Opinion of the European Central Bank of 21 December 2012 on new credit register measures in Ireland (CON/2012/111)
Date: 2012-12-21
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Ireland, credit, data collection, disclosure of information, financial stability, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 21 December 2012 

on new credit register measures in Ireland 

(CON/2012/111) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 6 November 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Irish Minister for 

Finance for an opinion on the Credit Reporting Bill 2012 (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  and  sixth  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 Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and 

contains  rules  applicable  to  financial  institutions  insofar  as  they  materially  influence  the  stability  of 

financial  institutions  and  markets.  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 publication of the draft law is a structural benchmark commitment of the Irish Government under the 

EU/IMF  Programme  of  Financial  Support  for  Ireland.  The  objective  of  the  draft  law  is  to  establish  a 

comprehensive  and  reliable  register  of  credit  information,  called  the  Central  Credit  Register  (CCR),  to 

assist in achieving public policy objectives and improving financial stability by providing information for 

the assessment of creditworthiness and other purposes. The CCR will be established, owned and operated 

by  the  CBI.  The  ECB  was  consulted  on  the  General  Scheme  of  the  draft  law  and  adopted  its  Opinion 
CON/2012/742. 

2. 

General observations 

2.1 

The ECB refers to its Opinion CON/2012/74 and welcomes the fact that a number of the points 

made in that opinion have been addressed in the draft law. The ECB welcomes in particular the 

fact that, under the draft law, information about the credit histories and borrowings of both natural 

and legal persons will be recorded. 

1  
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
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2.2 

As the ECB has pointed out in previous opinions, the principle of financial independence requires 

that,  when  allocating  specific  non-ESCB  tasks  to  the  national  central  banks  (NCBs),  additional 

human and financial resources must also be allocated for these tasks to be carried out in a manner 
that will not affect the NCBs’ operational capacity to perform their ESCB-related tasks3. Under 

the draft law the CBI may, with the consent of the Minister, make regulations prescribing a levy 

to be paid to the CBI by credit information providers (CIPs) for the purpose of meeting expenses 

properly incurred in the performance of its functions under the draft law that are not met through 
other means4. The ECB understands that this provision aims to clarify that all CBI expenses in 

connection  with  the  establishment,  operation  and  maintenance  of  the  CCR  will  be  covered  by 

levies prescribed by the CBI. 

3. 

Credit information providers and credit information subjects 

3.1 

The ECB considers that it would be useful to clarify whether the defined term ‘credit information 

provider’  includes  financial  service  providers  in  other  Union  Member  States,  and  whether  the 

term  ‘credit  information  subject’  (CIS)  includes  natural  and  legal  persons  with  residency  or 

registration outside Ireland. 

3.2 

Section 6 of the draft law lists a number of attributes to be collected as regards the identification 

of credit information subjects. The ECB reiterates its recommendation for including a reference 

to the need to identify legal persons in compliance with international or European standards, in 

order  to  facilitate  cross-border  access  and  use,  provided  that  confidentiality  is  protected 

appropriately.  In  this  regard,  the  ECB  also  recommends  the  use  of  a  unique  identifier  for  all 

natural and legal persons as well as for each loan agreement. 

3.3 

The  ECB  recommends  the  substitution  of  ‘any  value-added  tax  registration  number’  in 

Section 6(3)(d) with ‘the value-added tax registration number’ or ‘all value-added tax registration 

numbers’ in order to avoid any ambiguity. 

4. 

Access to the register 

4.1 

The  ECB  notes  that  Section 16  of  the  draft  law  contains  details  of  those  who  may  access  the 

register.  The  ECB  recommends  a  general  reference  in  this  section  to,  e.g.  the  ‘competent 

authorities’ who may access the register, which access rights would be subject to change by order 

of the CBI or the Minister. 

4.2 

The ECB welcomes the fact that the draft law lists parties who have the power and the duty to 

access the information on the CCR, but reiterates that a reference to the tasks performed by the 

ESCB  under  Article 5  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the 

European Central Bank would be useful. 

3  
4  

See paragraph 2.3 of Opinion CON/2012/52 and paragraph 4 of CON/2012/74. 
See Section 25 of the draft law. 

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4.3 

The  draft  law  restricts  access  to  information  on  the  CCR  to  CISs  for  the  purpose  of  accessing 

information  relating  to  the  CIS,  to  CIPs  in  the  context  of  credit  applications  and  credit 

agreements,  and  to  the  CBI  for  the  purposes  of  meeting  its  statutory  obligations  or  functions. 

Under  the  draft  law  in  its  current  form,  other  NCBs  operating  a  CCR  will  be  able  to  access 

information on the CCR only in circumstances where the CBI, under its obligations and functions 

as part of the ESCB, is required to provide such data. The ECB recommends that those granted 

access to information on the CCR are expanded to include NCBs operating CCRs, similar to the 

provisions set out in the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on the exchange of information among 
national  CCRs  for  the  purpose  of  passing  it  on  to  reporting  institutions’  (MoU)5.  The  MoU 

provides a framework for the regular exchange of information among national CCRs and allows a 

CIP  to  obtain  a  more  complete  overview  of  the  indebtedness  of  a  borrower  on  a  cross-border 

basis. 

5. 

Compatibility of registers 

The  CBI  will  have  the  power  to  collect  and  record  credit  information  in  respect  of  CISs,  including 

registered 

insolvency 

information,  namely  (a)  Debt  Relief  Certificates;  (b)  Debt  Settlement 

Arrangements;  and  (c)  Personal  Insolvency  Arrangements  registered  in  accordance  with  the  Personal 
Insolvency Act 20126. The ECB recommends requiring the Insolvency Service to provide the registered 

insolvency  information  to  the  CBI  for  inclusion  on  the  CCR.  In  addition,  such  registered  insolvency 

information,  as  well  as  any  information  from  other  registers  to  be  included  on  the  CCR,  should  be 

provided in a manner consistent with the format and scope of the CCR, to ensure a level of consistency 

and compatibility across these registers. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 December 2012. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

5  
6  

Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
The Personal Insolvency Bill 2012 was passed by the Dáil (lower house of the Irish Parliament) on 7 November 2012 and 
is currently being debated in the Seanad (upper house of the Irish parliament). The ECB understands that the Insolvency 
Service  will  be  responsible  under  the  Personal  Insolvency  Act  2012  for  the  maintenance  of  the  insolvency  registers 
established under that Act. 

3