Opinion of the European Central Bank of 5 November 2004 at the request of the Czech Statistical Office on a draft decree laying down the programme of statistical surveys for the year 2005 (CON/2004/36)
Date: 2004-11-05
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Czechia, data collection, financial institution, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 5 November 2004 

at the request of the Czech Statistical Office 

on a draft decree laying down the programme of statistical surveys for the year 2005 

(CON/2004/36) 

1. 

On  5  October  2004,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Czech 

Statistical Office (CSO) for an opinion on a draft decree laying down the programme of statistical 

surveys for the year 2005 (hereinafter the ‘draft decree’). 

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  provisions1,  as  the  draft  decree  relates  to  the 

collection 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 decree lays down the programme for statistical surveys for 2005. The CSO is required to 

lay  down  such  programmes  on  an  annual  basis  pursuant  to  Article  10(1)  of  the  Act  on  the  State 

Statistical Service No 89/1995 Coll., as amended.  

4. 

An  annex  to  the  draft  decree  submitted  by  the  CSO  (hereinafter  the  ‘annex’)  contains  ‘template’ 

statistical  surveys  for  each  category  of financial  institution  (reporting unit)  regulated  by  the  draft 

decree. 

The purpose of the surveys is to collect statistical data for use in assessing the state and estimating 

the  development  of  key  macroeconomic  indicators  for  the  Czech  Republic,  for  compiling  the 

national  accounts  of  the  financial  institutions  sector,  calculating  the  government  deficit  and  debt 

and for the CSO’s publications and analytical activity. The results of the surveys, once processed, 

are  then  to  be  forwarded  to  international  monetary  institutions  and  other  international 

organisations.  

The  financial  institutions  covered  by  the  programme  (mainly  insurance  companies,  banks,  non-

banking  financial  institutions  preparing  their  accounts  as  banks,  and  ‘other  financial  institutions’ 

preparing  their  accounts  as  businesses  and  not  as  banks)  are  generally  required  to  complete  both 

1  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 

 
 
 
                                                      
quarterly  and  annual  surveys  in  the  form  of  exhaustive  questionnaires.  Government  institutions 

either  complete  quarterly  surveys  or  annual  surveys.  Furthermore,  investment  companies  are 

obliged to complete  a comprehensive  survey including the financial results of their  mutual funds 

and a separate questionnaire for their money market funds. 

As regards the means of collection, the surveys contained in the annex to the draft decree stipulate 

that the data may either be collected by completing questionnaires or by electronic data collection. 

5. 

Article  5.1  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central 

Bank  provides  that  in  order  to  undertake  the  tasks  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks 

(ESCB),  the  ECB,  assisted  by  the  national  central  banks,  shall  collect  the  necessary  statistical 

information  either  from  the  competent  national  authorities  or  directly  from  economic  agents.  For 

these purposes it shall cooperate, inter alia, with the Community institutions or bodies and with the 

competent authorities of the Member States. Article 10 of the Treaty requires that ‘Member States 

shall  take  all  appropriate  measures  …  to  ensure  fulfilment  of  the  obligations  arising  out  of  this 

Treaty’. More specifically, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 

concerning  the  collection  of  statistical  information  by  the  European  Central  Bank2  requires  all 

Member  States  to  ‘organise  themselves  in  the  field  of  statistics  …  and  fully  cooperate  with  the 

ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute’. 

6. 

Recital 17 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 provides that ‘… while it is recognised that the 

statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements is not the same 

for the participating as for the non-participating Member States, Article 5 of the Statute applies to 

both participating and non-participating Member States; … this fact, together with Article [10] of 

the Treaty, implies an obligation to design and implement at the national level all the measures that 

Member States consider appropriate in order to carry out the collection of the statistical information 

needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements and the timely preparations in the field 

of statistics in order for them to become participating Member States’.  

7. 

On  the  basis  of  the  above,  the  ECB  notes  that  the  reporting  obligations  laid  down  by  national 

authorities  are  an  indispensable  component  of  national  collection  systems.  National  collection 

systems are highly complex, may differ between each Member State and depend on many national 

and external factors. As a consequence, the ECB’s comments on the draft decree are mainly of a 

general nature and aim to draw attention to those aspects that could be stated more explicitly in the 

draft decree. 

8. 

The ECB concludes that the draft decree appears to impose on financial institutions in the Czech 

Republic  some  of  the  statistical  reporting  requirements  applying  to  financial  institutions  in 

participating  Member  States.  Furthermore,  the  draft  decree  seems  to  be  consistent  with  these 

requirements. 

2 

OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8. 

2 

                                                      
9. 

At the same  time, it is the task primarily of the national authorities of non-participating Member 

States  to  assess  whether  any  proposed  detailed  reporting  requirements  and  collection  methods  at 

national level are the most efficient and effective and the least burdensome for the reporting agents 

concerned.   

10.  This  opinion  does  not  prejudice  any  later  assessment  by  the  ECB  of  statistical  data  and  other 

information collected under the CSO’s reporting requirements and reported to the ECB. 

11.  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, 5 November 2004. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3