Opinion of the European Central Bank of 18 June 2012 on prevention of late payments (CON/2012/47)
Date: 2012-06-18
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, central bank, commercial transaction, deadline for payment, small and medium-sized enterprises

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 18 June 2012  

on prevention of late payments  

(CON/2012/47) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 24 May 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  on  prevention  of  late  payments  and  on  12  June  2012  the  ECB 

received an amended version of the draft law from the consulting authority (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 Banka Slovenije. 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 regulates measures to prevent late  payments as part of the Government’s efforts to 

improve  economic  and  business  conditions  for  small  and  medium  size  enterprises.  The  ECB 
understands the draft law is intended to replace the Law on prevention of late payments2 which was 
subject to previous ECB consultations3. 

1.2  The  draft  law  defines  payment  periods  and  the  duty to  register money  obligations  for  mandatory 

multilateral  netting  applicable  to  contracts  concluded  between  economic  operators  or  between 

economic  operators  and  public  authorities,  where  one  party  provides  goods  or  services  and  the 

other party fulfils a money obligation. The draft law does not apply where insolvency proceedings 
have been initiated against a debtor pursuant to the law governing insolvency proceedings4.  

1.3  To  accelerate  repayment  of  debts  and  to  protect  creditors,  the  draft  law  introduces  a  document 

(‘izvršnica’)  through  which  a  debtor  undertakes  to  pay  the  amount  stated  in  it.  It  is  deemed  to 

contain:  (a)  the  debtor’s  irrevocable  authorisation  to  the  creditor  to  order  the  execution  of  a 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 18/11. 
See  Opinions  CON/2011/25  and  CON/2011/61.  All  ECB  Opinions  are  published  on  the  ECB’s  website  at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 
See Article 3 of the draft law. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
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payment  transaction  by  debiting  the  debtor’s  funds  with  the  debtor’s  payment  services  provider; 

and  (b)  the  debtor’s  irrevocable  consent  to  all  its  payment  services  providers  to  execute  the 
payment transaction ordered by the creditor by debiting the debtor’s funds5.  

1.4  The draft law is also intended to transpose Directive 2011/7/EC of 16 February 2011 on combating 
late payment in commercial transactions6 as regards defining payment periods and the moment of 
late payment7 into the Slovenian legal order.  

1.5 

In accordance with Article 1(2) of Decision 98/415/EC, the ECB is not providing its opinion on the 

transposition of Directive 2011/7/EC and it limits its views to the impact of the draft law on Banka 

Slovenije. 

2. 

Independence of Banka Slovenije 

Application of the draft law to Banka Slovenije’s contractual relations 

2.1  The  draft  law  applies  to  public  authorities,  which  include  Banka  Slovenije8  as  regards  its 

contractual relations in the area of administration, in particular. Article 5 of the draft law clarifies 

that the draft law does not apply to Banka Slovenije when it acts within the scope of its exclusive 

competences in accordance with the law governing Banka Slovenije or any other laws or European 

Union regulations laying down exclusive competences of Banka Slovenije and the competences of 

Banka Slovenije as an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The ECB 

welcomes this clarification as it ensures that the draft law does not interfere with the tasks of the 

ESCB and the Eurosystem carried out by Banka Slovenije in accordance with the Treaty and the 

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

‘Statute of the ESCB’), in particular the implementation of the monetary policy of the Union. As 
recommended  in  the  ECB’s  previous  opinions9,  for  the  sake  of  clarity,  the  draft  law  could  be 

further improved by making an additional reference to Banka Slovenije’s competences as part of 

the Eurosystem.  

Supervision of the implementation of the draft law 

2.2  Article  55  of  the  draft  law  defines  which  national  authorities10  supervise  the  implementation  of 
Articles 31 and 35 of the draft law11 and initiate  minor criminal offences proceedings for related 

breaches of the draft law. Under the draft law, Banka Slovenije is also subject to this supervision. 
As emphasised in previous ECB opinions12, in order to fully respect central bank independence, it 

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12  

See Part VI of the draft law (Articles 39 to 53) for more details. 
OJ L 48, 23.2.2011, p. 1. 
See Part II of the draft law (Articles 10 to 13) for more details. 
See Article 6 of the draft law. 
See paragraph 3.1 in Opinion CON/2011/25 and paragraph 3.1 in Opinion CON/2011/61. 
The Customs Authority of the Republic of Slovenia, the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia and the Market 
Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia. 
I.e. the obligation to register money obligations in a multilateral netting system and the mandatory registration of money 
obligations from bills of exchange for multilateral netting. 
See paragraph 3.3 in Opinion CON/2011/25 and paragraph 3.2.2 in Opinion CON/2011/61. 

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should  be  made  clear  that  any  supervision  of  Banka  Slovenije’s  compliance  with  the  draft  law 

should observe its status as an independent central bank as granted by the Treaty and the Statute of 

the ESCB.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 18 June 2012. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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