Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank
L 318/8 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to 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') and in particular to Article 5. 4 thereof, Having regard to the recommendation of the European Central Bank (the ‘ECB') (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia- ment (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 establishing the European Community and in Article 42 of the Statute, (1) Whereas Article 5. 1 of the Statute requires the ECB, assisted by the national central banks, to collect either from the competent national author- ities or directly from economic agents the statistical information which is necessary for the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ESCB') to be performed; whereas, to facilitate the execution of these tasks, set out in Article 105 of the Treaty, and in particular the conduct of monetary policy, this statistical informa- tion is used primarily for the production of aggre- gated statistical information, for which the identity of individual economic agents is irrelevant, but may also be used at the level of individual economic agents; whereas Article 5. 2 of the Statute requires the national central banks to carry out, to the extent possible, the tasks described in Article 5. 1 of the Statute the Statute; whereas Article 5. 4 of requires the Council to define the natural and legal persons the confidentiality regime and the appropriate provi- sions for enforcement; whereas the national central banks may cooperate with other competent author- ities, institutes and market regulators, for the purposes of Article 5. 1 of the Statute; including national statistical to reporting requirements, subject for its collection need to be structured so that the ECB has the ability and flexibility to avail itself in a timely manner of high-quality statistics which reflect changing economic and financial conditions and take account of the burden imposed on reporting agents; whereas in so doing attention must be paid not only to the performance of the ESCB’s tasks and its independence but also to keeping the burden placed on the reporting agents to a minimum; (3) Whereas it is therefore desirable to define a refer- ence reporting population in terms of categories of applications economic involved, to which the statistical powers of the ECB is confined and from which the ECB determines the actual reporting population through its regula- tory power; statistical units and (4) Whereas a homogeneous reporting population is necessary for the production of the consolidated balance sheet of the Monetary Financial Institu- tions sector of the participating Member States, the principal aim of which is to provide the ECB with a comprehensive statistical picture of monetary developments in the participating Member States, seen as one economic territory; whereas the ECB has established and maintains a List of Monetary Financial Institutions for statistical purposes based on a common definition of these institutions; (5) Whereas the said common definition for statistical purposes specifies that Monetary Financial Institu- tions comprise credit institutions as defined in Community law, and all other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than Monetary Financial Institutions and, for their own account (at least in economic terms), to grant credits and/or to make investments in secur- ities; (2) Whereas, in order for statistical information to be effective as an instrument for the performance of the tasks of the ESCB, definitions and procedures (1) OJ C 246, 6. 8. 1998, p. 12. (2) OJ C 328, 26. 10. 1998. (3) Opinion delivered on 8 October 1998 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (6) Whereas those post office giro institutions which may not fulfil the common definition for statistical purposes of Monetary Financial Institutions may nevertheless need to be made subject to the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements in the field of 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/9 money and banking statistics and payment systems statistics because they may, to a significant extent, receive deposits for deposits and undertake payment systems business; substitutes and/or close (7) Whereas in the European System of National and Regional Accounts 1995 (1) (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ESA 95'), the Monetary Financial Institu- tions therefore comprise the sub-sectors ‘the central bank' and ‘other monetary financial institutions' and may be broadened solely through the inclusion of categories of institutions coming from the sub- sector ‘other financial intermediaries, except insur- ance corporations and pension funds'; (8) Whereas statistics on the balance of payments, the International Investment Position, securities, elec- tronic money and payment systems are necessary to enable the ESCB to fulfil its tasks in an indepen- dent manner; (9) Whereas the use of the terms ‘legal and natural persons' in Article 5. 4 of the Statute has to be construed in a manner that is consistent with the practices of Member States in the field of money and banking statistics and balance of payments statistics and therefore also encompasses entities that are neither legal persons nor natural persons under their respective national laws but still fall within the relevant sub-sectors of the ESA 95; whereas reporting requirements can therefore be imposed on entities such as partnerships, branches, undertakings for collective investments in transfer- able securities (UCITS) and funds that, under their respective laws, do not enjoy the status of a legal person; whereas in these cases the reporting obliga- tion is imposed on those persons who, under the applicable national laws, legally represent the en- tities concerned; (10) Whereas the statistical balance sheet reports of institutions mentioned in Article 19. 