luxembourgeois du change used tocollect basic information in both Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, these countrieshave been developing a new separate legal framework for this compilation in the context of theeuro area. In the case of Belgium, the form er Belgisch-Luxemburgs Wisselinstituut/Institut
belgo-luxembourgeois du change tasks will be taken over by the NBB/BNB. The originalregulation containing the provisions regarding the mandate of the Belgisch-LuxemburgsWisselinstituut/Institut belgo-luxembourgeois du change was commented on in 1998 by theECB (CON/98/28). The present draft royal decree and draft regulations simply adapt theprovisions of the original regulation and transfer all balance of payments and internationalinvestment position compiling activities to the NBB/BNB.
5. In addition, the draft texts submitted to the ECB contain new provisions regarding the future
compilation of balance of payments and international investment position statistics. Inparticular, Article 2(3) of the draft royal decree is derived from Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro
2. Recent developments in portfolio
investment collection systems are reflected in Articles 11 and 12 of the draft royal decree. Theseadditional elements, which update the original regulation, are very much welcomed by the ECB.
6. The draft royal decree is divided into eight chapters which are explained in the accompanying
explanatory memorandum. The first chapter provides definitions which are in line with those ofGuideline ECB/2000/4 of 11 May 2000.
7. New features of the first chapter of the draft royal decree are (i) the more detailed geographical
breakdown as regards the (non-euro area resident) issuer of securities (previously only theintra/extra euro area split was required) and (ii) the extension of the reporting population toresident (financial) intermediaries other than Monetary Financial Institutions and theclarification of their reporting obligations. Both features are welcomed by the ECB as itconsiders that they improve the quality and coverage of statistical information.
8. Chapters 2 to 5 of the draft royal decree specify the statistical obligations of the reporting
agents. These provisions call for the following observations:
(i) The threshold of EUR 12,500 for the reporting of cross-border transactions, which is
introduced in Article 2(3), may be read as a simplification threshold. Indeed, theprovision as it is formulated now can be interpreted as meaning that transactions up toEUR 12,500 still have to be reported, although they need not be classified in detail norneed the identity of the resident be given. It has to be observed that Article 6(1) of theabovementioned Regulation on cross-border payments makes it mandatory, fromJuly 2002, to exempt cross-border payments up to EUR 12,500 from any reportingobligations for balance of payments statistics. While the accompanying NBB/BNB draft
                                                     
2OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 13.
3règlement B1 and règlement B2 clarify that small amounts would no longer have to
be reported, the ECB takes the view that it should also be made clear in the draft royaldecree that the provision concerned is an exemption threshold, and not a meresimplification threshold.
(ii) There are several provisions of the draft royal decree (e.g. Articles 4, 19 and 22) which
enable the NBB/BNB to exclude reporting agents , in part or in full, from their reporting
obligations under certain conditions which would be determined by it. While the ECBsupports attempts to reduce the reporting burden in the area of statistics, it recommendsthat such exclusion from reporting obligatio ns should be examined by the NBB/BNB (or
 in the event of a future legislative change  the competent compiler of balance ofpayments and international investment position statistics) in due time in a qualitative or,where relevant, quantitative way in order to determine the impact of such derogations oncoverage and other quality aspects of the data. 
(iii) Regarding the frequency of data transmission by the reporting agents, Article 6 of the
draft royal decree provides that the NBB/BNB will determine the details and that thefrequency of data transmission should not be lower than 10 years. It has to be observedthat balance of payments and international investment position statistics are only usefulwhen and if they contain data that are collected at rather high frequencies; in the case ofsurveys, the accuracy of e.g. any sampling and grossing-up procedures should be assessedagainst a benchmark at least once every five years. The ECB therefore stronglyrecommends that Article 6 be modified to provide for a higher frequency of datatransmission.
(iv) The new provisions in the draft royal decree on the transmission of stock data to compile
external positions are welcomed as they clearly relate to direct and portfolio investment(Articles 9 and 11). In the view of the ECB it  would, however, be useful to clarify, in line
with what is set out in the explanatory memorandum, that the data coverage relates totransactions and positions which should both be reported. 
9. Chapter 6 of the draft royal decree provides for the request of supplementary information by the
NBB/BNB to the reporting agents. Chapter 7, in pa rticular Article 24(5), lays down a procedure
which the NBB/BNB may follow in order to oblige reporting agents which have not compliedwith the reporting requirements to deliver the information. Both chapters are acknowledged by
the ECB.
10. Chapter 8 of the draft royal decree deals with the entering into force of the decree. The ECB
underlines the need for its retroactive entry into force with effect from 1 January 2002.
11. The six NBB/BNB draft regulations, which all implement specific measures in the field of
balance of payments and international investment position statistics, do not call for anyadditional specific observations.
412. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this
opinion publicly available at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 14 January 2002.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG