ACT THAT AMENDS EESTI PANK ACT
Passed 7 June 2006
I. The following amendments shall be made to the Eesti Pank Act (RT I 1993, 28, 498; 2003, 21, 121):
§ 1. Subsections 1(1) and 1(3) are amended and worded as follows:
« (1) Eesti Pank is the central bank of the Republic of Estonia and a member of the European System of Central Banks. Eesti Pank is the legal successor of Eesti Pank that was established as the central bank of the Republic of Estonia in 1919.»;
« (3) Eesti Pank operates pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia Amendment Act, the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank, legislation by the European Central Bank, this Act, other Acts and its statute.»
§ 2. Section 2 is amended and worded as follows:
« (1) The primary objective of Eesti Pank is to ensure price stability. In conformity with the Treaty Establishing the European Community, Eesti Pank shall contribute to achieving also other economic policy objectives.
(2) The tasks of Eesti Pank are:
1) to contribute to defining the monetary policy of the European Community and to implement the monetary policy determined by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank;
2) to hold and manage official foreign exchange reserves;
3) to contribute to smooth operation of the payment systems and the stability of the financial system;
4) to participate in the development of the payment systems and the financial system;
5) to regulate currency circulation, contribute to the issuance of euro banknotes and issue of euro coins;
6) to compile the balance of payments of Estonia;
7) to collect and publish statistics necessary for performing its tasks;
8) other tasks of Eesti Pank arising from the law that are not contradictory to the objectives laid down in paragraph 1 of this section and tasks laid down in items 1-7 of this section.»
§ 3. Subsection 3(11) is amended and worded as follows:
« (11) Upon performing the tasks of the European System of Central Banks, Eesti Pank and members of its decision-making bodies may seek and take instructions to be carried out only from the European Central Bank.»
§ 4. Section 4:
1) Subsection (1) is repealed;
2) Subsection (2) is amended and worded as follows:
« (2) Eesti Pank shall advise the Government of the Republic in matters relating to economic policy. The Government shall not take any important economic policy decisions without hearing the opinion of Eesti Pank.»;
3) Subsection 3 is amended and worded as follows:
« (3) Eesti Pank is authorised by the Government of the Republic to represent the Republic of Estonia in international organisations of which the Republic of Estonia is a member.»;
4) Subsection (4) is amended and worded as follows:
« (4) Eesti Pank shall, within the limits of its authority, support the economic policy of the Government of the Republic provided that this policy is not in conflict with the objectives and tasks of Eesti Pank stipulated in Section 2 of this Act and does not prevent Eesti Pank from performing those tasks.»
§ 5. In section 6 the word «eight» is replaced with the word «seven».
§ 6. Section 8:
1) The second sentence is deleted from subsection (1);
2) The words «other than the Governor of Eesti Pank» are deleted from subsection (3);
3) Subsection 4 is amended and worded as follows:
« (4) A member of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank shall not be an employee of any management company, investment fund, investment company, credit institution, insurance company or other subject of financial supervision, nor be a member of the decision-making body of any such institution.»;
4) Subsection (5) is amended and worded as follows:
« (5) The members of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank shall be appointed for a term of five years.»;
5) Subsection (61 ) is added worded as follows:
« (61) Upon resignation a member of the Supervisory Board shall inform the Chairman of the Council thereof at least four months in advance.»;
6) The words «or as the Governor of Eesti Pank» are deleted from paragraph 7.
§ 7. Section 9:
1) The words «members of the Executive Board and the chief accountant» are deleted from clause (2)4) and «and the head of Internal Audit Department» is added after the words «representative offices of Eesti Pank»;
2) «and the Internal Audit Department» is added to clause (2)5) after the words «representative offices»;
3) clause (2)7) is amended and worded as follows:
« 7) appointment of internal auditors of Eesti Pank and approval of the work schedule for internal audits»;
4) clause (2) 71 is amended and worded as follows:
« 71) appointment of independent auditors of Eesti Pank as provided for according to subsection 31(1) of this Act;»;
5) clause (2)9) is amended and worded as follows:
« 9) making of decisions concerning the design of new euro coins and the denomination and design of collector coins;»;
6) subsection 4 is amended and worded as follows:
« (4) Meetings of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank shall be held as necessary but not less frequently than eight times a year.»;
7) subsection 5 is amended and worded as follows:
« (5) Meetings of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank are closed, unless Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank decides differently. The Minister of Finance, the Governor of Eesti Pank and Deputy Governors shall participate in the meetings with the right to speak. »
§ 8. Section 10:
1) heading is amended and worded as follows:
««Governor and Deputy Governors of Eesti Pank»;»;
2) the word «five» is replaced with «seven» in subsection 1 and the second sentence is added to the subsection worded as follows:
«The Governor of Eesti Pank may not be appointed to office for more than one consecutive term of office.»;
3) another sentence is added to subsection 2 worded as follows:
«The Deputy Governor of Eesti Pank must be an Estonian citizen and have a university degree.»;
4) subsection 21 is added worded as follows:
« (21) The Deputy Governors of Eesti Pank are appointed to office for a term of five years by the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank on the proposal of the Governor of Eesti Pank.»;
5) subsection 3 is amended and worded as follows:
« (3) The Governor and Deputy Governors of Eesti Pank shall be independent in the performance of their duties. They shall not hold any other office, be in service or be party to any activities which, by their nature, restrict or may restrict the autonomy of Eesti Pank or adversely affect or may adversely affect Eesti Pank in the achievement of its objectives or the performance of its tasks.»