1 of the Statute may also be used to calculate the amount of minimum reserves which they may be obliged to hold; (11) Whereas it is the task of the Governing Council of the ECB to specify the division of tasks between the ECB and the national central banks concerning the collection and verification of statistical infor- mation and their enforcement, taking into account the principle laid down in Article 5. 2 of the Statute, as well as the tasks which will be assumed by their national authorities within the limits of competence, for the purposes of obtaining statistics of a consistently high quality; reporting requirements be (12) Whereas, in the early years of the single currency area, cost-effectiveness may require that the ECB’s statistical satisfied through transitional procedures due to existing constraints on the collection systems; whereas this may imply in particular that, in the case of the Financial Account of the balance of payments, data on cross-border positions or transactions of the participating Member States seen as one economic the single territory may in the early years of currency area be compiled using all positions or transactions between residents of a participating Member State and residents of other countries; (13) Whereas the limits within and the conditions under which the ECB is entitled to impose sanc- tions on undertakings for failure to comply with the obligations laid down in regulations and deci- sions of the ECB have been defined by Council Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998, concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (2), in accordance with Article 34. 3 of the Statute; whereas in the event of a conflict between the provisions of the said Regulation and this Regulation enabling the ECB to impose sanctions, the provisions of this Regulation will prevail; whereas the sanctions for non-compliance with the obligations set out in this Regulation are without prejudice to the possibility of the ESCB establishing appropriate enforcement relations with counterparties, provisions including the partial or total exclusion of a reporting agent from monetary policy operations in the case of a serious infringement of statistical reporting requirements; in its (14) Whereas regulations made by the ECB under Article 34. 1 of the Statute do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on non-participating Member States; (15) Whereas Denmark, referring to paragraph 1 of the Protocol (No 12) on certain provisions relating to Denmark, has given notification, in the context of the Edinburgh Decision of 12 December 1992, that it will not participate in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union; whereas, therefore, in accordance with paragraph 2 of the said Protocol, all Articles and provisions of the Treaty and the Statute referring to a derogation will be applicable to Denmark; (1) OJ L 310, 30. 11. 1996, p. 1. (2) See page 4 of this Official Journal. L 318/10 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 (16) Whereas under paragraph 8 of the Protocol (No 11) on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Article 34 of the Statute does not apply to the United Kingdom unless it participates in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union; sional secrecy, subject to the combined provisions of Articles 12 and 18 of the Protocol on the priv- ileges and immunities of the European Commu- nities; (17) Whereas, while it is recognised that the statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements is not the same for the participating as for the non-participating Member States, Article 5 of the Statute applies to both participating and non-participating Member States; whereas this fact, together with Article 5 of the Treaty, implies an obligation to design and imple- ment at the national level all the measures that Member States consider appropriate in order to carry out the collection of the statistical informa- tion needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements and the timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to become participating Member States; the tasks of (18) Whereas confidential statistical information which the ECB and the national central banks must obtain for the performance of the ESCB must be protected in order to gain and maintain the confidence of the reporting agents; whereas once this Regulation is adopted there will be no further cause to invoke provisions on confid- entiality preventing the exchange of confidential statistical information relating to the tasks of the ESCB, subject to the provisions of Directive 95/46/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individ- uals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (1); (19) Whereas Article 38. 1 of the Statute provides that members of the governing bodies and the staff of the ECB and the national central banks shall be required, even after their duties have ceased, not to disclose information of the kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy and Article 38. 