Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98Show full title

Article 1 U.K. Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

1.

‘the ECB's statistical reporting requirements’ shall mean the statistical information which reporting agents are required to provide and which is necessary for the tasks of the ESCB to be performed;

2.

‘reporting agents’ shall mean the legal and natural persons and the entities referred to in Article 2(3) which are subject to the ECB's statistical reporting requirements;

3.

‘participating Member State’ shall mean a Member State which has adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty;

4.

‘resident’ and ‘residing’ shall mean having a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of a country as described in Annex A; in this context, ‘cross-border positions’ and ‘cross-border transactions’ shall mean respectively positions and transactions in the assets and/or liabilities of residents of participating Member States seen as one economic territory vis-a-vis residents of non-participating Member States and/or residents of third countries;

5.

‘International Investment Position’ shall mean the balance sheet of the stock of cross-border financial assets and liabilities;

6.

‘electronic money’ shall mean an electronic store of monetary value on a technical device, including prepaid cards, that may be widely used for making payments to entities other than the issuer without necessarily involving bank accounts in the transaction, but acting as a prepaid bearer instrument.

Article 2 U.K. Reference reporting population

1. For the fulfilment of the ECB's statistical reporting requirements, the ECB, assisted by the national central banks in accordance with Article 5.2 of the Statute, shall have the right to collect statistical information within the limits of the reference reporting population and of what is necessary to carry out the tasks of the ESCB.

2. The reference reporting population shall comprise the following reporting agents:

(a) legal and natural persons falling within the sub-sectors ‘central bank’, ‘other monetary financial institutions’ and ‘other financial intermediaries, except insurance corporations and pension funds’ as described in Annex B and residing in a Member State, to the extent necessary to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements in the field of money and banking statistics and payment systems statistics;

(b) post office giro institutions, to the extent necessary to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements in the field of money and banking statistics and payment systems statistics;

(c) legal and natural persons residing in a Member State, to the extent that they hold cross-border positions or carry out cross-border transactions and that statistical information relating to such positions or transactions is necessary to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements in the field of balance of payments statistics or the International Investment Position;

(d) legal and natural persons residing in a Member State, to the extent that statistical information relating to the securities or the electronic money issued by them is necessary to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements.

3. An entity that would otherwise be covered by the definition in paragraph 2, but which according to the national law of its country of residence is neither a legal person nor a collection of natural persons, while it can be the subject of rights and obligations, shall be a reporting agent. The reporting obligation of such an entity shall be fulfilled by the persons legally representing it.

Where a legal person, collection of natural persons or an entity as referred to in the first subparagraph has a branch resident in another country, the branch shall be a reporting agent in its own right irrespective of where the head office is located insofar as the branch satisfies the conditions defined in paragraph 2, with the exception of the need to possess separate legal personality. Any number of branches set up in the same Member State shall be regarded as a single branch when they belong to the same sub-sector of the economy. The reporting obligation of a branch shall be fulfilled by the persons legally representing it.

Article 3 U.K. Modalities for the definition of statistical reporting requirements

In defining and imposing its statistical reporting requirements, the ECB shall specify the actual reporting population within the limits of the reference reporting population as defined in Article 2. Without prejudice to the fulfilment of its statistical reporting requirements, the ECB:

(a)

shall minimise the reporting burden involved, including by using existing statistics as far as possible;

(b)

shall take into account Community and international statistical standards;

(c)

may fully or partly exempt specific classes of reporting agents from its statistical reporting requirements.

Article 4 U.K. Obligations of Member States

Member States shall organise themselves in the field of statistics and shall fully cooperate with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute.

Article 5 U.K. Regulatory power of the ECB

1. The ECB may adopt regulations for the definition and imposition of its statistical reporting requirements on the actual reporting population of participating Member States.

2. To guarantee the coherence necessary to produce statistics meeting their respective information requirements, the ECB shall consult the Commission on draft regulations whenever links with the statistical requirements of the Commission exist. The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics shall take part, within the limits of its competence, in the process of cooperation between the Commission and the ECB.

Article 6 U.K. Right of verification and compulsory collection of statistical information

1. If a reporting agent residing in a participating Member State is suspected of an infringement, as set out in Article 7(2), of the ECB's statistical reporting requirements, the ECB and, in accordance with Article 5.2 of the Statute, the national central bank of the participating Member State concerned shall have the right to verify the accuracy and quality of the statistical information and to carry out its compulsory collection. However, should the statistical information concerned be necessary in order to demonstrate compliance with minimum reserve requirements, the verification should be carried out in accordance with Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank(1). The right to verify statistical information or to carry out compulsory collection thereof shall comprise the right to:

(a) require submission of documents;

(b) examine the books and records of the reporting agents;

(c) take copies or extracts from such books and records; and

(d) obtain written or oral explanations.

2. The ECB or the competent national central bank shall notify the reporting agent in writing of its decision to verify statistical information or to collect it compulsorily, specifying the time limit for compliance with the verification request, the sanctions applicable in the case of non-compliance and the right to review. The ECB and the national central bank concerned shall inform each other of such verification requests.

3. For the verification and the compulsory collection of statistical information, national procedures shall be followed. The costs of the procedure shall be borne by the reporting agent concerned if it is established that the reporting agent has breached statistical reporting requirements.

4. The ECB may adopt regulations specifying the conditions under which the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information may be exercised.

5. Within the limits of their competence, national authorities of participating Member States shall give the necessary assistance to the ECB and national central banks in the exercise of the powers provided for in this Article.

