Infringement procedures in cases of non-compliance with statistical reporting requirements

 

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2022/1917 of the European Central Bank on infringement procedures in cases of non-compliance with statistical reporting requirements

Decision (EU) 2022/1921 of the European Central Bank on the methodology for the calculation of sanctions for alleged infringements of statistical reporting requirements

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION AND THE DECISION?

• Regulation (EU) 2022/1917 of the European Central Bank (ECB) establishes a harmonised framework for imposing sanctions on reporting agents* that fail to comply with statistical reporting requirements laid down in ECB regulations and decisions.
• It also establishes the scope of compliance monitoring and defines the infringement and enforcement procedures that competent national central banks (NCBs) and national competent authorities (NCAs) should apply.
• ECB Decision (EU) 2022/1921 sets out the methodology to determine the proposed amount of the sanctions to be imposed by the ECB on a reporting agent for not complying with their statistical reporting requirements.

KEY POINTS

Regulation (EU) 2022/1917 (the regulation)

The regulation introduces a harmonised approach to the elements to be considered when monitoring compliance with statistical reporting requirements and assessing alleged infringements, to the infringement procedure itself, and to the calculation and imposition of sanctions for infringements of the reporting requirements. The regulation sets out five procedures to that end:

• monitoring and recording procedure;
• reporting procedure;
• notification procedure;
• endorsement and implementation of a remedial plan;
• infringement procedure.

Under the monitoring and recording procedures:

• the ECB (for those agents that report directly to it) and NCBs must:
  • monitor compliance with statistical reporting requirements by reporting agents on an ongoing basis,
  • record each alleged infringement separately in a dedicated system,
  • register any claim stating that the alleged infringement is due to circumstances outside the agent’s control;
• NCBs that have collected statistical information from the NCA pursuant to local cooperation arrangements* must:
  • verify the statistical reporting information received via the NCA before transmitting it to the ECB,
  • liaise with the relevant NCA to verify the course of action of the reporting agent prior to initiating an infringement procedure and to ensure that no more than one infringement procedure based on the same facts is initiated against the reporting agent at a time,
  • inform the relevant NCA if it has endorsed a remedial plan submitted by the reporting agent, whether that plan was successfully implemented and if a sanction was imposed on a reporting agent.

Under the reporting procedure, NCBs must report the following to the ECB:

• alleged infringements of daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reporting requirements (different thresholds apply to each period);
• cases of serious misconduct involving any systematic or intentional failure to:
  • report statistical information within the prescribed deadlines,
  • report correct or complete statistical information,
  • use the prescribed form of statistical reporting requirements.

Any failure to cooperate effectively or apply reasonable diligence should always be reported to the ECB.

Under the notification procedure, the competent Eurosystem central bank* must provide the reporting agent with a written warning as soon as the alleged infringement first became known to that central bank, containing at least the following elements:

• the nature of the alleged infringement;
• the possibility of initiating an infringement procedure and the imposition of a sanction on the reporting agent;
• the opportunity for the reporting agent to respond;
• the need for any corrections; and
• proof that the competent Eurosystem central bank may endorse a remedial plan, if such a plan is submitted.

In cases of serious misconduct, a similar notification must be issued to the reporting agent concerned. The main difference is that when an infringement procedure is initiated, the serious misconduct has to be corrected by the reporting agent and the reporting agent has to ensure effective cooperation with the competent Eurosystem central bank without delay.

After the warning of the alleged infringement has been issued, and once the thresholds for a cumulative alleged infringement, as mentioned below, are reached, the reporting agent is given the opportunity to submit a remedial plan containing:

• reasons for the alleged infringement;
• corrective measures to be taken by the reporting agent;
• an implementation timetable for the corrective measures;
• contact details.

After the remedial plan is submitted within the deadline, the competent Eurosystem central bank must assess it and seek the ECB’s view on the plan, following which it can endorse the plan and set a final deadline for the implementation of that plan, or reject the plan and ask for a revised remedial plan.

If the competent Eurosystem central bank also rejects a revised remedial plan, or when a reporting agent fails to comply with the final deadline or to remedy the alleged infringement, it must initiate an infringement procedure.

To ensure that no more than one infringement procedure is initiated against the same reporting agent based on the same facts, no decision on whether to initiate an infringement procedure should be taken by the ECB or by the competent NCB until they have informed and consulted with one another.

