Opinion of the European Central Bank of 17 October 2008 at the request of the Polish Minister for Finance on a draft law amending the Law on Narodowy Bank Polski and certain other laws (CON/2008/53)
Date: 2008-10-17
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Poland, central bank, disclosure of information, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 17 October 2008 

at the request of the Polish Minister for Finance  

on a draft law amending the Law on Narodowy Bank Polski and certain other laws 

(CON/2008/53) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 9 September 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Polish Minister for 

Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Narodowy Bank Polski and certain other laws 

(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 and fourth 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  draft  law  relates  to  Narodowy  Bank  Polski  (NBP)  and  to  the  collection, 

compilation  and  distribution  of  statistical  information.  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 

1.1  The  draft  law  amends  the  Law  on  Narodowy  Bank  Polski2  (hereinafter  the  ‘Law  on  NBP’)  and 

certain other laws by extending the legal framework for NBP’s collection of statistical information 

to  statistical  reporting  by  non-banking  financial  institutions  operating  in  Poland,  in  particular  by 
investment funds3. In this regard, the draft law is intended to align statistical reporting requirements 

in  Poland  with  Regulation  ECB/2007/8  of  27  July  2007  concerning  statistics  on  the  assets  and 
liabilities of investment funds4. 

1.2  Furthermore,  the  draft  law  introduces  rules  on  the  transmission  of  the  collected  statistical 

information,  allowing  NBP  to  transfer  such  information  to  specified  national  and  international 
entities, including the ECB5. Finally, the draft law permits the reciprocal sharing of individual and 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
Law on Narodowy Bank Polski of 29 August 1997 (consolidated text: Dz.U. of 1 April 2005 No 1, item 2). 
The data collected by NBP under the proposed provisions will be used to implement monetary policy, perform periodic 
assessments  of  the  State’s  monetary  position  as  well  as  to  compile  the  balance  of  payments  and  international 
investment position statistics (see Article 23(2) and Article 23(2c) of the Law on NBP, as amended by Article 1(1)(a) 
to (b) of the draft law). See point 1 of the explanatory memorandum to the draft law. 
OJ L 211, 11.8.2007, p. 8. See point 1 of the explanatory memorandum to the draft law. 
See Article 23(7) of the Law on NBP, as amended by Article 1(e) of the draft law. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
aggregated  statistical  information  between  NBP  and  the  Polish  Central  Statistical  Office,  to  the 
extent necessary for the performance of their statutory functions6.  

2. 

General observations 

2.1   Article  5.2  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central 

Bank provides that ‘national central banks shall carry out, to the extent possible, the tasks described 

in Article 5.1’, which are the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as defined by 

the  Treaty  and  the  ESCB  Statute.  Although  regulations  adopted  under  Article  34.1  of  the  ESCB 

Statute do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on Member States that have not adopted 

the euro (hereinafter the ‘non-participating Member States’), Article 5 of the ESCB Statute applies 
to  all  Member  States,  whether  or  not  they  have  adopted  the  euro7.  Further,  Article 47.2  of  the 

ESCB Statute provides that the ECB’s General Council is required to contribute to the collection of 

statistical information as referred to in Article 5 of the ESCB Statute. In addition, Article 10 of the 

Treaty  requires  Member  States  to  ‘take  all  appropriate  measures  ...  to  ensure  fulfilment  of  the 

obligations arising out of this Treaty’ and, more specifically, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) 

No  2533/98  of  23  November  1998  concerning  the  collection  of  statistical  information  by  the 
European Central Bank8 requires all Member States to ‘organise themselves in the field of statistics 

… and fully cooperate with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising 

out  of  Article  5  of  the  Statute’.  These  provisions  therefore  mean  that  non-participating  Member 

States are under an obligation to design and implement at national level all measures they consider 

appropriate to carry out the collection of statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical 

reporting requirements and to make timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to 
become participating Member States9. 

