Opinion of the European Central Bank of 21 March 2007 at the request of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade on certain provisions of a draft law amending the Law on consumer protection relating to Česká národní banka (CON/2007/8)
Date: 2007-03-21
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Czechia, central bank, consumer protection, financial stability, financial supervision, national law

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 21 March 2007 

at the request of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade 

on certain provisions of a draft law amending the Law on consumer protection relating to 

Česká národní banka 

(CON/2007/8) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 23 February 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Czech Ministry of 

Industry and Trade for an opinion on certain provisions of the draft law amending Law No 634/1992 Coll. 

on consumer protection, Law No 40/1995 Coll. on the regulation of advertising and on the amendment of 

Law  No  468/1991  Coll.  on  radio  and  television  broadcasting,  and  Law  No  513/1991  Coll.,  the 

Commercial Code (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 

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

European Community and the third 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 law relates to a national central bank (NCB). 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 law 

The purpose of the draft law is to transpose the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive2 (hereinafter the 

‘Directive’)  into  Czech  law.  Since  the  scope  of  the  Directive  includes  financial  services,  the  draft  law 

assigns responsibility to Česká národní banka (ČNB) to supervise compliance by the entities which are 
subject  to  ČNB’s  supervision3  with  certain  obligations  set  out  in  the  draft  law.  Specifically,  under  the 

draft law, ČNB will supervise compliance with: (i) the prohibition of unfair commercial practices; (ii) the 

prohibition of discrimination against consumers; and (iii) obligations with regard to pricing information. 

1  
2  

3  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Directive  2005/29/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  May  2005  concerning  unfair  business-to-
consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 
98/27/EC  and  2002/65/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  and  Regulation  (EC)  No  2006/2004  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22). 
Pursuant  to  Article  44  of  the  Law  No  6/1993  Coll.  on  Česká  národní  banka,  as  amended,  these  entities  include  banks, 
cooperative banks, electronic money institutions, capital market entities, insurance corporations and pension funds. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
2. 

General observations 

2.1  The  new  consumer  protection-related  tasks  entrusted  to  ČNB  under  the  draft  law  are  not  listed 

among the functions of the NCBs specified in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks 
and  of  the  European  Central  Bank.  However,  as  already  pointed  out  on  previous  occasions4, 

without  prejudice  to  the  Governing  Council’s  powers  under  Article  14.4  of  the  Statute,  the  ECB 

does  not  consider  that  these  new  tasks  would  interfere  with  the  objectives  and  tasks  of  the 

European  System  of  Central  Banks  (ESCB).  It  should  also  be  noted  that  pursuant  to  the  last 

sentence  of  Article  14.4  of  the  Statute,  these  new  tasks  would  have  to  be  performed  on  the 

responsibility  and  liability  of  ČNB,  and  would  not  be  regarded  as  being  part  of  the  ESCB’s 

functions. 

2.2  The ECB understands that the underlying reason for allocating the above tasks to ČNB is linked to 

ČNB’s  overall  responsibility  for  supervision  of  the  financial  market.  In  this  context,  the  ECB 

considers  that  the  new  tasks  may  complement  ČNB’s  existing  supervisory  powers  and  thus 

contribute  to  the  soundness  of  the  financial  market  and  the  preservation  of  confidence  in  the 

marketplace.  However,  it  is  important  to  ensure  that  both  prudential  supervision  and  consumer 

protection  functions  have  adequate  and  equal  emphasis  and  that  appropriate  organisational 

requirements are in place to ensure it. 

4  

See ECB Opinions CON/2006/47 of 13 September 2006 at the request of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade on an 
amendment to the Law on Česká národní banka and CON/2006/38 of 25 July 2006 at the request of the Bank of Greece 
on a draft provision on the Bank of Greece’s powers in the field of consumer protection. 

2 

                                                 
3. 

Specific observations 

The ECB notes that ČNB will be required to commit additional resources, both human and financial, to 

carry out the new tasks referred to in the draft law.  In this regard, the ECB would like to reiterate that 

‘Member States may not put their NCBs in a position where they have insufficient financial resources to 
carry out their ESCB- or Eurosystem-related tasks, as applicable’5. Therefore, the Czech authorities will 

need to ensure that the performance of these additional tasks will not affect ČNB’s operational capacity to 

carry out ESCB-related tasks. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 March 2007. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

5  

See the ECB’s Convergence Report of December 2006, p. 27. 

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