2 of the Statute provides that persons having access legislation to imposing an obligation of secrecy shall be subject to such legislation; by Community covered data (20) Whereas any infringement of the rules binding members of the ECB, whether the staff of committed wilfully or through negligence, renders them liable to disciplinary sanctions and, if appro- priate, legal penalties for the violation of profes- implies that (21) Whereas the possible use of statistical information for the execution of the tasks to be carried out through the ESCB in accordance with Article 105 of the Treaty, while reducing the overall reporting burden, the confidentiality regime defined in this Regulation must differ to some from the general Community and inter- extent national principles on statistical confidentiality, and in particular from the provisions on statistical confidentiality in Council Regulation (EC) No 322/ 97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (2); whereas, subject to this point, the ECB will take into account the principles underlying Community statistics set out in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97; (22) Whereas the confidentiality regime defined in this Regulation applies only to confidential statistical the information transmitted to the ECB for performance of the tasks of the ESCB and does not affect special national or Community provisions relating to the transmission of other types of infor- mation to the ECB; whereas the rules on statistical confidentiality applied by the national statistical institutes and the Commission on the statistical information they collect on their own behalf must be respected; (23) Whereas, for the purposes of Article 5. 1 of the Statute, the ECB is required to cooperate in the field of statistics with the Community institutions or bodies and with the competent authorities of the Member States or third countries and with inter- national organisations; whereas the ECB and the Commission will establish appropriate forms of cooperation in the field of statistics in order to carry out their tasks in the most efficient way, trying to minimise the burden on reporting agents; (24) Whereas the ESCB and ECB have been entrusted with the task of preparing the statistical reporting requirements for the euro area for their full opera- tion in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (hereinafter referred to as ‘Stage Three'); whereas timely preparation in the statistical field is essential to enable the ESCB to fulfil its tasks in Stage Three; whereas an essential element of pre- paration is the adoption, ahead of Stage Three, of (1) OJ L 281, 23. 11. 1995, p. 31. (2) OJ L 52, 22. 2. 1997, p. 1. 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/11 for ECB statistical regulations; whereas it is desirable to inform market participants during 1998 of the detailed provisions the ECB may deem necessary to statistical adopt therefore reporting requirements; whereas necessary to provide the ECB from the date of entry into force of this Regulation with a regulatory power; the implementation of it its is (25) Whereas the provisions of this Regulation can be effectively applied only if participating Member States in their entirety have adopted the necessary measures with a view to ensuring that their author- ities have the powers to assist and collaborate fully with the ECB in carrying out the verification and compulsory collection of statistical information, in conformity with Article 5 of the Treaty, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Definitions 5. 6. ‘International Investment Position' shall mean the balance sheet of the stock of cross-border financial assets and liabilities; ‘electronic money' shall mean an electronic store of monetary value on a technical device, including prepaid cards, that may be widely used for making payments to entities other than the issuer without necessarily involving bank accounts in the transaction, but acting as a prepaid bearer instrument. Article 2 Reference reporting population For the fulfilment of the ECB’s statistical reporting 1. requirements, the ECB, assisted by the national central banks in accordance with Article 5. 2 of the Statute, shall have the right to collect statistical information within the limits of the reference reporting population and of what is necessary to carry out the tasks of the ESCB. The reference reporting population shall comprise 2. the following reporting agents: For the purposes of this Regulation: (a) reporting requirements' shall ‘the ECB’s statistical mean the statistical information which reporting agents are required to provide and which is necessary for the tasks of the ESCB to be performed; legal and natural persons falling within the sub-sectors ‘central bank', ‘other monetary financial institutions' and ‘other financial intermediaries, except insurance corporations and pension funds' as described in Annex B and residing in a Member State, to the extent necessary statistical reporting requirements in the field of money and banking statistics and payment systems statistics; the ECB’s to fulfil ‘reporting agents' shall mean the legal and natural persons and the entities referred to in Article 2(3) which are subject to the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements; (b) post office giro institutions, to the extent necessary to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements in the field of money and banking statistics and payment systems statistics; ‘participating Member State' shall mean a Member State which has adopted the single currency in accord- ance with the Treaty; ‘resident' and ‘residing' shall mean having a centre of in the economic territory of a economic interest country as described in Annex A; in this context, ‘cross-border positions' and ‘cross-border transactions' shall mean respectively positions and transactions in the assets and/or liabilities of residents of participating Member States seen as one economic territory vis-a-vis residents of non-participating Member States and/or residents of third countries; (c) legal and natural persons residing in a Member State, to the extent that they hold cross-border positions or carry out cross-border transactions and that statistical information relating to such positions or transactions is necessary to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements in the field of balance of payments stat- istics or the International Investment Position; (d) legal and natural persons residing in a Member State, to the extent that statistical information relating to the securities or the electronic money issued by them is necessary to fulfil reporting the ECB’s requirements. statistical 1. 