Opinion of the European Central Bank of 25 January 2007 at the request of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank on a draft regulation on the scope of information to be supplied for the central bank information system for the compilation of balance of payment statistics and on data supply methods and deadlines (CON/2007/2)
Date: 2007-01-25
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 25 January 2007 

at the request of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank on a draft regulation on the scope of information to be 

supplied for the central bank information system for the compilation of balance of payment 

statistics and on data supply methods and deadlines  

(CON/2007/2) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 15 December 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Magyar Nemzeti 

Bank  (MNB)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  regulation  on  the  scope  of  information  to  be  supplied  for  the 

central bank information system for the compilation of balance of payment statistics and on data supply 

methods and deadlines (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 

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

European  Community  and  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  regulation  relates  to  the  collection  and  compilation  of  balance  of 

payments  and  international  investment  position  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 regulation  

1.1  The  purpose  of  the  draft  regulation  is  to  ensure  the  collection  of  high  quality  data  for  the 

compilation of balance of payments and international investment position statistics. To this end, the 

draft  regulation  establishes  a  direct  reporting  system,  which  is  expected  to  come  into  effect  on 

1 January 2008.  

1.2  The  current  reporting  system  for  the  compilation  of  the  balance  of  payments  and  international 

investment  position  statistics,  which  is  based  on  the  monitoring  of  cash  transactions,  is  to  be 

replaced  by  a  new  system  relying  on  the  following  three  main  sources  of  information:  (i)  direct 

reports  from  economic  agents  carrying  out  transactions  with  non-residents;  (ii)  statistical  data 

supplied  by  the  Central  Statistical  Office  including  data  on  goods,  services,  compensation  of 

employees  and  current  transfers;  and  (iii)  data  already  collected  by  the  MNB’s  Statistics 

1  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  

 
 
 
 
                                                 
Department for securities statistics. In addition, the MNB compiles data on reserve assets and its 

cross-border transactions. 

2. 

General observations  

2.1   The ECB welcomes the draft regulation and its purpose to ensure the collection of high quality data 

for the compilation of balance of payments and international investment position statistics in line 

with  the  regime  established  under  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 
template2  (the 

investment  position  statistics,  and 

international  reserves 

international 

the 

‘Guideline’).  At  the  same  time,  the  draft  regulation  aims  to  limit  the  administrative  burden  for 
reporting agents to the extent possible3. Although the Guideline does not apply to the MNB, as a 

national central bank of a Member State that has not adopted the euro, achieving consistency with 

the ECB’s statistical standards will enable reporting agents to become familiar with the statistical 

reporting regime that will apply once the euro has been introduced in Hungary.  

2.2  The  ECB  draws  the  consulting  authority’s  attention  to  the  forthcoming  amendment  of  the 

Guideline as well as to other relevant future developments, including the updating of the Balance of 

Payments Manual of the International Monetary Fund which is expected by the end of 2008. The 

consulting authority is therefore invited to monitor developments  in this field and take them into 

account in its national arrangements, notably when setting up surveys. 

2.3   The ECB understands that the draft regulation will apply alongside the provisions for the collection 

of data on goods, services, compensation of employees and current transfers to be adopted by the 

Central  Statistical  Office  and  the  legal  acts  on  securities  statistics  currently  in  force  in  Hungary. 

Since  the  envisaged  reporting  system  will  draw  on  these  data,  it  will  be  important  to  update  the 

required legal framework in due course, to the extent necessary. 

2.4  This  opinion  is  without  prejudice  to  any  future  assessment  by  the  ECB  of  whether  the  direct 

reporting system applicable in Hungary and the statistical information reported to the MNB fulfil 

the  ECB’s  reporting  requirements  for  balance  of  payment  and  international  investment  position 

statistics. 

3. 

Specific observations 

3.1  The  draft  regulation  provides  that  some  of  its  forms  –  namely  R02  to  R11  –  are  to  be  used  for 

reporting by ‘designated business entities’. The ECB invites the consulting authority to consider a 

more  explicit  statement  in  the  draft  regulation  about  the  criteria  and  procedure  to  be  used  for 

2  
3  

OJ L 354, 30.11.2004, p. 34. 
The  ECB  refers  to  Opinion  CON/2005/31  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. In particular, paragraphs 5 and 6 outlined the benefits of a direct reporting 
system, such as that proposed under the draft regulation, noting that other Member States recently also introduced similar 
systems or are in the process of doing so.  

2 

 
 
                                                 
selecting ‘designated business entities’, in accordance with international standards for the definition 

of units. 

3.2  When defining ‘residents’, in Annex 2 of the draft regulation, the ECB suggests making a specific 

reference  to  the  ‘centre  of  economic  interest’  as  defined  in  paragraph  62  of  the  IMF  Balance  of 
Payments  Manual  (5th  edition)4  and  in  paragraph  1.30  of  the  European  System  of  National 

Accounts 95 (ESA 95).  

3.3  The  ECB  recommends  ensuring  that  the  definitions  of  the  institutional  sectors  in  the  draft 

regulation  are  such  that  the  statistics  derived  from  this  regulation  are  fully  consistent  with  the 

definitions  in  Chapter  2  of  the  ESA  95  and  the  definition  of  monetary  financial  institutions  in 

Regulation ECB/2001/13 of 22 November 2001 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the 
monetary financial institutions sector5.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 January 2007. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

4  
5  

Available on www.imf.org. 
OJ L 333, 17.12.2001, p. 1. 

3