The infringement procedure states that competent NCBs and the ECB:

• must open an infringement procedure against a reporting agent for:
  • serious misconduct,
  • cumulative alleged infringements of reporting requirements over specific reporting periods,
  • cumulative alleged infringements in cases where no (revised) remedial plan has been submitted, has been endorsed or has not been implemented within the given deadline;
• may open an infringement procedure for other alleged infringements, while taking into account the relevant circumstances of each case.

Except in cases of serious misconduct, a competent NCB or the ECB must not initiate an infringement procedure where it considers that the alleged infringement was committed outside the reporting agent’s control, or if the potential fine amount is not likely to exceed:

• €10,000 for failure to report information by the deadline;
• €20,000 for incorrect, incomplete or non-standardised information.

General rules state that:

• Article 8 (infringement procedure) does not apply for 12 months following the first reporting of statistical information if there are changes to the conceptual framework, or if the information is reported for the first time by new reporting agents;
• Decision ECB/2010/10 is repealed from 31 January 2023, but continues to apply to alleged infringements that occur prior to the relevant date of application of the regulation;
• the methodology for the calculation of the proposed amount of sanctions is established in a definition.

Decision (EU) 2022/1921 (the decision)

The decision sets out the methodology to determine the appropriate proposed amount of a sanction to be imposed by the ECB on a reporting agent that is subject to statistical reporting requirements and that fails to comply with the requirements.

It introduces different calculation procedures for cases of cumulative alleged infringements and cases of serious misconduct. In both cases:

• a baseline amount is calculated on quantitative aspects, such as the economic size of the reporting agent; and
• the baseline amount is successively adjusted according to relevant circumstances and information, such as an agent’s good faith, openness, diligence and cooperation, and the impact and repetition of the infringement.

The sanctions must not exceed the maximum fine amounts established for the lack of reporting of statistical information and the incorrect, incomplete, or non-standardised reporting of statistical information.

General rules state that the decision does not apply to infringements that occur before 31 January 2023, to which Decision ECB/2010/10 continues to apply.

FROM WHEN DO THE REGULATION AND DECISION APPLY?

The regulation and the decision both apply from 30 April 2024. They apply from 31 January 2023 as regards infringements of money markets statistical reporting.

BACKGROUND

• The regulation ensures uniform application of monitoring and enforcement of statistical reporting and procedures to assess alleged infringements, to ensure transparency and equal treatment of reporting agents and to diminish the administrative burden related to these procedures.
• The regulation belongs to a wider legal framework aiming to ensure that the European System of Central Banks has access to high-quality statistics.
• Under Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 (see summary) and Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 (see summary), the ECB may impose sanctions on reporting agents for failure to comply with statistical reporting requirements.

KEY TERMS

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Regulation (EU) 2022/1917 of the European Central Bank of 29 September 2022 on infringement procedures in cases of non-compliance with statistical reporting requirements and repealing Decision ECB/2010/10 (ECB/2022/31) (OJ L 263, 10.10.2022, pp. 6–16).

Decision (EU) 2022/1921 of the European Central Bank of 29 September 2022 on the methodology for the calculation of sanctions for alleged infringements of statistical reporting requirements (ECB/2022/32) (OJ L 263, 10.10.2022, pp. 59–64).

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Part Three – Union policies and internal actions – Title VIII – Economic and monetary policy – Chapter 2 – Monetary policy – Article 132 (ex Article 110 TEC) (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016, p. 104).

Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union – Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European Systems of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016, pp. 230–250).

Regulation (EU) No 1333/2014 of the European Central Bank of 26 November 2014 concerning statistics on the money markets (ECB/2014/48) (OJ L 359, 16.12.2014, pp. 97–116).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1333/2014 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Decision 2010/469/EU of the European Central Bank of 19 August 2010 on non-compliance with statistical reporting requirements (ECB/2010/10) (OJ L 226, 28.8.2010, pp. 48–49).

See consolidated version.

European Central Bank Regulation (EC) No 2157/1999 of 23 September 1999 on the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (ECB/1999/4) (OJ L 264, 12.10.1999, pp. 21–26).

See consolidated version.

Council Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, pp. 4–7).

See consolidated version.

Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, pp. 8–19).

See consolidated version.

last update 22.12.2023