EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 4 August 2004
at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance
on a draft law on financial collateral and various tax provisions in relation to in rem collateral
arrangements and loans for financial instruments
(CON/2004/27)
1. On 22 June 2004 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Belgian Ministry
of Finance for an opinion on a draft law on financial collateral and various tax provisions in
relation to in rem collateral arrangements and loans for financial instruments (hereinafter the ‘draft
law’).
2.
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the second indent of Article 105(4) of the
Treaty establishing the European Community and on the third, fifth and sixth indents of
Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European
Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates
to (i) the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique (NBB/BNB); (ii) settlement
institutions and systems; and (iii) the stability of financial institutions and markets. The ECB has
no comments on the draft law’s tax provisions since these do not appear to have an impact on the
ECB’s fields of competence.
3.
The ECB notes that the main purpose of the draft law is to implement Directive 2002/47/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 6 June 2002 on financial collateral arrangements
(hereinafter the ‘Directive’)2 in Belgium. As already stated in the past the ECB has an interest in
the harmonised implementation of the Directive3 and welcomes the fact that the draft law does not
use any of the opt-out possibilities provided in the Directive. The ECB also notes that, while
national authorities are not legally obliged to consult the ECB on draft national laws aimed
exclusively at implementing EU directives, the draft law contains a substantial number of
provisions that go beyond merely implementing the Directive thus justif