Opinion of the European Central Bank of 24 March 2009 at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance on a draft law on payment services and system (CON/2009/27)
Date: 2009-03-24
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, banking supervision, central bank, electronic money, national law, payment system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 24 March 2009 

at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance 

on a draft law on payment services and systems  

(CON/2009/27) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 25 February 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry 

of Finance for an opinion on a draft law on payment services and payment systems (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  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 draft law relates to Banka Slovenije and to 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 

1.1  The main purpose of the draft law is to transpose into Slovenian legislation 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/EC2. The draft law also implements Directive 98/26/EC of the European 

Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  19  May  1998  on  settlement  finality  in  payment  and  securities 
settlement  systems3  and  Directive  2000/46/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of 

18 September  2000  on  the  taking  up,  pursuit  of  and  prudential  supervision  of  the  business  of 
electronic money institutions4. As stated in the consultation request, the draft law goes beyond the 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1. 
OJ L 166, 11.6.1998, p. 45. Directive 98/26/EC has already been transposed into Slovenian legislation by several legal 
acts.  Payment  systems  were  covered  in  the  Law  on  payment  transactions  (Zakon  o  plačilnem  prometu,  adopted  on 
20 March 2002, published in Uradni list RS No 30/2002, ZPlaP) which the draft law will repeal. The Law on the market 
in  financial  instruments  (Zakon  o  trgu  finančnih  instrumentov,  adopted  on  12  July  2007,  published  in  Uradni  list  RS 
No 67/2007)  and  the  Law  on  dematerialised  securities  (Zakon  o  nematerializiranih  vrednostnih  papirjih,  adopted  on 
23 March 1999, published in Uradni list RS No 23/1999) regulate settlement finality in securities settlement systems. 
OJ L 275, 27.10.2000, p. 39. The ZPlaP has already transposed Directive 2000/46/EC. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
implementation of the abovementioned Community directives, by including provisions governing 

payment systems (Chapter 11) and penal provisions for infringements of the draft law (Chapter 17).  

1.2  On the basis of Article 1(2) of Council Decision 98/415/EC, this opinion only covers the provisions 

of Chapter 11 of the draft law that relate to payment systems. While acknowledging the importance 

of Directive 2007/64/EC for the establishment of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA), the 

ECB  provides  no  assessment  in  this  opinion  of  the  overall  implementation  of  Directives 
2007/64/EC5, 98/26/EC and 2000/46/EC in Slovenia.  

2. 

General observations  

The  ECB  welcomes  the  draft  law  which  will  comprehensively  govern  the  payment  infrastructure  in 

Slovenia  and,  by  implementing  Directive  2007/64/EC,  will  among  others  also  fulfil  regulatory  pre-

conditions for the introduction of the SEPA. 

3. 

Specific observations 

3.1 

Supervision of payment institutions 

The draft law will entrust Banka Slovenije with new payment institution oversight and supervision 

tasks. The ECB welcomes this widening of Banka Slovenije’s powers which has to be supported by 

providing Banka Slovenije with sufficient human and financial resources, both in terms of quantity 

and  quality,  to  carry  out  its  new  tasks  without  affecting  its  capacity  to  carry  out  its  Eurosystem-

related tasks. In this respect, the ECB notes Articles 185 and 200 and Article 231(5) of the draft 

law,  which  provide  for  the  reimbursement  of  Banka  Slovenije’s  expenses  arising  from  the 

performance of the newly assigned tasks. 

3.2 

Important payment systems 

Article 151 of the draft law defines ‘important payment systems’ as payment systems which, due to 

the scale or type of payment transactions settled in such payment systems or other circumstances, 

have significant influence on the smooth execution of payment transactions in the country or on the 

confidence of payment service users in their safety and efficiency. The ECB notes that pursuant to 

Article  161(5)  of  the  draft  law,  Banka  Slovenije  should  notify  important  payment  systems  to  the 

Commission  to  fulfil  Slovenia’s  obligation  under  Article  10  of  Directive  98/26/EC.  The  ECB 

welcomes allocating to the overseeing authority the competence to notify systems under Directive 

98/26/EC and notes, in addition, that Banka Slovenije will exercise its oversight function pursuant 
to the Law on Banka Slovenije6 in line with the harmonised oversight framework adopted by the 

ECB’s Governing Council.  

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See ECB Opinion CON/2006/21 of 26 April 2006 on a proposal for a directive on payment services in the internal market 
(OJ C 109, 9.5.2006, p. 10). 
Zakon o Banki Slovenije, official consolidated version adopted on 23 June 2006, published in Uradni list RS No 72/06. 

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3.3  Notifying insolvency proceedings 

Pursuant to Article 163(5) of the draft law, Banka Slovenije informs competent authorities of other 

Member  States  of  the  opening  of  insolvency  proceedings  against  a  participant  in  an  important 

payment  system  or  similar  measures  referred  to  in  Article  163(1)  of  the  draft  law.  The  ECB 

welcomes  this  provision  and  would  suggest  going  beyond  the  scope  of  Directive  98/26/EC  by 

requiring  Banka  Slovenije  to  also  notify  the  national  payment  systems  of  such  proceedings  or 

measures, hence preventing the settlement of an insolvent participant’s payment instructions. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 24 March 2009. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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