Opinion of the European Central Bank of 29 August 2005 at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance on a preliminary draft law that amends the Law of 28 February 2002 regulating the compilation of the balance of payments and the international investment position of Belgium and amending the Decree Law of 6 October 1944 on foreign exchange control and various legal provisions (CON/2005/31)
Date: 2005-08-29
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Belgium, balance of payments, data collection, international investment, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 29 August 2005 

at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance 

on a preliminary draft law that amends the Law of 28 February 2002 regulating the compilation of 

the balance of payments and the international investment position of Belgium and amending the 

Decree Law of 6 October 1944 on foreign exchange control and various legal provisions 

(CON/2005/31) 

1. 

On 17 June 2005, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Belgian Ministry 

of  Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  preliminary  draft  law  that  amends  the  Law  of  28  February  2002 

regulating the compilation of the balance of payments and the international investment position of 

Belgium and amending the Decree Law of 6 October 1944 on foreign exchange control and various 
legal provisions (hereinafter the ‘draft law’)1. 

2. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing 

the European Community and on 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  provisions2,  since  the  draft  law  concerns  the  collection, 

compilation  and  distribution  by  the  Nationale  Bank  van  België/Banque  Nationale  de  Belgique 

(NBB)  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. 

Besides  inserting  into  the  Law  of  28  February  2002  references  to  the  statistical  data  covered  by 

Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 

on  Community  statistics  concerning  balance  of  payments,  international  trade  in  services  and 
foreign  direct  investment3,  the  draft  law  also  makes  substantive  amendments  to  the  Law  of 

28 February 2002, concerning a number of which the ECB has the following comments.  

1  

2  
3  

For  the  ECB’s  views  on  the  Law  of  28  February  2002  regulating  the  compilation  of  the  balance  of  payments  and  the 
international  investment  position  of  Belgium  and  amending  the  Decree  Law  of  6  October  1944  on  foreign  exchange 
control  and  various  legal  provisions  (hereinafter  the  ‘Law  of  28  February  2002’)  see  ECB  Opinion  CON/2001/23  of 
30 August  2001  at  the  request  of  the  Belgian  Minister  of  Finance  on  a  draft  law  on  the  compilation  of  the  balance  of 
payments  and  the  international  investment  position  of  Belgium  and  amending  the  Decree  Law  of  6  October  1944  on 
foreign exchange control and various legal provisions. 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
OJ L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 23. 

 
 
 
                                                           
4. 

The ECB welcomes the fact that Article 5(a) of the draft law enables the NBB to implement the 

compilation methods for portfolio investment statistics provided for in Guideline ECB/2004/15 of 

16 July 2004 on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of 

balance of payments and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves 
template4. 

5. 

The ECB also welcomes the fact that the draft law introduces the possibility of a direct reporting 

system (see Article 5(b) of the draft law), as opposed to the current system whereby statistical data 

are  primarily  collected  through  the  intermediation  of  the  banking  sector,  and  notes  that  similar 

direct reporting systems have also been implemented in other Member States. Whilst reducing the 

reporting burden on the monetary financial institutions sector and other financial intermediaries, a 

direct reporting system should ensure the high quality of data contributed to euro area cross-border 

statistics. The ECB understands that the direct reporting system is considered as an alternative to 

the existing indirect reporting system but does not preclude use of indirect reporting in the future, 

for instance as a ‘fall-back’ method in relation to certain categories of transactions for which direct 

reporting  proves  unsatisfactory.  Finally,  the  ECB  understands  that  the  insertion  of  an  explicit 

reference  to  Article  3,  §1  of  the  Law  of  28  February  2002  into  Article  3,  §2  thereof  –  which 

precisely delimits the transactions about which the NBB is entitled to receive information – does 

not restrict the NBB’s existing powers. The ECB indeed understands that such delimitation already 

derives  from  the  general  reference  in  the  second  paragraph  of  Article  2  of  the  Law  of 

28 February 2002 to Articles 3 to 7 thereof. 

6. 