6) the second sentence of subsection 4 is amended and worded as follows:
« If it is not possible to transfer the authority to a Deputy Governor, the person to substitute for the Governor shall be designated from among Deputy Governors by the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank.»
7) the words «except for his or her authority as a member of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank» are deleted from the last sentence of subsection 4.
§ 9. Section 11:
1) the words «monetary and» are deleted from clause (1)1);
2) clause (1)6) is amended and worded as follows:
« 6) making of proposals to the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank for the appointment to office and release of the Deputy Governors, the head of the Internal Audit Department and heads of the independent divisions of Eesti Pank, and for the appointment and removal of members of the Supervisory Board of the Financial Supervision Authority;»;
3) subsection 6 is amended and worded as follows:
« (6) Regulations of the Governor of Eesti Pank shall be published in the Riigi Teataja.»
§ 10. Section 12:
1) the words «of Governor of Eesti Pank» are deleted from subsection 1;
2) subsection 2 is amended and worded as follows:
« (2) The Governor and Deputy Governors of Eesti Pank may be dismissed only under the provisions of Article 14.2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.»
§ 11. Section 13:
1) the second sentence is added to section 1 worded as follows:
«Executive Board of Eesti Pank is composed of the Governor of Eesti Pank and the Deputy Governors.»;
2) the second and third sentences are added to subsection 11 worded as follows:
«The Governor of Eesti Pank may give additional tasks to the Executive Board. The Executive Board shall take decisions in order to perform its duties.»;
3) the word «structure» shall be deleted from subsection 2.
§ 12. Section 14 is amended and worded as follows:
« § 14. The rights of Eesti Pank
(1) (1) In order to perform its tasks Eesti Pank has the right:
1) to take and grant loans against adequate collateral;
2) to make and accept deposits;
3) to trade in securities, precious metals and foreign exchange;
4) to perform other transactions in the money, securities and foreign exchange markets;
5) to handle payment instructions and clearing payments;
6) to own shares and other holdings and real estate;
7) to establish rules regulating the money market and prudential standards under the law;
8) to establish rules regulating handling of euro banknotes and coins;
9) to impose sanctions on persons who violate the rules for currency circulation, except the sanctions that the European Central Bank imposes under Article 34.3 of the Statutes of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank;
10) receive necessary data from state and local government agencies and other persons and agencies required for performing its tasks;
11) conduct other operations necessary for performing its tasks.»
§ 13. § 141 is added to the Act worded as follows:
« § 141. Euro banknotes and coins
(1) Subject to the permission of the European Central Bank Eesti Pank has the right to issue euro banknotes.
(2) Eesti Pank has the exclusive right to issue euro coins in the Republic of Estonia. The amount of the issue must be approved by the European Central Bank in advance.
(3) Eesti Pank and credit institutions authorized by it accept and replace mutilated or damaged euro banknotes and euro coins pursuant to the procedure established by the European Union legislation. The Governor of Eesti Pank has the right to lay down with its resolution more precise rules for handling mutilated or damaged euro banknotes and euro coins.»
§ 14. Subsection 15(5) is repealed.
§ 15. Subsection 21(5) is amended and worded as follows:
« (5) Eesti Pank shall periodically publish data about its activities and the economies of Estonia and the European Union.»
§ 16. Subsection 26(4) is amended and worded as follows:
« (4) The holding and management of the official foreign exchange reserves shall be organised pursuant to law and the statute of Eesti Pank and the guidelines of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.»
§ 17. Section 31:
1) Subsection 1 is amended and worded as follows:
« (1) For each financial year, the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank shall appoint independent auditors suggested by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank and approved by the Council of the European Union to monitor Eesti Pank's activities during the financial year and to attest to the accuracy of the annual report prepared by Eesti Pank. Eesti Pank's activities may be examined further if the Riigikogu passes a corresponding resolution.»;
2) subsection 2 is amended and worded as follows:
« (2) Eesti Pank's annual report shall be drawn up according to the rules laid down in Article 26.4 of the Statutes of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.»
§ 18. Section 34 is amended and worded as follows:
« § 34. Compilation of balance of payments and collecting statistics
(1) Eesti Pank collects data for obtaining necessary monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics in order to perform its tasks and for publishing on the basis of and pursuant to the procedure established by the Official Statistics Act.
(2) Eesti Pank has the right to obtain, free of charge, the information necessary for drawing up the balance of payments of Estonia from all state and local government agencies and persons conducting cross-border economic transactions in the territory of Estonia.»
§ 19. § 39 is added to the Act in the following wording:
« § 39. Implementation of subsections 10(1) and 10(21)
(1) The Governor holding office upon entry into force of subsection 10(1) shall be deemed as appointed for seven years as of the moment of his or her appointment.
(2) The Deputy Governors holding office upon entry into force of subsection 10(21) shall be deemed as appointed for five years as of the date of entry into force of the above-mentioned provision.»
II. § 20. Entry into force of the Act
(1) This Act enters into force on the tenth day after publication in the Riigi Teataja, except for the provisions indicated in subsection 2.
(2) Section 2 and clause 5) of section 7 and Sections 12-14 and 16 enter into force on the date laid down in the Council of the European Union resolution on the abrogation of the derogation of the Republic of Estonia pursuant to the procedure provided for in Article 122(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community.
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Riigikogu esimees Toomas VAREK |
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