Opinion of the European Central Bank of 24 August 2001 at the request of the Austrian Ministry of Justice on a draft law amending Austrian criminal law (Strafrechtsänderungsgesetz 2001) (CON/2001/19)
Date: 2001-08-24
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Austria, administrative sanction, euro, fine, inflation, money, national law

EN

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 24 August 2001

at the request of the Austrian Ministry of Justice

on a draft law amending Austrian criminal law

(Strafrechtsänderungsgesetz 2001)

(CON/2001/19)

1. 

On  30  July  2001  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Austrian

Ministry 

of 

Justice 

on 

a 

draft 

law 

amending  Austrian 

criminal 

law

(Strafrechtsänderungsgesetz 2001) (hereinafter referred to as the “draft law”).

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,  the  second  indent  of  Article  4(a)  of  the

Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central  Bank  and  the

first indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation
of  the  ECB  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft  legislative  provisions1,  as  the  legislative
proposal contains provisions concerning currency matters. The Governing Council of the ECB

has adopted this opinion in accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of

Procedure of the ECB.

3. 

The main purpose of the draft law is the conversion of amounts and thresholds in schillings into

euro. At the same time, its intention is the adjustment of amounts and thresholds for inflation or

their increase on the grounds of criminal law policy. 

4. 

The substitution of schilling amounts with euro amounts is based on the following principles.

(cid:1)  Thresholds, which, if exceeded, result in a higher punishment, will be adjusted in the light

of social considerations. In particular, this concerns offences against property.

(cid:1) 

In respect of minimum and maximum amounts for penalties, it provides for an adjustment

for inflation and introduces rounded amounts, which can easily be remembered.

1

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.

                                                          
(cid:1) 

In  the  area  of  fees,  the  draft  law  proposes  for  budgetary  reasons  a  direct  conversion

according to the conversion rules.

5. 

The ECB welcomes the draft law, which provides for the replacement of schilling amounts with

euro amounts in the area of criminal law. Such adjustments are in the interests of legal clarity

and transparency of the national legal system.

6. 

The ECB notes that as regards certain “signal amounts”, smoothing in order to obtain round and

convenient figures is considered necessary for reasons of transparency and practicability.

7. 

The  ECB  notes  that  the  draft  law  provides  for  an  adjustment  for  inflation  for  the  purpose  of

fines.  In  its  opinion  of  17  May  2001  on  a  draft  Second  Federal  Law  containing  ancillary

measures for the introduction of the euro (2. Euro-Justiz-Begleitgesetz), the ECB underlined the

importance  of  the  principle  of  “no  impact  on  costs”  in  the  context  of  the  introduction  of  the

euro. In this respect, it is essential for the legislator to clearly state the reason for the increase of

administrative fees or pecuniary penalties, which, of course, is not related to the changeover to

the  euro.  The  ECB  notes  that  the  explanatory  memorandum  of  the  draft  law  specifies  the

grounds for the proposed increases, namely the rise of the consumer price index since the last

adjustment  in  1988  of  35,8  %  and  the  intention  to  avoid  repeated  adjustments  within  a  short

period of time.

8. 

The  ECB  notes  that  the  upward  adjustment  of  thresholds  in  the  field  of  offences  against

property  is  due  to  criminal  law  policy.  The  ECB  does  not  consider  itself  to  be  competent  to

comment on issues of general criminal law policy.

9. 

The ECB suggests that for the purposes of direct conversion (e.g. Article 52 of the Penal Code

(StVG)), the explanatory memorandum make reference to the conversion and rounding rules in

Articles 4 and 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions

relating to the introduction of the euro2.

10.  The ECB confirms that it has no objections to the publication of this opinion by the competent

national authorities.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 24 August 2001.

The President of the ECB

[signed]

Willem F. DUISENBERG

2

OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1.

2