Opinion of the European Central Bank of 15 November 2007 at the request of the Slovenian Office for money laundering prevention on a draft decree implementing Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 on  information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds (CON/2007/36)
Date: 2007-11-15
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, central bank, fight against crime, money laundering, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 15 November 2007 

at the request of the Slovenian Office for money laundering prevention  

on a draft decree implementing Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 of the European Parliament and of 

the Council of 15 November 2006 on information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds 

(CON/2007/36) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 24 October 2007, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Office for 

money  laundering  prevention  (hereinafter  the  ‘Office’)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  decree  implementing 

Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 on 

information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds (hereinafter the ‘draft decree’). 

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  decree  relates  to  Banka  Slovenije.  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 decree 

1.1  The purpose of the draft decree is to implement Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006. The draft decree: 

(i)  establishes  a  list  of  offences  that  relate  to  the  infringement  of  individual  obligations  under 

Regulation  (EC)  No  1781/2006;  (ii)  specifies  the  authorities  responsible  for  monitoring 

implementation  and  taking  decisions  in  offence  proceedings;  and  (iii)  provides  for  an  exemption 

from Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006. 

1.2  Pursuant  to  Article  2  of  the  draft  decree,  Banka  Slovenije  is  responsible  for  monitoring 

implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 and taking decisions with regard to the offences 
set out in the draft decree2, with the exception of point 2 of Article 3(1) of the draft decree3 which 

1  
2  
3  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
See Articles 3 and 4 of the draft decree. 
This  relates  to  the  case  where  a  payment  service  provider  fails  to  submit  required  information  within  three  days  of 
receiving a request from the Office. 

 
 
 
 
                                                      
falls  within  the  scope  of  the  Office’s  competence.  By virtue  of this  provision,  Banka  Slovenije’s 

powers  are  expanded  to  include  new  tasks  related  to  the  prevention  of  money  laundering  and 

terrorist financing (in addition to those already contained in the Law on the prevention of money 
laundering  and  terrorist  financing4)  and  in  particular  as  regards  the  imposition  of  sanctions  in 

offence proceedings. In this context, the draft decree extends the range of entities subject to Banka 
Slovenije’s  supervision.  Under  the  Law  on  payment  transactions5,  only  legal  persons  may  act  as 
payment  service  providers6  and  are  therefore  subject  to  Banka  Slovenije’s  supervision.  Since 

natural  persons  are  covered  by  the  definition  of  payment  service  provider  in  Article  2  of 

Regulation (EC)  No  1781/2006,  they  would  also  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  Banka  Slovenije’s 

supervision.  

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The ECB would like to reiterate7 its commitment to contributing to the adoption, implementation 

and  execution  of  measures  preventing  the  use  of  the  financial  system  for  terrorist  activities,  as 

expressed in its public statement of 1 October 2001. 

2.2  Without  prejudice  to  the  Governing  Council’s  powers  under  Article  14.4  of  the  Statute  of  the 

European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central  Bank,  the  ECB  considers  that 

Bank Slovenije’s new tasks referred to in paragraph 1.2 would not interfere with the objectives and 

tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Nevertheless, these new tasks would be 

performed  on  the  responsibility  and  liability  of  Banka  Slovenije,  and  would  not  be  regarded  as 

being part of the ESCB’s functions. 

2.3   The  ECB  understands  that  the  underlying  reason  for  allocating  the  tasks  referred  to  in 

paragraph 1.2  to  Banka  Slovenije  is  linked  to  its  supervision  of  payment  service  providers.  The 

ECB  is  of  the  opinion  that  monitoring  implementation  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1781/2006,  as 

provided for under the draft decree, could further enhance the supervisory function. 

2.4  Banka Slovenije will have to commit  additional  resources, both human and financial, to carrying 

out the tasks referred to in paragraph 1.2. In this context, the ECB has consistently emphasised that 

‘Member States may not put their NCBs in a position where they do not have sufficient financial 
resources  to  carry  out  their  ESCB-  or Eurosystem-related  tasks,  as  applicable’8.  Accordingly,  the 

ECB  expects  that,  when  granting  additional  tasks  to  Banka  Slovenije,  due  care  will  be  taken  to 

4  

5  

6  
7  

8  

Zakon  o  preprečevanju  pranja  denarja  in  financiranja  terorizma,  adopted  on  22  June  2007,  published  in  the  Official 
Gazette No 60/2007.  
Zakon o plačilnem prometu, adopted on 20 March 2002, published in the Official Gazette No 3/2002. The Law as last 
amended by the Law on banking (Official Gazette No 131/2006). 
Article 3, point 8, in conjunction with Article 4 of the Law on payment transactions. 
See  ECB  Opinion  CON/2007/10  of  16  April  2007  on  an  amendment  to  the  Law  XV  of  2003  on  the  prevention  and 
combating of money laundering. 
See e.g. the ECB’s Convergence Report 2007, p. 19, available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.int.  

2 

 
                                                      
ensure that it has sufficient financial and personnel resources, both in terms of quantity and quality, 

to carry out all its tasks, and in particular that its capacity to carry out its Eurosystem-related tasks 
will not be affected9. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 15 November 2007. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

9  

See paragraph 3.3 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/29 of 5 October 2007 at the request of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance 
and  Public  Administration  on  a  draft  decree-law  amending  the  legal  framework  of  credit  institutions  and  financial 
companies, paragraph 2.1 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/23 of 2 August 2007 at the request of Banca Naţională a României 
on a draft law on non-banking financial institutions, and paragraph 3.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/17 of 18 June 2007 at 
the request of the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance on a draft law on the regulation and supervision of 
markets and the functioning of the competent independent authorities. 

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