Opinion of the European Central Bank of 11 April 2019 on lobbying (CON/2019/15)
Date: 2019-04-11
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Czechia, central bank, conflict of interest, interest group, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 11 April 2019  

on lobbying  

(CON/2019/15) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 28 February 2019 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Minister of Justice of 

the Czech Republic for an opinion on a draft law on the regulation of lobbying (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 on the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC 1, 

as the draft law relates to Česká národní banka (ČNB). 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 

1.1.  The purpose of the draft law is to regulate lobbying in the Czech Republic. The draft law defines the 

activity  of  lobbying,  the  persons  understood  to  be  lobbyists  (hereinafter  ‘lobbyists’)  and  the  public 

officials  exposed  to  lobbying  (hereinafter  ‘lobbied  persons’).  It  also  defines  the  competences  of 

public authorities in relation to such activity and  the rights  and obligations of lobbyists  and lobbied 

persons.  In  addition,  the  draft  law  establishes  the  Transparency  Register  as  a public  information 

system  to  be maintained  by  the  Úřad  pro  dohled  nad  hospodařením  politických  stran  a  politických 

hnutí  (ÚDHPSH,  the  Oversight  Office  for  Political  Parties  and  Political  Movements).  Lobbyists  and 

lobbied  persons  must  register  with  the  Transparency  Register  and  report  on  a  quarterly  basis  on 

their lobbying activities and relevant contacts during that period. The Transparency Register and the 

periodic reports are made available to the public on the ÚDHPSH’s website. 

1.2.  A member of the Bank Board of ČNB would be regarded as a lobbied person according to the draft 

law if he or she is lobbied in order to influence a decision on the preparation, negotiation or passage 

of a draft legislation or regulation that is within the competence of ČNB. In that case, ČNB would be 

required to enter the member’s details as prescribed in the draft law in the Transparency Register, 

and  the  member  would  be  required  to  submit  quarterly  reports  with  information  on  his  or  her 

respective contacts with lobbyists during that period. The reports are to be submitted electronically 

and are made available to the public on the ÚDHPSH’s website.  

1.3.  The  explanatory  memorandum2  accompanying  the  draft  law  states  that  this  provision  takes  into 

account  the  special  status  of  the  members  of  the  Bank  Board  of  ČNB.  In  this  respect,  the 

1  

2     

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). 
https://apps.odok.cz/veklep-detail?pid=KORNB4B9CNQE  

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

explanatory  memorandum  notes  that,  pursuant  to  Article  98  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Czech 
Republic 3,  ČNB's  core  responsibilities  are  price  stability  and  monetary  policy4.  The  draft  law  does 

not interfere with the areas in which ČNB is completely independent. Such interference is prohibited 
under Law No 6/1993 on ČNB5. Therefore, members of the Bank Board of CNB only fall within the 

scope of the draft law if they are involved in legal drafting within ČNB’s competence. Members of the 

Bank Board of CNB that are not involved in legal drafting within ČNB’s competence are not subject 

to the draft law. The consulting authority has informed the ECB  that the ECB’s opinion from 2005 on 
the Slovak regulation of lobbying has been taken into account in drafting this provision6. 

2. 

Observations 

2.1  This opinion addresses the provisions of the draft law relating to the members of the Bank Board of 

ČNB.  

2.2  The  ECB  understands  that  a  draft  regulation  within  ČNB’s  competence  with  respect  to  which  a 

member  of  the  Bank  Board  of  ČNB  could  be  lobbied  would  cover  draft  legislation  on  the  currency 

and the circulation of money, and draft legislation concerning the status, competence, organisation 

and activities of ČNB (where ČNB  co-submits the draft law, together with the Ministry of Finance, to 
the  Government7)  as  well  as  draft  ČNB  decrees  issued  pursuant  to  Law  No  6/1993  on  ČNB, 

including decrees on required minimum reserves, and other  laws under  which  ČNB has regulatory 
competences. This includes the areas of banking and financial supervision 8, market infrastructures9, 
the  circulation  of  banknotes  and  coins 10,  consumer  credit11  and  anti-money  laundering12. 

Accordingly,  any  lobbying  of  a  member  of  the  Bank  Board  of  CNB  during  a  legislative  process  on 

decisions  concerning  a  draft  legal  act  outside  the  regulatory  competence  of  ČNB  would  not  fall 

under the draft law. 