2. 3. 4. L 318/12 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 3. An entity that would otherwise be covered by the definition in paragraph 2, but which according to the national law of its country of residence is neither a legal person nor a collection of natural persons, while it can be the subject of rights and obligations, shall be a reporting agent. The reporting obligation of such an entity shall be fulfilled by the persons legally representing it. in another country, Where a legal person, collection of natural persons or an entity as referred to in the first subparagraph has a branch resident the branch shall be a reporting agent in its own right irrespective of where the head office is located insofar as the branch satisfies the conditions defined in paragraph 2, with the exception of the need to possess separate legal personality. Any number of branches set up in the same Member State shall be regarded as a single branch when they belong to the same sub-sector of the economy. The reporting ob- ligation of a branch shall be fulfilled by the persons legally representing it. Article 5 Regulatory power of the ECB 1. The ECB may adopt regulations for the definition and imposition of its statistical reporting requirements on the actual reporting population of participating Member States. 2. To guarantee the coherence necessary to produce statistics meeting their respective information require- ments, the ECB shall consult the Commission on draft regulations whenever links with the statistical require- ments of the Commission exist. The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics shall take part, within the limits of its competence, in the process of cooperation between the Commission and the ECB. Article 3 Article 6 Modalities for the definition of statistical reporting requirements In defining and imposing its statistical reporting require- ments, the ECB shall specify the actual reporting popula- tion within the limits of the reference reporting popula- tion as defined in Article 2. Without prejudice to the fulfilment of its statistical reporting requirements, the ECB: (a) shall minimise reporting burden involved, including by using existing statistics as far as possible; the (b) shall take into account Community and international statistical standards; (c) may fully or partly exempt specific classes of reporting agents from its statistical reporting require- ments. Right of verification and compulsory collection of statistical information If a reporting agent 1. residing in a participating Member State is suspected of an infringement, as set out in Article 7(2), of the ECB’s statistical reporting require- ments, the ECB and, in accordance with Article 5. 2 of the Statute, the national central bank of the participating Member State concerned shall have the right to verify the accuracy and quality of the statistical information and to carry out its compulsory collection. However, should the statistical information concerned be necessary in order to demonstrate compliance with minimum reserve require- ments, the verification should be carried out in accord- ance with Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/ 98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank (1). The right information or to carry out compulsory collection thereof shall comprise the right to: to verify statistical (a) require submission of documents; Article 4 (b) examine the books and records of the reporting agents; Obligations of Member States (c) take copies or extracts from such books and records; and Member States shall organise themselves in the field of statistics and shall fully cooperate with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute. (d) obtain written or oral explanations. (1) See page 1 of this Official Journal. 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/13 The ECB or the competent national central bank 2. shall notify the reporting agent in writing of its decision to verify statistical information or to collect it compul- sorily, specifying the time limit for compliance with the verification request, the sanctions applicable in the case of non-compliance and the right to review. The ECB and the national central bank concerned shall inform each other of such verification requests. For the verification and the compulsory collection of 3. statistical shall be information, national procedures followed. The costs of the procedure shall be borne by the reporting agent concerned if it is established that the reporting agent has breached statistical reporting require- ments. The ECB may adopt specifying the 4. conditions under which the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information may be exercised. regulations 5. Within the limits of their competence, national authorities of participating Member States shall give the necessary assistance to the ECB and national central banks in the exercise of the powers provided for in this Article. 