17.12.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L 333/1 | (Acts whose publication is obligatory) 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/2001/13) THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank (!), and in particular to Article 5(1) and Article 6(4) thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank (%), and in particular to Article 6(4) thereof, Whereas: 1 Regulation (EC) No 2819/98 of the European Central Bank of 1 December 1998 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector (ECB/1998/16) (°) has already been amended by Regulation (EC) No 1921/2000 (ECB/2000/8) (*); now that new substantial amendments are being made to the said Regulation, it is desirable that the provisions in question should be recast by bringing them together in a single text with this Regulation. The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) requires, for the fulfilment of its tasks, the production of the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions (MFI) sector. The principal purpose thereof is to provide the European Central Bank (ECB) with a comprehensive  statistical  picture of  monetary developments in the participating Member States, which are viewed as one economic territory. These statistics cover the aggregate financial assets and liabilities, in terms of stocks, high quality flows for loans and also improved flows for holdings of securities. The ECB shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty  establishing the  European  Community (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Treaty’) and under the 0] L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 1. 0J L 356, 30.12.1998, p. 7. conditions laid down in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Statute’), make regulations to the extent necessary to implement the tasks of the ESCB as defined in the Statute and in some cases laid down in the provisions adopted by the Council referred to in Article 107(6) of the Treaty. Article 5.1 of the Statute requires the ECB, assisted by the national central banks (NCBs), to collect the necessary  statistical information either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents in order to undertake the tasks of the ESCB. Article 5.2 of the Statute stipulates that the NCBs shall carry out, to the extent possible, the tasks described in Article 5.1. It may be necessary, and may reduce the reporting burden, for NCBs to collect from the actual reporting population the statistical information necessary to fulfil the statistical requirements of the ECB as part of a broader statistical reporting framework which the NCBs establish under their own responsibility in accordance with Community or national law or established practice and which serves other statistical purposes, provided that the fulfilment of the statistical requirements of the ECB is not jeopardised. In order to foster transparency, it is appropriate, in these cases, to inform the reporting agents that data are collected to fulfil other statistical purposes. In specific cases, the ECB may rely on statistical information collected for such purposes to fulfil its requirements. Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 requires the ECB to specify the actual reporting population within the limits of the reference reporting population and entitles it to fully or partly exempt specific classes of reporting agents from its statistical reporting requirements. Article 6(4) provides that the ECB may adopt regulations specifying the conditions under which the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information may be exercised.