EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 21 November 2008  
at the request of Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) 
on a draft law amending the Law on Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) 
(CON/2008/73) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 22 October 2008 the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request from the Governor of 
Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) (BNB) for an opinion on a draft law amending the 
Law on Българска  народна  банка  (Bulgarian National Bank) (hereina fter the ‘Law on BNB’) and on 
13 November 2008 the ECB received a revised vers ion of this draft law amending the Law on BNB 
(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 
provisions1, as the draft law relates to 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 
The main purpose of the draft law is to address th e observations in the ECB’s Convergence Report of 
May 2008
2 on legal convergence and in the European Commission’s Convergence Report of 20083. 
In particular, the amendments aim to align the Law on BNB4 with the requirements for institutional and 
personal independence, confidentia lity and with the monetary fina ncing prohibition laid down in 
Article 101 of the Treaty. Finally, the draft law cont ains other functional, conceptual and sanctioning 
provisions concerning BNB unconnected with the ECB’s Convergence Report. 
 2. General observations  2.1 The ECB welcomes the Bulgarian authorities' efforts to achieve the required level of legal 
convergence by following the recommendations in the ECB’s Convergence Re port. Bulgaria is a 
                                                 
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2008, pp. 229-231. 
3 COM(2008) 248 final, available on the Co mmission’s website at  www.ec.europa.eu. 
4 Law on BNB , published in Darjaven Vestnik  No 46, 10.6.1997. 
2 Member State with a derogation and must therefore comply with Article 109 of the Treaty5. In this 
respect, the ECB identified in its Convergen ce Report inconsistencies between Bulgarian 
legislation, on the one hand, and the Treaty and the Statute of the European System of Central 
Banks and the European Central Bank (hereinafter  the ‘ESCB Statute’), on the other hand. This 
opinion addresses the inconsistencies in the areas of  central bank independence, confidentiality and 
the prohibition on monetary fina ncing and privileged access.  
2.2 This opinion does not address the other incomp atibilities between Bulgarian law and Community 
law with regard to BNB’s integration into the Eu rosystem, relating to monetary policy, collection 
of statistics, official foreign reserve manageme nt, payment systems, issue of banknotes and coins, 
appointment of independent auditors, financial re porting, exchange rate policy and international 
cooperation, as they fall outside the scope of the draft law. In this respect, the Law on BNB would 
need further adaptation to ensure BNB’s full integration into the Eurosystem.  
 3. Specific observations 3.1 Institutional independence  
The proposed amendment to Article 44 brings this  provision in line with Article 108 of the Treaty 
and Article 7 of the ESCB Statute regarding the principle of institutional independence. 
3.2 Personal independence 
Minimum term of office for Governing Council members  
The proposed amendment to Article 14(2) rem oves the incompatibility with the ESCB Statute 
regarding the minimum term of office for the me mbers of BNB’s Governing Council and is in line 
with Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute.  
Grounds for dismissal of Governing Council members  
Concerning the proposed amendment to Article 14(1) of the Law on BNB on the grounds for 
dismissal of a Governing Council member
6, the ECB recommends further amending this Article to 
fully mirror the grounds for dismissal laid down in Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute. In particular, 
the words ‘incompatible with the performance of his duties’ should be deleted in Article 14(1) of 
the draft law. 
                                                 
5 See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2008, p. 26: ‘To co mply with Article 109 of the Treaty, national legislation 
had to be adjusted to ensure its compatibility by the date  of establishment of the ESCB [European System of Central 
Banks] (as regards Sweden) and by 1 May 2004 or 1 January 200 7 (as regards the Member States which joined the EU on 
these dates). Nevertheless, stat utory requirements relating to the full legal in tegration of an NCB [national central bank] 
into the Eurosystem need only enter into force at the moment  that full integration becomes effective, i.e. the date on 
which the Member State with a derogation adopts the euro’.  
6  In particular, this draft law provision provides for the following: ‘The competent authority under Article 12 may only 
remove a member of the Governing Council from office if  they no longer fulfil the conditions required for the 
performance of his duties or if he has been guilty for se rious misconduct incompatible with the performance of his 
duties’. 
3 Right of judicial review   
Article 14(3) of the draft law grants jurisdicti on to the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court 
(SAC) over decisions dismissing any Governi ng Council member including BNB’s Governor. 
The ECB welcomes this proposed amendment, wh ich will confirm that, for the Governing Council 
members other then the Governor, a national court has jurisdiction over dismissal decisions7. 
Moreover, concerning the Governor, the ECB notes that the proposed jurisdiction of SAC under Article 14(3) of the Law on BNB should be without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Communities under Article 14.2 of the ESCB Statute and Article 14(4) of 
the Law on BNB. 
3.3.  Confidentiality 
The draft law amends Articles 4(2), 13(1) and 23(2) of the Law on BNB and introduces the 
obligation of professional secrecy for BNB staff and the members of BNB’s Governing Council, 
which is in line with Article 38 of the ESCB Statute.  
3.4 Monetary financi ng and privileged access 
The proposed amendment to Article 45(1) of the Law on BNB removes the inconsistency with 
Article 101(1) of the Treaty regarding the range of public sector entities covered by the prohibition 
on monetary financing. Moreover, acknowledging the particularities arising from the currency-
board regime, i.e. prohibition on BNB extending credit to credit institutions other than in the context of emergency liquidity operations, the ECB reiterates
8 the need to bring Article 45(2) of the 
Law on BNB into line with Article 101(2) of the Treaty. Such alignment would certainly be mandatory on the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 November 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
7  The ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2008, p. 20: ‘National legislation should also provide for a right of review by the 
national courts of a decision to dismiss any other member  of the decision-making bodies of the NCB involved in the 
performance of ESCB-related tasks. This right can either be a matter of general law or can take the form of a specific 
provision. Even though it may be said that this right is availa ble under the general law, for legal certainty reasons it could 
be advisable to provide specifica lly for such a right of review’. 
8 See the ECB’s Convergence report of May 2008, p. 230.