6. When a reporting agent opposes or obstructs the verification process or the compulsory collection of the required statistical information, the participating Member State in which the reporting agent’s premises are located shall afford the necessary assistance, including ensuring access to the reporting agent’s premises by the ECB or the national central bank so that the rights mentioned in paragraph 1 can be exercised. Article 7 Imposition of sanctions 1. The ECB shall have the power to impose the sanc- tions set out in this Article on reporting agents which are subject to reporting requirements and residing in a parti- cipating Member State and which fail to comply with the obligations resulting from this Regulation or from ECB regulations or decisions defining and imposing the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements. 2. The obligation to transmit certain statistical informa- tion to the ECB or to the national central banks shall be deemed to have been infringed if: (a) no statistical information is received by the ECB or national central bank by the established deadline; or (b) the statistical information is incorrect, incomplete or in a form not complying with the requirement. The obligation to allow the ECB and the national 3. central banks to verify the accuracy and quality of the statistical information submitted by reporting agents to the ECB or national central bank shall be deemed to have been infringed whenever a reporting agent obstructs this activity. Such obstruction includes, but is not limited to, the removal of documents and prevention of physical access by the ECB or the national central bank which is necessary for them to carry out their verification task or compulsory collection. The ECB may impose sanctions on a reporting agent 4. as follows: (a) in the event of an infringement as defined in para- graph 2(a), a daily penalty payment not exceeding EUR 10 000, with the total fine not exceeding EUR 100 000; (b) in the event of an infringement as defined in para- graph 2(b), a fine not exceeding EUR 200 000; and (c) in the event of an infringement as defined in para- graph 3, a fine not exceeding EUR 200 000. The sanctions set out in paragraph 4 shall be addi- 5. tional to the obligation on the reporting agent to meet the costs of the verification and compulsory collection proce- dure as required in Article 6(3). 6. In exercising the powers provided for in this Article, the ECB shall act in accordance with the principles and procedures as set out in Regulation (EC) No 2532/98. Article 8 Confidentiality regime 1. Within the scope of this Regulation and for the purposes of the confidentiality regime covering the stat- istical information which is necessary for the tasks of the ESCB to be performed, statistical information shall be confidential when it allows reporting agents or any other legal person, natural person, entity or branch to be identi- fied, either directly from their name, address or from an officially allocated identification code, or indirectly through deduction, thereby disclosing individual informa- tion. To determine whether a reporting agent or any other legal person, natural person, entity or branch is identifi- able, account shall be taken of all the means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the said L 318/14 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 reporting agent or the other legal person, natural person, entity or branch. Statistical information taken from sources which are available to the public in accordance with national law is not confidential. (c) if it is used in the field of prudential supervision or for the exercise in accordance with Article 14(4) of the Statute of functions other than those specified in the Statute; or Transmission from the national central banks to the 2. ECB of confidential statistical take place to the extent and at the level of detail necessary for the exercise of the tasks to be carried out through the ESCB, as described in Article 105 of the Treaty. information shall 3. Reporting agents shall be informed of the statistical and other, administrative, uses, to which statistical infor- mation provided by them may be put. Reporting agents shall have the right to obtain information on the legal basis for the transmission and the protective measures adopted. (d) for granting scientific research bodies access to information which does not confidential statistical allow direct identification. 6. This Article shall not prevent confidential statistical information collected for purposes other than, or in addi- tion to, meeting the ECB’s statistical reporting require- ments from being used to meet those other purposes. 7. This Article shall apply only to the collection and transmission of confidential statistical information for the fulfilment of the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements; it shall not affect special national or Community provi- sions relating to the transmission of other types of infor- mation to the ECB. The ECB shall use confidential statistical informa- 4. tion transmitted to it exclusively for the exercise of the tasks of the ESCB except: This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to 8. Directive 95/46/EC. (a) the reporting agent or the other legal person, if natural person, entity or branch which can be identi- fied, has explicitly given its consent to the use of the said statistical information for other purposes; or In the case of data collected by national statistical insti- tutes and the Commission, which are submitted to the ECB, this Regulation shall, as regards statistical confiden- tiality, apply without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 322/97. (b) for the production of specific Community statistics, following an agreement between the Commission and the ECB in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97; or (c) for granting scientific research bodies access to confidential statistical information which does not allow direct identification, without prejudice to legislation and with the previous explicit national consent of the national authority which provided the information. 