Opinion of the European Central Bank of 18 April 2016 on the auditing of Banka Slovenije’s business operations (CON/2016/24)
Date: 2016-04-18
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, central bank, financial audit, law of banking

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 18 April 2016 

on the auditing of Banka Slovenije’s business operations 

(CON/2016/24) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 23 March 2016 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 

Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Banka Slovenije (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 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 

Banka  Slovenije  is  currently  subject  to  an  audit  of  its  financial  accounts  pursuant  to  Article  27.1  of  the 

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

‘Statute  of  the  ESCB’).  The  purpose  of  the  draft  law  is  to  also  establish  rules  for  the  auditing  of  Banka 

Slovenije’s  operations  by  the  national  Court  of  Audit,  which  would  be  compatible  with  the  principle  of 

central  bank  independence.  The  draft  law  provides  for  the  introduction  of  these  rules  by  adding  a  new 
Article to the Law on Banka Slovenije2. 

2. 

Observations  

2.1  As stated in past ECB opinions, notably in relation to various Slovenian draft legislative initiatives3, 

whereas a state auditor may not undertake the audit of an NCB’s financial accounts, it is possible 

for a state audit office or similar body that controls the use of public finances, such as the Court of 

Audit, to undertake an audit in respect of an NCB’s activities and use of public finances. However, 

any  state  audit  office  or  similar  body  entrusted  with  such  competences  must  be  subject  to  a 

number  of  safeguards  designed  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  principle  of  central  bank 

independence: (a) the scope of the control should be clearly defined by the legal framework; (b) the 

activities of the NCB’s independent external auditors should not be prejudiced; (c) in line with the 

principle of institutional independence, as enshrined in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of the 

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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). 
Zakon o Banki Slovenije (ZBS-1) (Ur. l. RS No 72/06 – official consolidated text, and 59/11). 
See Opinions CON/2015/57, CON/2015/8 and CON/2014/25. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website 
at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Statute  of  the  ESCB,  the  audit  should:  (i)  comply  with  the  prohibition  on  giving  instructions  to  an 

NCB  and  its  decision-making  bodies,  (ii)  not  interfere  with  the  NCB’s  ESCB-related  tasks,  and 

(iii) be carried out on a non-political, independent and purely professional basis. 

2.2  The ECB welcomes the fact that by establishing rules for the auditing of Banka Slovenije the draft 

ECB-PUBLIC 

law  aims  to  take  into  account  the  principle  of  central  bank  independence  and  the  related 

safeguards referred to in paragraph 2.1. In this respect, it is noted that, according to Article 1 of the 
Law  on  the  Court  of  Audit4,  the  Court  is  the  supreme  audit  institution  for  the  supervision  of  the 

state’s  accounts,  the  state  budget  and  all  public  spending  in  Slovenia.  In  relation  to  other  state 

authorities, the Court of Audit is an autonomous and independent authority. The scope of control of 

the Court of Audit in relation to Banka Slovenije’s operations is defined in paragraph 1 of the new 

Article introduced by the draft law. This paragraph provides that the Court of Audit must audit the 

‘regularity’ and ‘efficiency’ of Banka Slovenije’s business operations. These terms derive from the 

Law on the Court of Audit: a ‘regularity audit’ is therein defined as ‘obtaining relevant and sufficient 

data  to  enable  an  opinion  to  be  expressed  on  the  compliance  of  the  business  operations  with 

regulations and guidelines that any user of public funds is required to observe in the conduct of the 

operations’, while an ‘efficiency’ audit is one of the three types of audit that are categorised as so-

called ‘performance audits’, which are defined as ‘obtaining relevant and sufficient data to enable 

an  opinion  to  be  expressed  on  the  economy,  efficiency  and  effectiveness  of  the  business 
operations’, respectively5. Audits of the efficiency of Banka Slovenije’s business operations relate 

to the fields of its organisation, administration, human resources and general operational efficiency. 

In  this  manner,  and  taken  together  with  the  explicit  provision  in  paragraph 6  of  the  new  Article 

introduced  by  the  draft  law,  which  states  that  when  discharging  its  auditing  duties,  the  Court  of 

Auditors  may  not  interfere  with  the  activities  of  independent  external  auditors  appointed  in 

accordance with Article 52 of the Law on Banka Slovenije, the draft law also ensures that the Court 

of Audit may not audit the financial accounts of Banka Slovenije and interfere with or prejudice the 

activities  of  Banka  Slovenije’s  independent  external  auditors  appointed  in  accordance  with 

Article 27.1 of the Statute of the ESCB. 