2.3  Article 130  of the Treaty requires that,  when exercising the powers and carrying  out the tasks and 

duties  conferred  upon  them  by  the  Treaty,  the  Treaty  on  European  Union  and  the  Statute,  neither 

the ECB nor an NCB nor any member of their decision-making bodies shall seek or take instructions 

from Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, from any government of a Member State or from 

any other body. The aim of Article 130 of the Treaty is to shield central banks from political pressure 

Article 98 of Constitutional Law No. 1/1993 Coll. Ústava České republiky. 

3  
4          Article 98(1) of Constitutional Law No. 1/1993 Coll. Ústava České republiky. 
5 
6 
7          See Article 37(1) of the Law No. 6/1993 Coll. on Česká národní banka, as amended. 
8 

See Article 9(1) of Law No. 6/1993 Coll. on Česká národní banka (zákon o České národní bance), as amended. 

See ECB Opinion CON/2005/25. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

See Law No 21/1992 Coll. on banks (zákon o bankách); Law No 277/2009 Coll. on insurance (zákon o pojišťovnictví); 
Law  No  87/1995  Coll.  on  credit  unions  (zákon  o  spořitelních  a  úvěrních  družstvech);  Law  No  277/2013  Coll.  on 
currency exchange (zákon o  směnárenské činnosti ); Law No 15/1998 Coll. on supervision in the capital market area 
(zákon  o  dohledu  v  oblasti  kapitálového  trhu);  Law  No  256/2004  Coll.  on  capital  market  undertakings  (zákon o 
podnikání na kapitálovém trhu); Law No 190/2004 Coll. on bonds (zákon o dluhopisech); and various laws on pension 
insurance  and  savings  (mainly  Laws  No.  42/1994  and  No.  427/2011  (zákon  o  penzijním  připojištění  se  státním 
příspěvkem a zákon o doplňkovém penzijním spoření). 

9 
10 

11 
12 

See Law No 370/2017 Coll. on the payment system (zákon o platebním styku). 
See  Law  No  136/2011  Coll.  on  the  circulation  of  banknotes  and  coins  (zákon  o  oběhu  bankovek  a  mincí)  and 
provisions on counterfeiting etc. in the Criminal Code, Law No. 40/2009 Coll. (trestní zákoník).  
See Law No 257/2016 Coll. on consumer credit (zákon o spotřebitelském úvěru). 

See  Law  No  253/2008  Coll.  on  selected  measures  against  legitimisation  of  proceeds  of  crime  and  financing  of 
terrorism (zákon o některých opatřeních proti legalizaci výnosů z trestné činnosti a financování terorismu). 

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to enable them to effectively pursue the objectives attributed to their tasks through the independent 

exercise  of  the  specific  powers  conferred  on  them  for  that  purpose.  However,  the  recognition  that 

central  banks  have  such  independence  does  not  have  the  consequence  of  exempting  them  from 
every rule of law and to shield them from any kind of legislation13.  

2.4  The ECB considers that regular contacts and interaction with external stakeholders provide relevant 

input  and  information  that  help  to  understand  the  dynamics  of  the  economy,  the  financial  markets 

and  the  banking  sector,  and  the  broader  societal  context.  Members  of  the  ECB’s  decision-making 

bodies  and  other  high  level  officials  are  required  upon  their  appointment  to  sign  a  declaration  of 
adherence  to  the  ECB’s  Code  of  Conduct  for  High  Level  ECB  Officials 14,  which  provides  good 

governance  safeguards  for  relations  with  interest  groups  and  also  includes  guiding  principles 

regarding  communication  with  external  parties.  The  members  of  high-level  ECB  bodies  commit  to 

safeguard confidential information in accordance with their obligations and to avoid any appearance 

that  potentially  market-sensitive  information  may  not  be  available  to  the  widest  possible  public 

audience  at  the  same  time.  To  enhance  transparency  and  accountability,  they  shall,  as  a  general 

rule, include information on their meetings with external parties in their published meeting calendars, 

to the extent such information relates to their role as members of high-level ECB bodies. 

2.5 

In  view  of  the  above  considerations,  the  ECB  considers  that  the  draft  law,  including  the  proposed 

transparency-related  obligations  for  members  of  the  Bank  Board  of  ČNB  aimed  at  combating 

corruption  and  increasing  transparency  in  the  specific  context  of  lobbying  during  the  legislative 

process  in  the  Czech  Republic,  would  not  impair  the  independent  performance  of  ČNB’s  ESCB-

related tasks. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 11 April 2019. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

13  

14  

See judgement of the Court of Justice of 10 July, Commission v ECB, C-11/00, ECLI:EU:C:2003:395, paragraphs 134 
to 136. 
See 
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/legal/pdf/en_single_code_conduct_for_high_level_ecb_officials_f_sign.pdf 

December 

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