EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 24 March 2009 
at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance 
on a draft law on payment services and systems  
(CON/2009/27) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 25 February 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Slovenian Ministry 
of Finance for an opinion on a draft law on payment services and payment systems (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 and fifth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions
1, as the draft law relates to Banka Slovenije  and to payment and settlement systems. 
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 main purpose of the draft law is to trans pose into Slovenian legislation Directive 2007/64/EC 
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the 
internal market amending Directives 97/7/ EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and 
repealing Directive 97/5/EC
2. The draft law also implements Directive 98/26/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on  settlement finality in payment and securities 
settlement systems3 and Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
18 September 2000 on the taking up, pursuit of and prudential supervision of the business of 
electronic money institutions4. As stated in the consultation request, the draft law goes beyond the 
                                                 
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1. 
3 OJ L 166, 11.6.1998, p. 45. Directive 98/26/ EC has already been transposed into Slovenian legislation by several legal 
acts. Payment systems were covered in the Law on payment transactions ( Zakon o pla čilnem prometu , adopted on 
20 March 2002, published in Uradni list RS  No 30/2002, ZPlaP) which the draft law will repeal. The Law on the market 
in financial instruments ( Zakon o trgu finan čnih instrumentov , adopted on 12 July 2007, published in Uradni list RS  
No 67/2007) and the Law on dema terialised securities ( Zakon o nematerializiranih vrednostnih papirjih , adopted on 
23 March 1999, published in Uradni list RS  No 23/1999) regulate settlement final ity in securities settlement systems. 
4 OJ L 275, 27.10.2000, p. 39. The ZPlaP ha s already transposed Directive 2000/46/EC. 
2 implementation of the abovementioned Community directives, by including provisions governing 
payment systems (Chapter 11) and penal provisions fo r infringements of the draft law (Chapter 17).  
1.2 On the basis of Article 1(2) of Council Deci sion 98/415/EC, this opinion only covers the provisions 
of Chapter 11 of the draft law that relate to  payment systems. While acknowledging the importance 
of Directive 2007/64/EC for the establishment of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA), the 
ECB provides no assessment in this opinion of  the overall implementation of Directives 
2007/64/EC5, 98/26/EC and 2000/46/EC in Slovenia.  
 2. General observations  
The ECB welcomes the draft law which will compre hensively govern the payment infrastructure in 
Slovenia and, by implementing Directive 2007/64/E C, will among others also fulfil regulatory pre-
conditions for the introduction of the SEPA. 
 3. Specific observations 3.1 Supervision of payment institutions 
 The draft law will entrust Banka Slovenije with new payment institution oversight and supervision 
tasks. The ECB welcomes this widening of Banka Slovenije’s powers which has to be supported by 
providing Banka Slovenije with sufficient human an d financial resources, both in terms of quantity 
and quality, to carry out its new tasks without a ffecting its capacity to carry out its Eurosystem-
related tasks. In this respect, the ECB notes Artic les 185 and 200 and Article 231(5) of the draft 
law, which provide for the reimbursement of  Banka Slovenije’s expenses arising from the 
performance of the newly assigned tasks. 
3.2 Important payment systems 
Article 151 of the draft law defines ‘important pa yment systems’ as payment systems which, due to 
the scale or type of payment transactions settled in  such payment systems or other circumstances, 
have significant influence on the smooth execution of payment transactions in the country or on the confidence of payment service users in their safet y and efficiency. The ECB notes that pursuant to 
Article 161(5) of the draft law, Banka Slovenije should notify important payment systems to the 
Commission to fulfil Slovenia’s obligation un der Article 10 of Directive 98/26/EC. The ECB 
welcomes allocating to the overseeing authority the competence to notify systems under Directive 98/26/EC and notes, in addition, that Banka Sloven ije will exercise its oversight function pursuant 
to the Law on Banka Slovenije
6 in line with the harmonised oversight framework adopted by the 
ECB’s Governing Council.  
                                                 
5  See ECB Opinion CON/2006/21 of 26 April 2006 on a proposal for a directive on payment services  in the internal market 
(OJ C 109, 9.5.2006, p. 10). 
6   Zakon o Banki Slovenije , official consolidated version a dopted on 23 June 2006, published in Uradni list RS  No 72/06. 
3 3.3 Notifying insolvency proceedings 
Pursuant to Article 163(5) of the draft law, Banka  Slovenije informs competent authorities of other 
Member States of the opening of insolvency pro ceedings against a participant in an important 
payment system or similar measures referred to in Article 163(1) of the draft law. The ECB 
welcomes this provision and would suggest going  beyond the scope of Directive 98/26/EC by 
requiring Banka Slovenije to also notify the na tional payment systems of such proceedings or 
measures, hence preventing the settlement of an insolvent participant’s payment instructions. 
  This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 24 March 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET