Opinion of the European Central Bank of 16 November 2005 at the request of the Czech Statistical Officeon proposed amendments to the Act on the State statistical service and to the Act on Česká národní banka (CON/2005/46)
Date: 2005-11-16
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Czechia, central bank, exchange of information, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 16 November 2005 

at the request of the Czech Statistical Office 

on proposed amendments to the Act on the State statistical service and to the Act on Česká národní 

banka 

(CON/2005/46) 

1. 

On  19  September  2005,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Český 

statistický úřad (ČSÚ) (Czech Statistical Office) for an opinion on specific provisions of a draft law 

amending the Act No 89/1995 Coll., on the State statistical service, as amended, and other related 
laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’)1. The related laws amended by the draft law include the Act No 

6/1993  Coll.,  on  Česká  národní  banka,  as  amended  (hereinafter  the  ‘ČNB  Act’).  The  ECB’s 

comments are confined to the specific provisions of the draft law on which it has been consulted.  

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 law relates to the collection 

of  statistical  information.  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 main purpose of the draft law is to amend the current legal framework for statistical registers 

maintained  by  ČSÚ,  in  order  to  gradually  reduce  reliance  on  annual  statistical  surveys  by  using 

statistical data obtained from other State authorities. In particular, the draft law amends the Act on 

the State statistical service No 89/1995 Coll., as amended (hereinafter the ‘Act’) and inserts a new 

reciprocal  provision  into  the  ČNB  Act  to  permit  the  sharing  of  individual  data  between  Česká 
národní banka (ČNB) and ČSÚ3. Moreover, under new Article 17(1)(f) of the Act, ČSÚ is required 

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The specific provisions are the new Article 17(1)(g) of the Act No 89/1995 Coll. and the new Article 41(6) of the ČNB 
Act. 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
See the draft Article 17(1)(g) of the Act, which provides: ‘Authorities carrying out the State statistical service […] (g) 
[shall] transfer individual data to Česká národní banka for statistical purposes, if this is necessary to fulfil international 
obligations arising from international agreements by which the Czech Republic or Česká národní banka are bound.’ The 
draft  Article  41(6)  of  the  ČNB  Act  states  ‘(6)  Česká  národní  banka  may  transfer  to  the  Czech  Statistical  Office  for 
statistical purposes individual data that it has obtained to fulfil its tasks if this is necessary to fulfil obligations from an 
international agreement by which the Czech Republic is bound.’ 

 
 
 
                                                      
to  transfer  confidential  data  to  other  legal  entities  for  research  purposes  in  accordance  with 
Community law4. 

4. 

The ECB welcomes the proposed amendments to the Act and to the ČNB Act, which will enable 

individual statistical data to be exchanged between ČNB and ČSÚ for statistical purposes. As this 

extended  data-sharing  is  meant  to  prevent  duplication  in  the  collection  of  statistical  data,  it  is 

expected  that  the  proposed  amendments  will  reduce  the  survey  burden  on  the  Czech  reporting 

population. At the same time, they may further enhance the quality of the statistics concerned. 

5. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 November 2005. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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Draft  Article  17(1)(f)  of  the  Act  provides:  ‘Authorities carrying out  the  State  statistical  service  […]  (f)  [shall]  transfer 
confidential data for the purposes of scientific research to legal persons whose main object is scientific research, on the 
basis of an agreement providing for the fulfilment of conditions for the protection of such data and the precise method 
of their use in accordance with the law of the European Communities; the data shall be provided in such a format as to 
make it impossible to identify directly the reporting agent to which the data provided relate.’ 

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