2.3  

In  this  context,  it  is  primarily  the  task  of  the  national  authorities  of  non-participating  Member 

States  to  determine  which  detailed  reporting  requirements  and  collection  methods  are  the  most 

efficient and effective at the national level and the least burdensome for the reporting population 

concerned.  The  ECB  notes  that  the  reporting  regimes  for  collecting  statistical  data  by  national 

central  banks  are  an  indispensable  component  of  the  national  statistical  collection  systems.  The 

ECB does not comment in detail on national reporting provisions as they may differ considerably 

between Member States, depending on various national and external factors. The ECB’s comments 

are therefore of a general nature only and are meant to serve as a guide, enabling NBP to shape its 

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See Article 23(8) and (9) of the Law on NBP, as amended by Article 1(e) of the draft law. 
First sentence of recital 5 to Regulation ECB/2007/8. 
OJ L  318,  27.11.1998,  p.  8.  Recital  17  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  2533/98  states  that,  while  it  is  recognised  that  the 
statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements is not the same for the participating 
as for the non-participating Member States, Article 5 of the Statute applies to both participating and non-participating 
Member States.  
See ECB Opinion CON/2007/24 of 8 August 2007 at the request of Banca Naţională a României on a draft regulation 
concerning  statistical  reporting  of  assets  and  liabilities  recorded  on  the  balance  sheet  of  non-banking  financial 
institutions. 

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reporting requirements in line with those of the Eurosystem in preparation for Poland’s adoption of 
the euro10.  

3. 

Collection of statistical information 

The ECB welcomes both objectives of the draft law, i.e. clarifying the legal obligations of financial 

institutions  outside  the  banking  sector  to  provide  statistical  information  directly  to  NBP  and 

aligning  NBP’s  statistical  framework  with  the  ECB’s  requirements,  in  particular  as  laid  down  in 

Regulation  ECB/2007/8.  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  Poland.  The  above  comments  do  not  prejudice  any  future  ECB 

assessment relating to the reporting scheme for statistics on balance sheet assets and liabilities of 

non-banking financial corporations in Poland. 

4. 

Rules on exchange of information  

4.1   The ECB welcomes the proposed amendments to  the Law on NBP, which will enable individual 

and aggregated statistical data to be exchanged, on the basis of reciprocity, between NBP and the 
Central Statistical Office11. As this extended data-sharing may prevent duplication in the collection 

of  statistical  data,  the  proposed  amendments  are  expected  to  reduce  the  reporting  burden  on  the 

reporting  population  in  Poland.  At  the  same  time,  they  may  further  enhance  the  quality  of  the 

statistics concerned. 

4.2  Furthermore,  the  draft  law  will  allow  NBP  to  disclose  data  collected  from  individual  financial 

institutions to: (i) the ECB, in connection with NBP’s obligations stemming from its participation 

in  the  ESCB;  (ii)  foreign  entities,  in  performance  of  Poland’s  international  obligations;  (iii)  the 

Minister for Finance, for the purposes of management of the public debt; and (iv) other entities, as 
specified in separate provisions12. The ECB notes that this part of the amendments introduced by 

the  draft  law  is  substantially  similar  to  the  amendments  proposed  in  the  previous  draft  law 
amending the Law on NBP, as commented in ECB Opinion CON/2008/3913. The ECB reiterates in 

this  respect  that  the  Community  law  provisions  protecting  the  confidentiality  of  information 

reported by market participants apply not only to NBP’s provision of information to the ECB but 

also to other exchanges of supervisory and statistical information. The draft law needs to precisely 

define  the  other  instances  when  NBP  is  allowed  to  disclose  information.  In  addition,  it  needs  to 

refer  to  the  requirement  to  comply  with  Community  law  in  this  respect.  Moreover,  the  ECB 

understands  that  the  draft  law’s  provisions  amending  Article  23  of  the  Law  on  NBP  will  be 

10  

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13 

See ECB Opinion CON/2005/5 of 28 February 2005 at the request of Central Bank of Malta on a draft directive No 5 
on statistical reporting requirements.  
See Article 23(8) and (9) of the Law on NBP, as amended by Article 1(e) of the draft law.  
See Article 23(7) of the Law on NBP, as amended by Article 1(d) and Article 3 of the draft law.  
See paragraph 3.4 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/39 of 1 September 2008 at the request of the Polish Minister for Finance 
on a draft law on the Financial Stability Committee. 

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reconciled  later  in  the  drafting  procedure  with  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  draft  provisions 

commented on in ECB Opinion CON/2008/39, in so far as both proposals amend Article 23 of the 

Law on NBP. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 17 October 2008. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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