The reporting framework for the monetary and financial statistics of the European Central Bank

The Council Regulation (EC) No. 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the ECB defines the natural and legal persons which are subject to reporting requirements (the so-called reference reporting population), the confidentiality regime and the appropriate provisions for enforcement in accordance with Article 5.4 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (the "Statute"). Furthermore, it entitles the ECB to use its regulatory power:

• to specify the actual reporting population;
• to define the ECB´s statistical reporting requirements and impose them on the actual reporting population of participating Member States;
• to specify the conditions under which the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) may exercise the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information.

The purpose of the following Regulations of the European Central Bank in the field of statistics

• REGULATION (EC) No 2423/2001 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 22 November 2001 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector (ECB/2008/32)
• REGULATION (EC) No 63/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 20 December 2001 concerning statistics on interest rates applied by monetary financial institutions to deposits and loans vis-à-vis households and non-financial corporations (ECB/2009/7)
• REGULATION (EC) No 958/2007 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 27 July 2007 concerning statistics on the assets and liabilities of investment funds (ECB/2007/8)

is to enable the ECB and, in accordance with Article 5.2 of the Statute, NCBs which carry out the work to the extent possible to collect the statistical material required for the fulfilment of the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and, in particular, its task to define and implement the monetary policy of the Community in accordance with Article 105 (2), first indent, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (the "Treaty"). The statistical information collected in accordance with ECB Regulation listed above is used to provide the ECB with a comprehensive statistical picture of monetary developments covering the aggregated financial assets and liabilities of financial institutions located in the participating Member States, which are viewed as one economic territory. For statistical purposes the ECB´s reporting requirements are based on three main considerations.

First, the ECB must receive comparable, reliable and up-to-date statistical information which is collected under comparable terms and conditions throughout the euro area. Although the data are collected in a decentralised way by NCBs in accordance with Articles 5.1 and 5.2 of the Statute and, as far as necessary, in combination with further statistical requirements for Community or national purposes, a sufficient degree of harmonisation and compliance with minimum reporting standards is required in view of the need to establish a reliable statistical basis for the definition and conduct of the single monetary policy.

Second, the reporting obligations set out in ECB Regulations listed above must observe the principles of transparency and legal certainty. The reason for this is that ECB Regulations listed above is binding in its entirety and directly applicable throughout the euro area. They impose obligations directly on natural and legal persons on which the ECB may impose sanctions whenever the ECB´s reporting requirements are not fulfilled (see Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2533/98). The reporting obligations are therefore clearly defined and any discretion exercised by the ECB when verifying or compulsorily collecting statistical information follows identifiable principles.

Third, the ECB must minimise the reporting burden involved (see Article 3 (a) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2533/98). Therefore, the statistical material collected by NCBs under Regulations listed above is also used to calculate the reserve base in accordance with the respective Regulation of the European Central Bank on the application of minimum reserves.