Opinion of the European Central Bank of 29 May 2006 at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance on a draft royal decree establishing the balance of payments, the international investment position and international trade statistics for services and foreign direct investment in Belgium (CON/2006/25)
Date: 2006-05-29
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 May 2006 

at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance 

on a draft royal decree establishing the balance of payments, the international investment position 

and international trade statistics for services and foreign direct investment in Belgium 

(CON/2006/25) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 17 March 2006, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Belgian Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  royal  decree  establishing  the  balance  of  payments,  the  international 

investment position and international trade statistics for services and foreign direct investment in Belgium 

(hereinafter the ‘draft royal decree’). 

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

European  Community  and  on  the  second,  third,  fourth  and  fifth  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 royal decree relates to the collection by the 

Nationale  Bank  van  België/Banque  Nationale  de  Belgique  (NBB)  of  data  from  Belgian  residents  to 

establish  the  balance  of  payments  and  related  monetary  and  financial  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. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft royal decree 

The draft royal decree is intended to implement the Belgian Law of 28 February 2002 regulating 

the compilation of the balance of payments, the international investment position and the statistics 

of the international trade in services and the foreign direct investments 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’)2,  as  last  amended  by  the  Law  of  1  May  20063.  The 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
For the ECB’s views on 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  controls  and 
various legal provisions. 
For the ECB’s views on the Law of 1 May 2006 see ECB Opinion CON/2005/31 of 29 August 2005 at the request of the 
Belgian  Minister  of  Finance  on  a  preliminary  draft  law  that  amends  the  Law  of  28  February  2002  regulating  the 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
main change by the Law of 1 May 2006 is the introduction of the possibility to implement a direct 

reporting  system  for  the  collection  of  statistical  data  by  the  NBB,  as  opposed  to  the  previously 

applicable system whereby the relevant data were primarily collected through the banking sector. 

Following  this  amendment,  the  draft  royal  decree  intends  to  replace  the  Royal  Decree  of 

19 March 2002  concerning  the  establishment  of  the  balance  of  payments  and  the  international 
investment  position  of  Belgium4,  which  currently  implements  the  Law  of  28 February 2002.  The 

draft royal decree thus specifies how, according to the categories of economic agents and/or foreign 

transactions concerned, statistical data will need to be provided to the NBB, which is empowered to 

adopt  more  detailed  regulations  in  this  manner.  Although  the  draft  royal  decree  thereby  largely 

maintains the structure and content of the Royal Decree of 19 March 2002, it contains adaptations 

that are necessary mainly to take account of the new direct reporting system and of the reporting of 

foreign transactions instead of the current reporting of foreign payments. 

2.   General observations 

2.1   As a general comment, the ECB refers to paragraphs 5 and 6 of its Opinion CON/2005/31 on the 

benefits  of  a  direct  reporting  system  and  of  sample  surveys  as  facilitating  the  operation  of  such 

system. The data reporting requirements laid down in the draft royal decree are also based on such 

system and method. The ECB therefore welcomes the purpose and effects of the draft royal decree 

in  reducing  the  administrative  burden  for  undertakings  and  natural  persons  who  carry  out 

professional activities, while at the same time ensuring the high quality of the data used to compile 

the  euro  area  balance  of  payments  and  international  investment  position  statistics,  in  accordance 

with  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 template5. The ECB notes in this respect that, in order to 

perform  the  tasks  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks,  the  ECB,  assisted  by  the  national 

central  banks,  including  the  NBB,  collects  the  necessary  statistical  information  either  from  the 

competent national authorities or directly from economic agents, thereby endeavouring to limit as 

far as possible the overall reporting burden for the economic agents concerned. 

2.2   The ECB also welcomes the exclusion of natural persons’ private transactions from the draft royal 

decree  thus  exempting  them  completely  for  such  transactions  from  its  reporting  requirements. 

Given that no threshold applies to this exemption for natural persons, this exemption is obviously 

wider  than  the  exemption  for  cross-border  payments  in  Article  6(1)  of  Regulation  (EC) 

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. 
For the ECB’s views on the Royal Decree of 19 March 2002 establishing the balance of payments and the international 
investment  position  of  Belgium  (hereinafter  the  ‘Royal  Decree  of  19  March  2002’)  see  ECB  Opinion  CON/2002/3  of 
14 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. 
OJ L 354, 30.11.2004, p. 34. 

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No 2560/2001  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  19  December  2001  on  cross-
border  payments  in  euro6  (hereinafter  ‘the  Regulation’)  and,  similarly,  in  Article  2  of  the  Royal 

Decree  of  19  March  2002.  As  regards  the  categories  of  transactions  covered  by  the  draft  royal 

decree, it should be ensured that the reporting requirements for such transactions are in line with 

Article 6(1) of the Regulation, when such transactions fall within its scope of application (see e.g. 

the  second  and  third  paragraphs  of  Article  1  of  the  Regulation  for  this  scope).  In  particular,  the 

ECB  questions  whether  the  cross-border  reporting  requirements  for  payment  card  issuers  and 

operators of payment card systems in Article 6 of the draft royal decree should not be subjected to 

the  conditions  laid  down  in  the  Regulation,  particularly  the  EUR 12  500  exemption  threshold  in 

Article 6(1) thereof. 

2.3  Additionally, in the context of national legislation on the reporting of payment-related transactions, 

such  as  the  draft  royal  decree,  the  ECB  refers  to  the  establishment  of  the  Single  Euro  Payments 

Area  (SEPA)  by  the  European  banking  industry  and  strongly  supported  by  the  ECB.  The  SEPA 

aims  to  establish  the  euro  area  as  a  domestic  payment  area  without  internal  borders.  When  fully 

implemented, a single set of payment instruments will be used for both national and cross-border 

payments  in the  euro  area,  thereby  eliminating differences between national  and euro area cross-

border payments. 

3.  

Technical observations  

3.1  The  ECB  proposes  using  the  concept  of  ‘monetary  financial  institution’  instead  of  ‘credit 

institution’ in the fourth indent of Article 1, §1 of the draft royal decree. This concept is defined in 

Regulation ECB/2001/13 of 22 November 2001 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the 
monetary financial institutions sector7 and is also used in the fourth indent of Article 1, §1 of the 

Royal Decree of 19 March 2002. 

3.2  

In addition, the ECB notes that the draft royal decree will, when adopted, apply retroactively from 

1 January 2006 (Article 21). While the draft royal decree’s reporting requirements mostly simplify 

the current requirements under the Royal Decree of 19 March 2002, the ECB trusts that, for every 

category of reporting agent and transaction subject to the draft royal decree, retroactive compliance 

with  the  reporting  requirements  imposed  by  the  draft  royal  decree  will  be  possible  without 

imposing a burden on the reporting agents. 

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7  

OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 13. 
OJ L 333, 17.12.2001, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation ECB/2004/21 (OJ L 371, 18.12.2004, p. 42). 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 May 2006. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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