Opinion of the European Central Bank of 28 June 2011 on cross-border transactions (CON/2011/54)
Date: 2011-06-28
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Spain, disclosure of information, financial transaction, intra-EU payment, national law, provision of services, statistics

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 28 June 2011  

on cross-border transactions 

(CON/2011/54) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 16 May 2011, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Spanish State Secretary 

for Economic Affairs for an opinion on a draft royal decree amending Royal Decree 1816/1991 on cross-

border  financial  transactions  and  on  a  draft  ministerial  order  amending  the  order  implementing  Royal 

Decree 1816/1991 (hereinafter collectively referred to as 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 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  the  Banco  de  España  and  to  the 

collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of 

payment statistics. 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  draft  law  eliminates  the  obligation  for  payment  service  providers  registered  with  the  Banco  de 

España to report information on cross-border transactions that they do not immediately and automatically 

have at their disposal. More specifically, payment service providers registered with the Banco de España 

will only be required to report to the competent authorities and the Banco de España information they can 

automatically collect without affecting the direct processing of payments, in respect of: (a) cross-border 

charges and payments within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 of the European Parliament and 

of  the  Council  of  16  September  2009  on  cross-border  payments  in  the  Community  and  repealing 
Regulation  (EC)  No  2560/20012,  ordered  or  received  by  a  resident,  and  involving  a  payment  service 

provider from another Member State; and (b) credits and debits to accounts of non-resident clients. The 

Banco de España will collect the remainder of the information on cross-border transactions necessary for 

administrative or statistical purposes from those involved in such transactions. The new reporting system 

for  cross-border  transactions  will  co-exist  with  the  current  one  until  the  end  of  2013.  This  transitional 

period  is  considered  necessary  for  payment  service  providers  to  make  adjustments  so  that  the  relevant 

1  
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 266, 9.10.2009, p. 11. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

data may be obtained automatically and for those involved in cross-border transactions to adapt to survey 

and direct collection procedures.  

2. 

General observations 

The  ECB  welcomes  the  draft  law  as  a  positive  development,  as  it  facilitates  the  implementation  of  the 

single euro payments area (SEPA) and it is also in line with the ECB’s position on cross-border payments 
in the Union3. As stated in Opinion CON/2009/1, balance of payments reporting systems mainly based on 

payments  data  cannot  be  maintained  as  they  are  in  respect  of  payments  in  euro  within  the  Union. 

Reforming  such  systems  may  require  substantially  lowering  reporting  obligations  for  payment  service 

providers, while at the same time increasing the reporting burden on other economic agents, which should 

be  limited  to  the  extent  possible  (e.g.  by  applying  proper  survey  and  sampling  techniques).  Statistical 

reporting  requirements  that  have  no  impact  on  the  direct  processing  of  SEPA  payments  by  payment 

service providers and can be fully automated by them should not be subject to exemption thresholds. In 

addition,  the  reform  of  balance  of  payments  reporting  systems  should  ensure  that  such  statistics  can 

continue  to  be  compiled  with  the  high  reliability,  frequency  and timeliness  required  for  ECB  monetary 

policy-making in Guideline ECB/2004/15 of 16 July 2004 on the statistical reporting requirements of the 

European  Central  Bank  in  the  field  of  balance  of  payments  and  international  investment  position 
statistics, and the international reserves template4.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 June 2011. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3  

4  

See  paragraphs  1.2  and  1.6  of  Opinion  CON/2009/1.  All  ECB  opinions  are  published  on  the  ECB’s  website  at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 
OJ L 354, 30.11.2004, p. 34. 

2