6. When a reporting agent opposes or obstructs the verification process or the compulsory collection of the required statistical information, the participating Member State in which the reporting agent's premises are located shall afford the necessary assistance, including ensuring access to the reporting agent's premises by the ECB or the national central bank so that the rights mentioned in paragraph 1 can be exercised.

Article 7 U.K. Imposition of sanctions

1. The ECB shall have the power to impose the sanctions set out in this Article on reporting agents which are subject to reporting requirements and residing in a participating Member State and which fail to comply with the obligations resulting from this Regulation or from ECB regulations or decisions defining and imposing the ECB's statistical reporting requirements.

2. The obligation to transmit certain statistical information to the ECB or to the national central banks shall be deemed to have been infringed if:

(a) no statistical information is received by the ECB or national central bank by the established deadline; or

(b) the statistical information is incorrect, incomplete or in a form not complying with the requirement.

3. The obligation to allow the ECB and the national central banks to verify the accuracy and quality of the statistical information submitted by reporting agents to the ECB or national central bank shall be deemed to have been infringed whenever a reporting agent obstructs this activity. Such obstruction includes, but is not limited to, the removal of documents and prevention of physical access by the ECB or the national central bank which is necessary for them to carry out their verification task or compulsory collection.

4. The ECB may impose sanctions on a reporting agent as follows:

(a) in the event of an infringement as defined in paragraph 2(a), a daily penalty payment not exceeding EUR 10 000, with the total fine not exceeding EUR 100 000;

(b) in the event of an infringement as defined in paragraph 2(b), a fine not exceeding EUR 200 000; and

(c) in the event of an infringement as defined in paragraph 3, a fine not exceeding EUR 200 000.

5. The sanctions set out in paragraph 4 shall be additional to the obligation on the reporting agent to meet the costs of the verification and compulsory collection procedure as required in Article 6(3).

6. In exercising the powers provided for in this Article, the ECB shall act in accordance with the principles and procedures as set out in Regulation (EC) No 2532/98.

Article 8 U.K. Confidentiality regime

1. Within the scope of this Regulation and for the purposes of the confidentiality regime covering the statistical information which is necessary for the tasks of the ESCB to be performed, statistical information shall be confidential when it allows reporting agents or any other legal person, natural person, entity or branch to be identified, either directly from their name, address or from an officially allocated identification code, or indirectly through deduction, thereby disclosing individual information. To determine whether a reporting agent or any other legal person, natural person, entity or branch is identifiable, account shall be taken of all the means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the said reporting agent or the other legal person, natural person, entity or branch. Statistical information taken from sources which are available to the public in accordance with national law is not confidential.

2. Transmission from the national central banks to the ECB of confidential statistical information shall take place to the extent and at the level of detail necessary for the exercise of the tasks to be carried out through the ESCB, as described in Article 105 of the Treaty.

3. Reporting agents shall be informed of the statistical and other, administrative, uses, to which statistical information provided by them may be put. Reporting agents shall have the right to obtain information on the legal basis for the transmission and the protective measures adopted.

4. The ECB shall use confidential statistical information transmitted to it exclusively for the exercise of the tasks of the ESCB except:

(a) if the reporting agent or the other legal person, natural person, entity or branch which can be identified, has explicitly given its consent to the use of the said statistical information for other purposes; or

(b) for the production of specific Community statistics, following an agreement between the Commission and the ECB in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97; or

(c) for granting scientific research bodies access to confidential statistical information which does not allow direct identification, without prejudice to national legislation and with the previous explicit consent of the national authority which provided the information.

5. The national central banks shall use the confidential statistical information collected to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements exclusively for the exercise of the tasks of the ESCB except:

(a) if the reporting agent or the other legal person, natural person, entity or branch which can be identified has explicitly given its consent to the use of the said statistical information for other purposes; or

(b) if it is used at the national level for statistical purposes following an agreement between the national statistical authorities and the national central bank or for the production of Community statistics in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97; or

(c) if it is used in the field of prudential supervision or for the exercise in accordance with Article 14(4) of the Statute of functions other than those specified in the Statute; or

(d) for granting scientific research bodies access to confidential statistical information which does not allow direct identification.

6. This Article shall not prevent confidential statistical information collected for purposes other than, or in addition to, meeting the ECB's statistical reporting requirements from being used to meet those other purposes.

7. This Article shall apply only to the collection and transmission of confidential statistical information for the fulfilment of the ECB's statistical reporting requirements; it shall not affect special national or Community provisions relating to the transmission of other types of information to the ECB.

8. This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Directive 95/46/EC.

In the case of data collected by national statistical institutes and the Commission, which are submitted to the ECB, this Regulation shall, as regards statistical confidentiality, apply without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 322/97.

9. The ECB and the national central banks shall take all the necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and organisational measures to ensure the protection of confidential statistical information. The ECB shall define common rules and minimum standards to prevent unlawful disclosure and unauthorised use. The protection measures shall apply to all confidential statistical information as defined in paragraph 1.

10. Member States shall adopt all the necessary measures to ensure the protection of confidential statistical information, including the imposition of the appropriate enforcement measures by the Member States in the event of an infringement.

Article 9 U.K. Final provisions

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 5, Article 6(4) and Article 8(9) shall apply from the date of entry into force of this Regulation. The remaining Articles shall apply from 1 January 1999.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 23 November 1998.

For the Council

The President

R. Edlinger