Opinion of the European Central Bank of 25 April 2008 at the request of Národná banka Slovenska on a draft law amending Law No 510/2002 Coll. On payment systems and on amendments to certain laws (CON/2008/18)
Date: 2008-04-25
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovakia, intra-EU payment, national law, payment system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 25 April 2008 

at the request of Národná banka Slovenska on a draft law amending Law No 510/2002 Coll. on 

payment systems and on amendments to certain laws 

(CON/2008/18) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 11 March 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Národná banka Slovenska 

(NBS)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  amending  Law  No  510/2002  Coll.  on  payment  systems  and  on 

amendments  to  certain  laws.  On  10  April  2008  NBS  sent  the  ECB  a  revised  version  of  the  draft  law 

(hereinafter the ‘revised 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 second 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 revised draft law relates to means of payment and payment and settlement 

systems. 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 revised draft law amends2 the Law on payment systems3 within the context of NBS’s preparations to 

to  TARGET24  and 

connect 
the 
TARGET2 Guideline5.  The  revised  draft  law  also  amends  certain  provisions  governing  the  existing 

the  TARGET2 

framework, 

implement 

including 

legal 

domestic payment system, although the revised draft law does not address certain additional issues that it 
is  envisaged  will  be  governed  by  the  Law  on  payment  systems  at  a  later  stage6.  This  opinion  therefore 

1  
2  

3  
4  
5 

6  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
 In line with the National Euro Changeover Plan for Slovakia adopted by Government Resolution No 525 of 6 July 2005, 
as amended. 
Law No 510/2002 Coll. on the payment system and on amendments to certain laws, as amended. 

  Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system. 

Guideline ECB/2007/2 of 26 April 2007 on a Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer 
system (TARGET2) (OJ L 237, 8.9.2007, p. 1). 
For example, issues related to the implementation of the Single European Payments Area as from 2010 or issues related 
to  the  transposition  of  Directive  2007/64/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13 November  2007  on 
payment  services  in  the  internal  market  amending  Directives  97/7/EC,  2002/65/EC,  2005/60/EC  and  2006/48/EC  and 
repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1). 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
focuses on the provisions of the Law on payment systems that relate to NBS’s migration to TARGET27. 

2. 

General observations 

The ECB welcomes the revised draft law as an important preparatory measure for the future migration of 

NBS  to  TARGET2.  Whether  NBS  has  properly  implemented  the  TARGET2  legal  framework  will  be 

assessed separately by the ECB. 

3. 

Specific observations 

Execution of payments through the European payment system 

3.1  Article  3(2)  of  the  revised  draft  law  provides  for  the  possibility  to  execute  domestic  payments 

through a payment system operated by NBS, by any other person authorised as the operator of a 

payment system, or through a ‘European payment system’, which is defined in Article 31(2) of the 

revised draft law as a component system of TARGET2. The ECB notes that TARGET2 ‘provides 
real-time gross settlement [RTGS] for payments in euro, with settlement in central bank money’8. 
Moreover,  TARGET2  is  ‘legally  structured  as  a  multiplicity  of  RTGS  systems’9  and  each 

Eurosystem central bank operates its own TARGET2 component system, which is designated as a 

system  under  national  legislation  implementing  Directive  98/26/EC  of  the  European  Parliament 

and  of  the  Council  of  19  May  1998  on  settlement  finality  in  payment  and  securities  settlement 
systems10  (hereinafter  the  ‘Settlement  Finality  Directive’).  A  TARGET2  component  system 

operated  by  NBS  would  therefore  be  designated  as  a  system  for  the  purposes  of  the  Settlement 

Finality Directive and would already be covered by Article 3(2) of the Law on payment systems, as 

it  would  be  operated  by  NBS.  Nonetheless,  the  amendment  of  this  provision  as  proposed  in  the 

draft law serves as clarification and as such the ECB has no objection. 

Participants in a payment system 

3.2  The  ECB  notes  that  the  terminology  used  in  the  TARGET2  Guideline  and  the  Law  on  payment 

systems  is  different  with  respect  to  entities  offering  clearing  and  settlement  services  and 

understands that the provisions of the Law on payment systems do not prevent such entities from 

connecting to the TARGET2 component system operated by NBS, unless the latter decides not to 

admit such entities to TARGET2. 

Payment system rules 

3.3  Article 37(1) of the revised draft law provides a non-exhaustive list of items that must be addressed 

7  

See point 5.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/43 of 19 December 2007 at the request of the Slovak Ministry of Finance on a 
draft law on the introduction of the euro in Slovakia and on amendments to certain laws. 
 See Article 1(1) of the TARGET2 Guideline. 
 See Article 1(2) of the TARGET2 Guideline. 

8  
9  
10    OJ L 166, 11.6.1998, p. 45. See also Article 3(1) and (2) of the TARGET2 Guideline. 

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in the payment system rules, which includes defining ‘the moment of acceptance of an order by the 

payment system’. Further, Article 35 of the law defines the moment of irrevocability by operation 

of law (with reference to the moment of acceptance of a payment order) rather than by definition in 

the rules of the system. The ECB understands that according to Slovak legislation, the moment of 

acceptance of an order by the payment systems means the same as the ‘entry of a payment order’ 

under  the  Settlement  Finality  Directive.  However,  for  reasons  of  legal  certainty,  it  would  be 

welcome for the legislation to be explicitly clarified with regard to this point. 

License to operate a payment system 

3.4  Under Article 61(3) of the Law on payment systems, an entity applying for a license to operate a 

payment system governed by Slovak law must fulfil certain criteria, which include a requirement to 

be a joint-stock company with a registered office in Slovakia. In conjunction with the registration 

requirement, the ECB notes that the services offered in TARGET2 are designed in accordance with 

the principle of an open market economy with free competition and with respect to the principle of 

equal  treatment  and  non-discrimination  when  offering  access  to  fund  transfer  services  in 

TARGET2.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  TARGET2  is  exempted  from  the  above-mentioned 

license  requirement,  the  national  authorities  should  in  general  avoid  measures  which  may 

discriminate against any entities on grounds of residence or place of establishment since this would 

be  contrary  to  the  Treaty  and  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the 
European  Central  Bank11.  Therefore,  the  ECB  invites  the  national  authorities  to  reconsider  the 

requirement that an entity intending to operate a system governed by Slovak law has to be a joint-

stock company that has a registered office in Slovakia. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 April 2008. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

11  

 See Article 4 of the Treaty and Article 2 of the ESCB Statute. 

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