Opinion of the European Central Bank of 23 February 2016 on measures to facilitate the smooth functioning of the Central Bank of Cyprus’s Board of Directors and Personnel Committee (CON/2016/9)
Date: 2016-02-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Cyprus, board of directors, central bank, video communications

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 23 February 2016  

on measures to facilitate the smooth functioning of the Central Bank of Cyprus’s Board of 

Directors and Personnel Committee  

(CON/2016/9) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 16 February 2016 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Cypriot Minister of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  amending  the  Central  Bank  of  Cyprus  Laws  of  2002  to  (No.3)  of 

2014 (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/EC1, as 

the draft law relates to a national central bank. 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 purpose of the draft law is to enable the Personnel Committee of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) 

to continue functioning when a vacant position arises on the Committee and to provide the CBC’s Board 

of  Directors  with  the  option  of  conducting  its  meetings  through  electronic  media.    As  noted  in  the 

explanatory  memorandum  accompanying  the  draft  law,  under  the  current  Central  Bank  of  Cyprus  Law, 

the  CBC  cannot  recruit  permanent  staff  or  promote,  dismiss  or  suspend  employees  when  there  is  a 

vacant position on its Personnel Committee. The draft law provides that no act or action of the Personnel 
Committee  will  be  deemed  invalid  due  to  a  vacant  position  on  the  Committee2.  The  draft  law  further 

provides  that  the  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Directors  may  be  conducted  through  electronic  media. 

According to the draft law  any member of the  CBC’s  Board  of Directors who attends the meeting using 
electronic media will be considered to be present for the purposes of determining a quorum 3. 

2. 

General observations  

2.1  The ECB notes that the draft law will facilitate the operation of the CBC’s Personnel Committee and 

the smooth functioning of its Board of Directors.  

1  

2  
3  

Council  Decision  98/415/EC  of  29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
See Article 3 of the draft law.  

See Article 2(c) of the draft law. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
2.2  With  regard  to  the  possibility  of  conducting  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Directors  using  electronic 

media, the ECB recommends that the use of such media is sufficiently protected in order to ensure 

that the confidential nature of Board meetings is upheld.  

ECB-PUBLIC 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 February 2016. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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