Opinion of the European Monetary Institute at the request of the Council of the European Union under Articles 106(6) and 109f(8) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (the Treaty) and Article 42 of the Statute of the ESCB on a proposal from the Commission for a Council Decision on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities on draft legislative provisions (the proposal)
Date: 1998-04-06
Institutions: European Monetary Institute
Subjects: EU Member State, EU law, European Central Bank, European Monetary Institute, opinion, public authorities

C  190/6

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

18.6.98

EUROPEAN  MONETARY  INSTITUTE

OPINION  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  MONETARY  INSTITUTE

at  the  request  of  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  under  Articles  106(6)  and  109f(8)  of  the
Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community  (the  Treaty)  and  Article  42  of  the  Statute  of  the
ESCB  on  a  proposal  from  the  Commission  for  a  Council  Decision  on  the  consultation  of  the
European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  on  draft  legislative  provisions  (the  proposal)

(98/C  190/05)

CON/98/14

1.(cid:217)The  present  opinion  was  requested  in  a  letter  dated
6  March  1998  from  the  Council  of  the  European
Union  which,  for  this  purpose,  forwarded  document
the  EMI.  The  document
COM(97)(cid:216)725 
contained 
explanatory
memorandum.  The  EMI  is  competent  to  deliver  an
opinion  under  Articles  106(6)  and  109f(8)  of  the
Treaty.

to 
proposal 

final 

and 

the 

its 

2.(cid:217)The  objective  of  the  proposal  is  to  define  the  limits
within  which,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the
authorities  of  the  Member  States  shall  consult  the
ECB  on  draft  legislative  provisions  falling  within  its
fields  of  competence.  To  a  certain  extent  the  proposal
mirrors  the  legal  situation  currently  applicable  to  the
consultation  of  the  European  Monetary  Institute.

3.(cid:217)The  reference  in  the  third  recital  to  "draft  legislation’
should  be  replaced  by  "draft  legislative  provisions’  as
defined  in  Article  1  of  the  proposal.

4.(cid:217)It  is  suggested  that  in  Article  1(2)  the  words  "or
continuing  implementation’  are  deleted.  The  meaning
of  these  words  is  not  clear  and  this  uncertainty  might
give  rise  to  problems  for  the 
interpretation  and
application  of  the  proposal.

5.(cid:217)In  general,  the  EMI  agrees  with  the  non(cid:220)exhaustive
enumeration  of  subjects  on  which  the  ECB  is  to  be
consulted  as  defined  in  Article  2  of  the  proposal.

6.(cid:217)The  EMI  welcomes  the  fact  that,  by  comparison  with
Council  Decision  93/717/EC,  Article  3,  paragraphs  2
and  3,  and  recital  6  of  the  proposal  provide  further
information  on  the  time(cid:220)frame  to  apply  to  a  consul(cid:220)
tation  procedure.  Whereas  in  most  cases  in  the  past
the  EMI  has  been  able  to  meet  even  very  short
deadlines  set  by  national  authorities,  experience  has
shown  that  both  requiring  the  consulting  authority  to
state  the  reasons  for  any  urgency  and  allowing  a
request  to  be  made  for  an  extension  to  deadlines  for
replies  might 
the  efficient  and  orderly
procedure  followed  when  providing  opinions.

increase 

7.(cid:217)With  regard  to  Article  4  of  the  proposal,  further
consideration  could  be  given  to  whether  the  efficiency
of  the  procedure  would  not  be  increased  by  informing
the  ECB  about  national  measures  for  the  implemen(cid:220)
tation  of  the  Council  Decision.  In  such  a  case  it
would  be  advisable  to  specify  a  date  in  Article  4  by
which  the  ECB  should  be 
informed  about  such
measures  by  Member  States.

8.(cid:217)This  opinion  will  be  published  in  the  Official  Journal

of  the  European  Communities.

Frankfurt,  6  April  1998