Opinion of the European Central Bank of 22 June 2011 on the Hungarian State Audit Office in relation to its audit of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (CON/2011/53)
Date: 2011-06-22
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Hungary, audit, banking supervision, central bank, financial supervision, national law, supervisory body

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 22 June 2011 

on  the Hungarian State Audit Office in relation to its audit of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank 

(CON/2011/53) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 19 May 2011 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Hungarian Ministry of 

Public  Administration  and  Justice  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  on  the  State  Audit  Office  (SAO) 

(hereinafter the ‘draft law’).  

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and the 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 the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB). 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  replace  Law  XXXVIII  of  1989  on  the  SAO.  According  to  the 

explanatory memorandum, Law XXXVIII of 1989 on the SAO must principally be amended to recodify 

provisions  of  the  previous  framework  and  include  new  elements  that  became  necessary  in  the  light  of 

developments over the past few years.  

The draft law retains the provision that the SAO audits the MNB’s financial management and all central 
bank activities carried out according to the Law on the MNB2 that do not constitute part of its primary 

tasks.  Accordingly, the  scope  of  SAO’s audit  covers  whether  the  MNB  operates  in  accordance  with  its 

statutes, the decisions adopted by its General Meeting and any applicable legislation. 

2. 

The SAO’s powers and central bank independence  

2.1   The principle of central bank independence referred to in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of 

the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter 

the ‘Statute of the ESCB’) provides that the exercise of central bank powers and the performance of 

1 
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
Law LVIII of 2001 on the MNB. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

tasks  and  duties  under  the  Treaty  and  the  Statute  of  the  ESCB  are  to  be  free  from  external 

instructions or government influence. In particular, when the SAO carries out a State audit of the 

MNB, the following central bank independence safeguards should apply: (a) the scope of the audit 

should be clearly defined in the legal framework; (b) the activities of MNB’s independent external 

auditors  should  not  be  prejudiced;  (c)  the  audit  should  comply  with  the  prohibition  on  giving 

instructions to the MNB and its decision-making bodies; (d) the audit should not interfere with the 

MNB’s ESCB-related tasks; (e) the audit should be performed on a non-political, independent and 
purely professional basis3.  

2.2  For reasons of certainty this provision should make it clear that the SAO’s audit does not extend to 

the MNB’s primary tasks, its main objective or any of its ESCB-related tasks. Therefore, the ECB 

welcomes  the  fact  that  Article  5(10)  of  the  draft  law  already  excludes  the  MNB’s  primary  tasks 

from the scope of the SAO’s audit. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 22 June 2011. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3  

See  the  ECB’s  Convergence  Report  2010  p.  23,  and  paragraph  3.3  of  Opinion  CON/2011/9.  See  also  Opinions 
CON/2006/4,  CON/2002/22  and  CON/2006/50.  All  ECB  opinions  are  published  on  the  ECB’s  website  at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 

2