Opinion of the European Central Bank of 18 June 2004 at the request of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour on a draft regulation amending the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation (CON/2004/23)
Date: 2004-06-18
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Germany, financial transaction, foreign trade, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 18 June 2004 

at the request of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour  

on a draft regulation amending the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation 

(CON/2004/23) 

1. 

On 1 June 2004, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Ministry of 

Economics and Labour for an opinion on a draft regulation amending the German Foreign Trade 
and Payments Regulation1 (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 

2. 

The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on  the  fourth  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  provisions2,  as  the  draft  regulation  relates  to  the 

collection,  compilation  and  distribution  of  monetary,  financial,  banking,  payment  systems  and 

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 has adopted this opinion. 

3. 

The  draft  regulation  amends  the  Foreign  Trade  and  Payments  Regulation,  which  deals  with 

reporting requirements in relation to cross-border transactions between residents and non-residents. 

The ECB understands that the proposed amendments result, inter alia, from the following: 

– 

– 

changes to the Deutsche Bundesbank’s organisational structure, 

the need to comply with internationally used terms and definitions and the data requirements 

of the ECB, the European Commission and the OECD, 

– 

the  introduction  of  a  new  reporting  form  for  transactions  in  securities  and  financial 

derivatives, and 

– 

the need to ease reporting via central reporting points in companies and the use of electronic 

reporting procedures. 

4. 

The  ECB  welcomes  the  initiative  in  adjusting  the  sector  classification  of  reporting  agents.  The 

application  of  the  harmonised  classification  of  ‘Monetary  Financial  Institutes’  (MFIs)  to  German 

reporting requirements will improve the consistency of information used for euro area aggregates. 

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2  

Entwurf  einer  Zweiundsechzigsten  Verordnung zur  Änderung  der  Außenwirtschaftsverordnung  (A  draft  62nd  regulation 
amending the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation). 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 

 
 
 
                                                      
5. 

The  ECB  also  welcomes  the  use  in  German  legislation  of  International  Securities  Identification 

Numbers (ISIN). The use of these internationally  accepted identification numbers will enable the 

German authorities to implement an efficient statistical reporting system in the area of balance of 

payments  and  the  international  investment  position  based  on  the  collection  of  information  on 

individual securities. The use of internationally accepted securities identification numbers will be 

required for compiling statistics on euro area balance of payments and the international investment 

position on a security-by-security basis. 

6. 

Additionally, the ECB particularly welcomes the adaptation of reporting requirements in the area of 

direct investment statistics to permit the use of the valuation principles required for compiling euro 

area international investment position statistics. 

7. 

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, 18 June 2004. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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