Opinion of the European Central Bank of 7 August 2013 on the financial statements register (CON/2013/58)
Date: 2013-08-07
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovakia, activity report, data collection, financial accounting, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC  

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 7 August 2013 

on the financial statements register 

(CON/2013/58) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  4  July  2013,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Slovak  Ministry  of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  amending  Law  No  431/2002  on  accounting  and  amending  some 

laws (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 Národná banka Slovenska (NBS). 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,  inter  alia,  continues  the  legislative  process  of  finalising  and  improving  the  financial 
statements register2. The draft law provides that the financial statements register will also include annual 
reports3. As a consequence, entities supervised by NBS will register their annual reports centrally, instead 
of submitting them to NBS4. Some of these entities will also register their auditors’ reports centrally5. The 
non-public section of the register will include documents of supervised branches of foreign entities6; NBS 
will  have  access  to  them7.  The  supervised  entities’  interim  financial  statements  will  no  longer  be 
registered8, but submitted to NBS9. 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
See the third bullet point of the second paragraph of the general part of the explanatory memorandum. 
Article I (19) of the draft law. 
Article IX (2) and (6), Article X (2) and (5), Article XIV (1) and Article XXVIII (1) of the draft law. 
Article IX (1), Article 10 (1), (2) and (4), Article XIV (3), Article XXVIII (4), Article XXXIV (1) and (2), Article XL (1) 
and (7) of the draft law. 
Article I (22) of the draft law. 
Article I (35) of the draft law. 
Article I (19) of the draft law. 
Article XXII (1), Article IX (3) and (4), Article XL (2) and (4) of the draft law. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
 ECB-PUBLIC 

2. 

Interim financial reporting 

The  ECB  considers  that  the  consulting  authority  should  ensure  that  investors  have  direct  access  to 

information regarding interim financial statements,  both individual and consolidated, prepared by listed 

entities. The ECB believes that, as regards listed entities, periodic financial reporting is an important data 

source that assists investors in making more informed investment decisions and supports efficient capital 

allocation. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 7 August 2013. 

[signed] 

The Vice-President of the ECB 

Vítor CONSTÂNCIO 

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