Furthermore,  paragraph  2  of  the  new  Article  introduced  by  the  draft  law  explicitly  excludes  any 

actions representing the performance of duties under the Law on Banka Slovenije and the Statute 

of  the  ESCB  from  the  scope  of  audit.  This  provision  is  important  in  that  it  ensures  that  the  audit 
does  not  interfere  with  Banka  Slovenije’s  tasks6.  In  this  context,  the  ECB  would  remind  the 

Slovenian authorities that, in line with the principle of independence specific to banking supervision, 
as set out in Article 19 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/20137, which applies to both the ECB 

and  the  national  competent  authorities  when  acting  within  the  Single  Supervisory  Mechanism 

(SSM),  as  well  as  the  limitations  provided  in  Article  27.2  of  the  Statute  of  the  ESCB  and 

Article 20(7) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 in relation to the supervisory tasks conferred on the 

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Zakon o računskem sodišču (ZRacS-1) (Ur. l. RS No 11/01 and 109/12). 
See Article 20(1) of the Law on the Court of Audit in conjunction with Article 20(3) thereof. 
Pursuant to Article 2 of the Law on Banka Slovenije, the principle of central bank independence should be respected 
not only when Banka Slovenije performs ESCB-related tasks, but also when it performs national tasks. 
Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 of 15 October 2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank 
concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63). 

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ECB-PUBLIC 

ECB, the audit should: (a) not extend to the application and interpretation of supervisory law and 

practices in the context of the SSM; this is of particular importance in determining the scope of the 

abovementioned ‘regularity’ audit; (b) not interfere with and not include the tasks conferred on the 

ECB by Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013, nor be extended so that it results in an indirect audit of the 
ECB;  and  (c)  be  carried  out  on  a  non-political,  independent  and  purely  professional  basis8.  The 

draft law and its implementation should ensure that these principles are respected. 

The ECB understands that by referring in paragraph 3 of the new Article introduced by the draft law 

to  ‘recommendations’  of  the  Court  of  Audit  and  to  the  ‘comply  or  explain’  principle,  the  draft  law 

aims to ensure that Banka Slovenije is not bound by the opinion of the Court of Audit and that the 
Court of Audit may not therefore give instructions to Banka Slovenije9. To ensure compliance with 

the  principle  of  central  bank  independence,  the  provision  in  paragraph  5  of  the  new  Article 

proposed by the draft law is also relevant as excludes from the general duties and competences of 

the Court of Audit the proposal of the dismissal of a responsible person in certain cases laid down 

in  the  Law  on  the  Court  of  Audit,  with  respect  to  the  members  of  the  Governing  Board  of  Banka 
Slovenije10. 

2.3  With reference to paragraphs 4 and 7 of the new Article proposed by the draft law, it is noted that 

reference is made to Article 37 of the Statute of the ESCB and also to the rules of the ESCB. For 

the sake of completeness, the ECB recommends that, in addition to references made to Article 37 

of the Statute of the ESCB and to the relevant ESCB rules, reference should also be made to the 

applicable  Union  laws,  including  those  governing  the  exchange  of  statistical  and  supervisory 

information. 

2.4  Finally,  in  case  this  draft  law  undergoes  substantial  amendments  of  a  non-technical  nature 

compared with the version received and opined on herein, the ECB should be consulted in relation 
to those amendments11.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 18 April 2016. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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See paragraph 4.3 of Opinion CON/2015/57. 
It is noted that Article 2 of the Law on Banka Slovenije does not contain a prohibition against the Government and 
other  bodies  giving  instructions  to  Banka  Slovenije  or  seeking  to  influence  the  members  of  its  decision-making 
bodies; however a prohibition to this effect is contained in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of the Statute of the 
ESCB. 
See Article 29 of the Law on the Court of Audit. 
See  the  Guide  to  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft  legislative 
provisions, dated October 2015. The Guide is available on the ECB’s website at www.europa.eu. 

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