In order to facilitate the operation of the direct reporting system, the draft law introduces two new 

data collection methods into the Law of 28 February 2002, namely (i) sample surveys (pursuant to 

the second paragraph of Article 5(b) of the draft law); and (ii) ‘secondary data collection’, i.e. the 

collection of already available data from public authorities and professional bodies (pursuant to the 

third  paragraph  of  Article  5(b)  of  the  draft  law).  The  ECB  notes  that  the  possibility  of  sample 

surveys in certain cases is already currently provided for in the last paragraph of Article 4 of the 

Royal  Decree  of  19 March  2002  regarding  the  compilation  of  the  balance  of  payments  and  the 
international  investment  position  of  Belgium5  (the  decree  that  implemented  the  Law  of 

28 February 2002),  and  that  this  is  now  generalised  under  the  draft  law.  Considering  the 

importance  for  the  accuracy  of  sample  surveys  of  properly  defining  the  categories  of  reporting 

agents covered by the surveys, with these reporting agents having precisely the same probability of 

being obliged to provide the information (see the second paragraph of Article 5(b) of the draft law), 

the  ECB  welcomes  the  additional  provision  inserted  by  the  draft  law  into  the  Law  of 

28 February 2002 to the effect that the NBB may also be entrusted by royal decree with the task of 

delimiting how and when the sample surveys will be implemented (Article 5(d) of the draft law). 

4  
5  

OJ L 354, 30.11.2004, p. 34. 
See  ECB  Opinion  CON/2002/3  of  14  January  2002  at  the  request  of  the  Governor  of  the  Nationale  Bank  van 
België/Banque Nationale de Belgique on a draft royal decree and draft accompanying regulations on the compilation of 
the balance of payments and the international investment position of Belgium. 

2 

                                                           
The  ECB  expects  that  the  Belgian  authorities  will  also  consult  it  in  relation  to  such  decree.  The 

ECB also notes regarding the secondary data collection method provided for under the draft law, 

that  the  NBB  can  oblige  public  authorities  to  report  their  data,  whereas  professional  bodies  only 

report their data on a voluntary basis. While the ECB welcomes the possibility of secondary data 

collection, the ECB would like to note that if professional bodies were not to report relevant data 

available  to  them  to  the  NBB,  the  NBB  would  have  to  collect  these  data  in  another  way,  which 

might prove less efficient and more costly to reporting agents. Therefore, the ECB would like to 

encourage  the  conclusion  of  cooperation  agreements  between  the  NBB  and  the  relevant 

professional bodies laying down the modalities for data transmission by the latter to the NBB. This 

could be ensured either through a provision in the draft law or through a statement to this effect in 

the explanatory memorandum. 

7. 

Article 4, §1 of the Law of 28 February 2002 currently refers in the context of the NBB’s use of 

data  to  the  NBB’s  compliance  with  its  obligations  in  connection  with  the  tasks  falling  upon  the 

European  System  of  Central  Banks  (ESCB),  and  Article  4,  §2  currently  separately  refers  in  the 

context of the NBB’s data communication to the communication of individual data by the NBB to 

the  ECB.  For  consistency  reasons,  the  draft  law  moves  the  reference  to  the  ESCB’s  tasks  from 

Article 4, §1 to Article 4, §2, but at the same time deletes the reference to communication of the 

data  to  the  ECB  from  Article  4,  §2.  While  the  ECB  acknowledges  the  reason  for  moving  the 

reference to the ESCB, the ECB also understands that deleting the reference to communication of 

the data to the ECB will not limit existing data communication possibilities from the NBB to the 

ECB under the Law of 28 February 2002 and applicable Community legislation. 

8. 

Finally, the draft law allows the NBB to communicate individual data to the Commissie voor het 

Bank,  Financie-  en  Assurantiewezen/Commission  bancaire,  financière  et  des  assurances  (CBFA) 

(the  Belgian  Banking,  Finance  and  Insurance  Commission),  provided  that  the  CBFA  is  itself 

authorised to process such data in the context of its prudential supervision tasks (final paragraph of 

Article  6(b)  of  the  draft  law).  In  order  to  lay  down  unambiguously  the  conditions  for  such 

communication, it might be appropriate to mention explicitly in the draft law that the CBFA should 

be  ‘authorised  to  directly  collect  and  process’  the  data  instead  of  merely  mentioning  this  in  the 

explanatory  memorandum  to  the  draft  law  (see  the  penultimate  paragraph  on  page  8  of  the 

explanatory memorandum). 

9. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 August 2005. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3