5. The national central banks shall use the confidential statistical information collected to fulfil the ECB’s statist- ical reporting requirements exclusively for the exercise of the tasks of the ESCB except: (a) if the reporting agent or the other legal person, natural person, entity or branch which can be identi- fied has explicitly given its consent to the use of the said statistical information for other purposes; or (b) if it is used at the national level for statistical purposes following an agreement between the national statist- ical authorities and the national central bank or for the production of Community statistics in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97; or 9. The ECB and the national central banks shall take all the necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and organisational measures to ensure the protection of con- fidential statistical information. The ECB shall define to prevent common rules and minimum standards unlawful disclosure and unauthorised use. The protection measures shall apply to all confidential statistical informa- tion as defined in paragraph 1. 10. Member States shall adopt all the necessary measures to ensure the protection of confidential statistical infor- mation, the appropriate enforcement measures by the Member States in the event of an infringement. including the imposition of Article 9 Final provisions This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Article 5, Article 6(4) and Article 8(9) shall apply from the date of entry into force of this Regulation. The remaining Articles shall apply from 1 January 1999. 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/15 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 23 November 1998. For the Council The President R. EDLINGER L 318/16 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 ANNEX A THE LIMITS OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY 2. 04. The units, whether institutional, local kind-of-activity or of homogeneous production, which constitute the economy of a country and whose transactions are recorded in the ESA, are those which have a centre of economic interest on the economic territory of that country. These units, known as resident units, may or may not have the nationality of that country, may or may not be legal entities, and may or may not be present on the economic territory of the country at the time they carry out a transaction. Having thus defined the limits of the national economy in terms of resident units, it is necessary to define the meaning of the terms economic territory and centre of economic interest. 2. 05. The term economic territory means: (a) the geographic territory administered by a government within which persons, goods, services and capital move freely; (b) any free zones, including bonded warehouses and factories under customs control; (c) the national air-space, territorial waters and the continental shelf lying in international waters, over which the country enjoys exclusive rights (1); (d) territorial enclaves, i. e. geographic territories situated in the rest of the world and used, under international treaties or agreements between States, by general government agencies of the country (embassies, consulates, military bases, scientific bases, etc. ); (e) deposits of oil, natural gas, etc. in international waters outside the continental shelf of the country, worked by units resident in the territory as defined in the preceding subparagraphs. 2. 06. The economic territory does not include extraterritorial enclaves (i. e. the parts of the country’s own geographic territory used by general government agencies of other countries, by the institutions of the European Union or by international organisations under international treaties or agreements between States (2). 2. 07. The term centre of economic interest indicates the fact there exists some location within the economic territory on, or from, which a unit engages, and intends to continue to engage, in economic activities and transactions on a significant scale, either indefinitely or over a finite but long period of time (a year or more). It follows that a unit which carries out such transactions on the economic territory of several countries is deemed to have a centre of economic interest in each of them. The ownership of land and buildings within the economic territory is deemed to be sufficient in itself for the owner to have a centre of economic interest there. 2. 08. On the basis of these definitions, units deemed to be residents of a country can be sub-divided into: (a) units which are principally engaged in production, finance, insurance or redistribution, in respect of all their transactions except those relating to ownership of land and buildings; (b) Units which are principally engaged in consumption (3), in respect of all their transactions except those relating to ownership of land and buildings; (c) all units in their capacity as owners of land and buildings with the exception of owners of extraterritorial enclaves which are part of the economic territory of other countries or are States sui generis (see paragraph 2. 