Opinion of the European Central Bank of 23 December 2015 on balance of payments and cross-border provision of services reporting (CON/2015/58)
Date: 2015-12-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Austria, balance of payments, data collection, financial transaction, intra-EU payment, national law, statistics

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ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 23 December 2015 

on balance of payments and cross-border provision of services reporting 

(CON/2015/58) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 23 November 2015 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Oesterreichische 

Nationalbank (the ‘OeNB’) for an opinion on a draft regulation on balance of payments reporting (the ‘draft 

balance of payments regulation’) and a draft regulation on the collection of statistics on import and export 

services (the ‘draft import/export regulation’, together with  the  draft  balance  of payments regulation, the 

‘draft regulations’).  

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  on  the  third  and  fourth  indents  of  Article  2(1)  of  Council 
Decision 98/415/EC 1,  as  the  draft  regulations  relate  to  the  OeNB  and  the  collection  of  balance  of 

payments 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 regulations 

1.1  The draft balance of payments regulation amends an existing reporting regulation 2 on cross-border 

financial  transactions.  The areas  in  which businesses need  to report data  are cross-border direct 

investments,  portfolio  investments,  other  cross-border  investments,  cross-border  real  estate 

transactions  and  capital  transfers  and  cross-border  transactions  in  financial  derivatives.  The 

statistics  based  on  data  collected  under  the  existing  regulation  demonstrate  how  Austrian 

businesses have been doing foreign trade over the past years and are also used for monetary and 

economic  policy  purposes.  The  draft  balance  of  payments  regulation  aims  to  reduce  businesses’ 

reporting  burden  by  providing  changes  to  the  content  of  what  must  be  reported,  as  well  as  the 

reporting  procedures.  In  particular,  the  draft  bop  regulation  revises  several  reporting  templates, 
to  Regulation  (EU)  No  575/20133  and  clarifies  certain  reporting 

introduces  references 

requirements.  Furthermore,  certain  data  are  no  longer  required,  such  as  genuine  securities  sale 

and repurchase agreements, securities lending agreements and account holder reports.  

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Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authori-
ties regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
Meldeverordnung ZABIL 1/2013 der OeNB betreffend die statistische Erfassung des grenzüberschreitenden Kapital-
verkehrs (ZABIL 1/2013). 
Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential require-
ments for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, 
p. 1).  

 
 
 
 
                                                 
1.2  The  draft  import/export  regulation  replaces  an  existing  reporting  regulation 4.  It  provides  the  legal 

basis  for  the  collection  of  additional  data  carried  out  as  part  of  structural  business  statistics 

activities  and  takes  into  account  that  the  current  focus  is  on  cross-border  imports  and  exports  to 

and from non-Union countries. The following services are included:  

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remuneration for contract processing services; 

maintenance and repair services not elsewhere classified; 

transport services;  

construction services;  

insurance services;  

expressly charged financial services;  

fees for the use of intellectual property not elsewhere classified;  

telecommunications;  

IT and information services;  

research and development services;  

professional services and business and other management consultancy services;  

technical services;  

waste treatment and cleaning services;  

services in the agricultural, forestry and fishery sectors;  

services in mining and oil and gas extraction;  

operational leasing;  

commercial services;  

other corporate services not elsewhere classified;  

personal services;  

culture and leisure services as well as transit trade transactions (buying-in and selling). 

These  data  are  used  for  compiling  the  balance  of  payments.  The  results  will  also  be  used  in  the 
revision  of  another  reporting  regulation5.  The  draft  import/export  regulation  introduces  revised 

questions for the additional collection of data on imports and exports. Furthermore, it introduces an 

electronic  reporting  standard.  The  collection  of  data  under  the  draft  import/export  regulation  is 

carried  out  as  a  one-off  collection  within  Statistics  Austria’s  collection  of  2015  structural  business 

statistics. In order to avoid any additional reporting burden, the draft import/export regulation only 

applies to businesses that receive access rights from Statistics Austria and that are not subject to 
another existing reporting regulation 6. 

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Verordnung  der  OeNB  betreffend  statistische  Erhebungen über  die  Importe  und  Exporte  von  Dienstleistungen  und 
grenzüberschreitende Finanzbeziehungen (LSEZE 2008). 

Meldeverordnung ZABIL 1/2012 der OeNB betreffend die statistische Erhebung des grenzüberschreitenden Dienst-
leistungsverkehrs (ZABIL 1/2012). See also Opinion CON/2013/22. 
Meldeverordnung ZABIL 1/2012 der OeNB betreffend die statistische Erhebung des grenzüberschreitenden Dienst-
leistungsverkehrs (ZABIL 1/2012). 

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2. 

General observations 

In  accordance  with  Article  14.3  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the 

European  Central  Bank  (hereinafter  the  ‘Statute  of  the  ESCB’),  national  central  banks  must  act  in 

accordance with ECB guidelines. The ECB generally welcomes the fact that the draft regulations ensure 
consistency with the reporting requirements under Guideline ECB/2011/23 7, following the basic principles 
of  the  ECB  Statistics  Quality  Framework 8.  The  main  purpose  of  statistics  on  euro  area  balance  of 

payments  and  international  investment  positions  is  to  support  the  ECB’s  monetary  policy  and  other 
Eurosystem  tasks.  Moreover,  as  stated  in  the  Eurosystem’s  mission  statement9,  accountability, 

transparency  and  good  governance  are  important  values  that  support  the  integrity  of  the  statistical 

functions defined by Article 5 of the Statute of the ESCB. 

3. 

Specific observations 

3.1  Draft balance of payments regulation 

The ECB welcomes the proposed changes to content and procedures envisaged for the reports on 

portfolio investments, direct investments, financial derivatives and other investments, especially in 

relation to the following aspects: (a) removal of redundant data requirements, which will reduce the 

reporting  burden  on  respondents;  (b)  providing  explanations  in  greater  detail,  which  will  aid  in 

understanding  and  avoiding  duplication  of  reports;  and  (c)  updating  definitions  and/or  making 

references to ECB/Union legislation, which will improve consistency.  

3.2  Draft import/export regulation  

The  ECB  welcomes  the  proposed  new  one-off  survey,  which  aims  to  collect  information  on  new 

requirements,  i.e.  for  data  with  a  regional  focus  without  any  additional  reporting  burden  on 

businesses,  and  which  will  be  carried  out  using  a  nationally  standardised  electronic  data  form, 

which would assist in more timely and accurate reporting.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 December 2015. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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9   

Guideline of the European Central Bank of 9 December 2011 on the statistical reporting requirements of the Europe-
an Central Bank in the field of external statistics *OJ L 63. 3.3.2012, p. 1). 
Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

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