COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions

• Published date: 27 November 1998
• Official Gazette Publication: Journal officiel des Communautés européennes, L 318, 27 novembre 1998,Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas, L 318, 27 de noviembre de 1998,Gazzetta ufficiale delle Comunità europee, L 318, 27 novembre 1998

1998R2532 — EN — 04.02.2015 — 001.001

---

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B 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, p.4)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2015/159 of 27 January 2015	L 27	1	3.2.2015

---

▼B

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2532/98

of 23 November 1998

concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Treaty’) and in particular to Article 108a(3) thereof and to Article 34.3 of the Protocol (No 3) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Statute’),

Having regard to the recommendation of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ECB’) ( 1 ),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament ( 2 ),

Having regard to the opinion of the Commission ( 3 ),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 106(6) of the Treaty and in Article 42 of the Statute, and under the conditions set out in Article 109k(5) of the Treaty and paragraph 7 of the Protocol (No 11 ) on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

(1) Whereas this Regulation, according to Article 34.3 of the Statute, in conjunction with Article 43.1 of the Statute, paragraph 8 of Protocol No 11 and paragraph 2 of the Protocol (No 12) on certain provisions relating to Denmark, is not to confer any rights or impose any obligations on a non-participating Member State;

(2) Whereas Article 34.3 of the Statute requires the Council to specify the limits and conditions under which the ECB is entitled to impose fines or periodic penalty payments on undertakings for failure to comply with obligations under its regulations and decisions;

(3) Whereas infringements of the obligations arising from ECB regulations and decisions can arise in various fields of competence of the ECB;

(4) Whereas it is appropriate, in order to ensure a uniform approach towards the imposition of sanctions in the various fields of competence of the ECB, that all general and procedural provisions for the imposition of such sanctions are contained in a single Council Regulation; whereas other Council Regulations provide for specific sanctions in specific fields and refer to this Regulation for the principles and procedures relating to the imposition of such sanctions;

(5) Whereas, in order to provide an effective regime for the administration of sanctions, this Regulation must allow the ECB a certain discretion, both in relation to the relevant procedures and to their implementation within the limits and conditions laid down in this Regulation;

(6) Whereas the European System of Central Banks (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ESCB’) and the ECB have been entrusted with the task of preparing for their full operation in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (hereinafter referred to as ‘Stage Three’); whereas timely preparation is essential to enable the ESCB to fulfil its tasks in Stage Three; whereas an essential element of preparation is the adoption, ahead of Stage Three, of the regime for the imposition of sanctions on undertakings failing to comply with obligations imposed upon them by ECB regulations and decisions; whereas it is desirable to inform market participants as soon as possible of the detailed provisions the ECB may deem necessary to adopt for the imposition of sanctions; whereas it is therefore necessary to provide the ECB from the date of entry into force of this Regulation with a regulatory power;

(7) Whereas the provisions of this Regulation can only be effectively applied if participating Member States adopt the necessary measures with a view to ensuring that their authorities have the powers to assist and collaborate fully with the ECB in the implementation of the infringement procedure as required by this Regulation, in accordance with Article 5 of the Treaty;

(8) Whereas the ECB is to have recourse to the national central banks to carry out the tasks of the ESCB to the extent deemed possible and appropriate;

(9) Whereas decisions under this Regulation imposing pecuniary obligations are to be enforceable in accordance with Article 192 of the Treaty,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

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

2. ‘national central bank’ shall mean the central bank of a participating Member State;

3. ‘undertakings’ shall mean those natural or legal persons, private or public, with the exception of public persons in the exercise of their public powers, in a participating Member State, which are the subject of obligations arising from ECB regulations and decisions, and shall include branches or other permanent establishments located in a participating Member State, the head office or registered office of which is outside a participating Member State;

4. ‘infringement’ shall mean any failure by an undertaking to fulfil an obligation arising from ECB regulations or decisions;

5. ‘fine’ shall mean a single amount of money which an undertaking is obliged to pay as a sanction;

▼M1

6. ‘periodic penalty payments’ shall mean amounts of money which, in the case of a continued infringement, an undertaking is obliged to pay either as a punishment, or with a view to forcing the persons concerned to comply with the ECB supervisory regulations and decisions. Periodic penalty payments shall be calculated for each complete day of continued infringement:

(a) following notification of the undertaking of a decision requiring the termination of such an infringement in accordance with the procedure laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 3(1); or

(b) when the continued infringement falls under the scope of Article 18(7) of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 ( 4 ) in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4b of this Regulation;

7. ‘sanctions’ shall mean fines and periodic penalty payments.

▼M1

Article 1a

General principles and scope

1. This Regulation shall apply to the imposition by the ECB of sanctions on undertakings for failure to comply with obligations arising from ECB decisions or regulations.

2. The rules applying to the imposition by the ECB, in the exercise of its supervisory tasks, of sanctions in case of a breach of an ECB regulation or decision shall derogate from the rules laid down in Articles 2 to 4 to the extent laid down in Articles 4a to 4c.

3. The ECB shall publish any decision imposing sanctions on an undertaking in case of a breach of an ECB regulation or decision, in the supervisory field, whether or not such decision has been appealed.

The ECB shall carry out such a publication on its website without undue delay, and after the decision has been notified to the undertaking concerned. The publication shall include information on the type and nature of the breach and the identity of the undertaking concerned, unless...