Opinion of the European Central Bank of 25 March 2008 at the request of Riigikogu on a draft law amending the Law on Eesti Pank (CON/2008/14)
Date: 2008-03-25
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Estonia, appointment of staff, central bank, national law

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

25 March 2008 

at the request of Riigikogu 

on a draft law amending the Law on Eesti Pank 

(CON/2008/14) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 6 March 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Riigikogu (Parliament) for 

an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Eesti Pank (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 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 Eesti Pank. 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 remove the requirement for Riigikogu to select candidates for the posts 

of  Governor  or  Chair  of  the  Supervisory  Board  of  Eesti  Pank  among  persons  only  with  a  law  or 

economics degree. In future any university degree will suffice.  

Two  other  amendments,  proposed  by  Eesti  Pank  to  be  able  to  better  fulfil  its  role  as  a  member  of  the 

European System of Central Banks (ESCB), are the following: (a) Eesti Pank’s right to restrict access to 

information if it concerns risk to price or financial stability and if the information is subject to restrictions 

on access as specified by the ESCB; and (b) establishment of a multi-year mandate for the independent 

external auditors of Eesti Pank. 

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The ECB notes that the draft law was submitted to Riigikogu for adoption on 12 March 2008 and 

that  the  ECB  received  the  consultation  request  on  6  March  2008,  i.e.  only  a  few  working  days 

before  the  submission  of  the  draft  law  for  adoption.  The  ECB  would  like  to  draw  attention  to 

Article 4 of Council Decision 98/415/EC, which requires Member States to ensure that the ECB is 

consulted at an appropriate point in time, to allow the consulting authority to take its opinion into 

consideration before deciding on the substance of the draft legislative provisions. The ECB expects 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
that  the  obligation  to  consult  the  ECB  at  an  appropriate  stage  in  the  Estonian  legislative  process 

will  in  the  future  be  respected.  More  generally,  internal  administrative  procedures  should  be  in 

place to ensure that the timely consultation of the ECB is foreseen whenever such a consultation is 

mandatory. 

2.2  The  ECB  notes  that  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  educational  requirements  for  appointing  the 

Governor and the Chair of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank would not undermine the personal 

independence  requirements  under  Article  14.2  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central 

Banks and of the European Central Bank (the ‘ESCB Statute’). 

2.3  The ECB welcomes the streamlining of the access rights to the information received by Eesti Pank. 

The amendment further brings the law into line with Article 38.1 of the ESCB Statute.  

2.4  The  ECB  also  welcomes  the  amendment  to  the  procedure  for  appointing  independent  auditors  in 

line with the ESCB good practices.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 March 2008. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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