Opinion of the European Central Bank of 4 December 2002 at the request of Sveriges Riksbank on a draft proposal for a regulation on the obligation to report information to Sveriges Riksbank for its balance-of-payments statistics (CON/2002/29)
Date: 2002-12-04
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Sweden, balance of payments, disclosure of information, national law, statistics

EN

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 4 December 2002

at the request of Sveriges Riksbank

on a draft proposal for a regulation on the obligation to report information to Sveriges Riksbank

for its balance-of-payments statistics

(CON/2002/29)

1. 

On  5  November  2002,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Sveriges

Riksbank for an opinion on a draft proposal for a regulation entitled ‘The Riksbank’s regulation on

the obligation to report information to the  Riksbank  for its  balance-of-payments  statistics  (RBFS

2002:4)’ (the ‘draft regulation’). The ECB has also received a memorandum prepared by Sveriges

Riksbank explaining the background to the proposal (the ‘explanatory memorandum’).

2. 

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  fourth  indents  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 legislative proposal relates to Sveriges

Riksbank and the collection of balance-of-payments statistics. In accordance with the first sentence

of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council of

the ECB has adopted this opinion.

3. 

The draft regulation refers to a new survey-based system for the collection of data for balance-of-

payments statistics that Sveriges Riksbank has decided to implement. The proposed new system is

intended to replace the so-called BOK system for the reporting of individual foreign payments via

Swedish banks for balance-of-payments purposes. The introduction of the new system is scheduled

to take place on 1 January 2003. Since the consultation concerns an ‘implementing’ regulation to

be  issued  by  the  Riksbank  under  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  (1988:1385),  the  draft  regulation

should be read against the background of that Act. There has recently been a proposal to amend the

Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  to  change  the  data  collection  system  and  to  clarify  the  reporting

requirements for balance-of-payments statistics and a reference is made to the ECB opinion in that

matter (CON/2002/21).

1 

OJ L189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.

                                                
4. 

Under the present rules, the Riksbank collects the information needed for its balance-of-payments

statistics  on  the  basis  of  Chapter  6,  Article  9  of  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  and  the  Riksbank’s

regulation  on  the  obligation  to  report  information  to  the  Riksbank  for  its  balance-of-payments

statistics (1997:4).  It  is  proposed  in  the  explanatory  memorandum  that,  for  practical  reasons,  the

existing  regulation  should  be  replaced  by  the  proposed  draft  regulation  (2002:4)  in  order  to

introduce the new survey-based system for collecting data, instead of making amendments to the

existing  regulation.  Chapter 6,  Article  9  of the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  will  continue  to  apply,  as

amended.

5. 

The  draft  regulation is  rather  general  in its  formulations and it is suggested  that  some  additional

more specific rules might be useful. For instance, the draft regulation could contain provisions with

more  detailed  practical  specifications  concerning  the  reporting  framework,  e.g.  possible

thresholds/sampling,  accurate  definitions  of  transactions/positions  to  be  reported,  detailed

classifications,  which  information  is  to  be  provided  at  what  frequency;  and  it  could  be  specified

where to find the reporting forms referred to in Article 13. The ECB is conscious that more detailed

provisions  may  make  the  draft  regulation  less  flexible  and,  as  an  alternative,  such  further  rules

could possibly be set out elsewhere and be referred to in Article 13 or in a new Article 14 of the

draft regulation.

6.  Moreover, compliance with internationally agreed standards for balance-of-payments statistics and

international  investment  positions  statistics  could  be  further  considered  (see  the  IMF  Balance  of

Payments  Manual,  fifth  edition,  (BPM5)).  Although  the  ECB  recognises  that  this  topic  can  be

addressed  outside  the  draft  regulation,  some  additional  specifications  in  the  draft  regulation  may

nevertheless  be  useful  in  order  to  avoid  inconsistencies.  For  instance,  in  Article  1  of  the  draft

regulation,  a  ‘foreign  counterparty’  is  defined  as  ‘[a]  legal  person,  physical  person,  authority,

branch  or  international  organisation  with  a  foreign  address’.  This  is  not,  however,  completely

consistent  with  the  BPM5’s  residency  criteria  (e.g.  the  German  Embassy  in  Stockholm  does  not

have  a  foreign  address  but  is  nonetheless  a  ‘foreign  counterparty’;  conversely,  the  Swedish

Embassy in Berlin, although it has a foreign address, is not a ‘foreign counterparty’).

7. 

The draft regulation states that information for balance-of-payments statistics purposes needs to be

reported  on  request.  The  recurring  use  of  the  locution  ‘on  request’  may  however  need  a

clarification. Depending on the data collection method, it appears that the reporting obligation for

the economic agents involved may be ongoing rather than ‘on request’. Furthermore, it is stated in

the  explanatory  memorandum  that  it  must  be  clear  from  the  draft  regulation  that  the  reporting

obligations  only  apply  on  the  request  of  the  Riksbank.  However,  it  is  not  expressly  stated  in  the

draft regulation that the requests triggering an obligation to report will be made by the Riksbank.

Rather,  it  is  silent on  who  is to  make  such  requests. The  ECB  believes  that  this  point  should  be

clarified.

8. 

The explanatory memorandum also states that rules must be laid down in the form of a regulation

in  order  to  enable  the  Riksbank  to  impose  fines  on  institutions  failing  to  fulfil  their  reporting

2

obligations. Sanctions in the form of fines should be available for the Riksbank in cases of wilful

misreporting  or  failure  to  report.  As  such  fines  are  provided  for  in  Chapter  6,  Article  9  of  the

Riksbank Act the ECB assumes that, in order to ensure their applicability with regard to the draft

regulation, they do not need to be referred to also in the text of the draft regulation itself.

9. 

In addition, the ECB would like to make the following drafting comments. Firstly, the ECB notes

that  contrary  to  the  proposed  changes  to  the  second  paragraph  of  Chapter  6,  Article  9  of  the

Sveriges  Riksbank  Act,  there  has  been  no  addition  of a  reference  to  the  international  investment

position  statistics  in  the  title  of  the  draft  regulation.  Instead,  these  statistics  are  mentioned  in

Article 2 of the draft regulation. The ECB suggests that the fact that they come within the scope of

the draft regulation could be made more explicit through a change of its title. Secondly, the ECB

assumes that ‘Swedish holdings’ and ‘foreign holdings’ in Article 8 of the draft regulation refer to

the  residence  of  the  holder,  but  would  welcome  clarification  on  this  point.  Finally,  the  ECB

suggests  that  the  meaning  of  the  terms  ‘Swedish  financial  instruments’  and  ‘held  in  custody

abroad’ in Article 9 could be clarified.

10.  The  ECB  confirms  that  it  has  no  objection  to  the  competent  national  authorities  making  this

opinion publicly available at their discretion. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website

six months after the date of its adoption.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 4 December 2002.

The President of the ECB

[signed]

Willem F. DUISENBERG

3