Opinion of the European Central Bank of 15 September 2009 on payment services (CON/2009/72)
Date: 2009-09-15
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Romania, central bank, financial supervision, national law, payment system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 15 September 2009  

on payment services  

(CON/2009/72) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 26 August 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Romanian Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  emergency  ordinance  on  payment  services  (hereinafter  the  ‘draft 

emergency ordinance’). 

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 emergency ordinance relates to Banca Naţională a României (BNR) 

and to payment 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 emergency ordinance 

The main purpose of the draft emergency ordinance is  to transpose into Romanian 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  emergency  ordinance  establishes  the  requirements  for  the  provision  of  payment  services  in 

Romania  and  regulates  the  prudential  supervision  of  payment  institutions,  as  well  as  the  rights  and 

obligations  of  users  and  providers  of  payment  services  in  the  context  of  the  professional  provision  of 

payment services. 

2. 

General observations  

2.1  The ECB welcomes the draft emergency ordinance which will comprehensively regulate payment 

transactions  in  Romania  in  accordance  with  Directive  2007/64/EC.  While  acknowledging  the 

importance of Directive 2007/64/EC for the realisation of the Single European Payments Area, in 

this  opinion  the  ECB  does  not  make  a  comprehensive  assessment  of  the  provisions  of  the  draft 

1 
2 

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
emergency  ordinance  implementing  Directive  2007/64/EC.  Instead,  this  opinion  only  focuses  on 

the provisions that go beyond such implementation and that relate to payment systems and BNR. 

2.2  The draft emergency ordinance only transposes Articles 1 to 4, 6, 7, 9 to 27, 29 to 88 and 93 of 

Directive 2007/64/EC. The ECB understands that the technical details concerning the licensing and 

supervision  of  payment  institutions  will  be  established  separately  by  BNR  (see  Article  186(1)  of 

the draft emergency ordinance). 

2.3  The draft emergency ordinance extends BNR’s competence by giving it new tasks concerning the 

licensing and supervision of payment institutions (see, in particular, Sections 1, 2 and 9 in Title II 

of the draft emergency ordinance). The ECB welcomes this widening of BNR’s competence in so 

far as, in accordance with the principle of central bank independence, BNR can independently avail 

itself of sufficient financial and personnel resources, both in terms of quantity and quality, to carry 

out tasks related to the European System of Central Banks as well as its own tasks, including its 
new tasks based on the draft emergency ordinance3. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 15 September 2009. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3 

See the ECB Convergence Report, May 2008, p. 20. See also Opinion CON/2009/27. All ECB opinions are published on 
the ECB website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

2