06). (1) Fishing boats, other ships, floating platforms and aircraft are treated in the ESA just like any other mobile equipment, whether owned and/or operated by units resident in the Country, or owned by non-residents and operated by resident units. Transactions involving the ownership (gross fixed capital formation) and use (renting, insurance, etc. ) of this type of equipment are attributed to the economy of the country of which the owner and/or operator respectively are resi- dent. In cases of financial leasing a change of ownership is assumed. (2) The territories used by the institutions of the European Union and international organisations thus constitute the territories of States sui generis. The feature of such States is that the only residents are the institutions themselves (see paragraph 2. 10(e)). (3) Consumption is not the only possible activity of households. Households may as entrepreneurs engage in any kind of economic activity. 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/17 2. 09. In the case of units which are principally engaged in production, finance, insurance or redistribution, in respect of all their transactions except those relating to ownership of land and buildings, the following two cases may be distinguished: (a) activity conducted exclusively on the economic territory of the country: units which carry out such activity are resident units of the country; (b) activity conducted for a year or more on the economic territories of serveral countries: only that part of the unit which has a centre of economic interest on the economic territory of the country is deemed to be a resident unit. It may be: 1. either an institutional resident unit, whose activities conducted for a year or more in the rest of the world are excluded and treated separately (1), or 2. a notional resident unit, in respect of the activity conducted in the country for a year or more by a unit which is resident in another country. 2. 10. In the case of units which are principally engaged in consumption, except in their capacity as owners of land and buildings, households which have a centre of economic interest in the country are deemed to be resident units, even if they go abroad for short periods (less than a year). They include, in particular, the following: (a) border workers, i. e. people who cross the frontier daily to work in a neighbouring country; (b) seasonal workers, i. e. people who leave the country for several months, but less than a year, to work in another country in sectors in which additional manpower is needed periodically; (c) tourists, patients, students (2), visiting officials, businessmen, salesmen, artists and crew members who travel abroad; (d) locally recruited staff working in the extraterritorial enclaves of foreign governments; (e) the staff of the institutions of the European Union and of civilian or military international organ- isations which have their headquarters in extraterritorial enclaves; (f) the official, civilian or military representatives of the government of the country (including their households) established in territorial enclaves. 2. 11. All units in their capacity as owners of land and/or buildings which form part of the economic territory are deemed to be resident units or notional resident units of the country in which the land or buildings in question are located. (1) It is only where such activity is carried on for less than a year that it should not be separated from the activities of the producer institutional unit. This may also be done where the activity, though conducted for a year or more, is insignifi- cant, and in all circumstances for the installation of equipment abroad. However, a unit which is resident in another country and which is carrying out a construction activity in the country for a duration of less than a year is deemed to have a centre of economic interest on the economic territory of the country if the output of the construction activity constitutes gross fixed capital formation. Such a unit should therefore be treated as a notional resident unit. (2) Students are always treated as residents, however long they study abroad. L 318/18 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 98 ANNEX B SUBSECTOR: THE CENTRAL BANK (S. 121) 2. 45. Definition: The subsector the central bank (S. 121) consists of all financial corporations and quasi- corporations whose principal function is to issue currency, to maintain the internal and external value of the currency and to hold all or part of the international reserves of the country. 2. 46. The following financial intermediaries are classified in subsector S. 121: (a) the national central bank, also in the case where it is part of a European System of Central Banks; (b) central monetary agencies of essentially public origin (e. g. agencies managing foreign exchange or issuing currency) which keep a complete set of accounts and enjoy autonomy of decision in relation to central government. Mostly these activities are performed either within central government or within the central bank. In these cases no separate institutional units exist. 2. 47. Subsector S. 121 does not include agencies and bodies, other than the central bank, which regulate or supervise financial corporations or financial markets. SUBSECTOR: OTHER MONETARY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (S. 122) 2. 48. Definition: The subsector other monetary financial institutions (S. 122) consists of all financial corpora- tions and quasi-corporations, except those classified in the central bank subsector, which are principally engaged in financial intermediation and whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from institutional units other than monetary financial institutions, and, for their own account, to grant loans and/or to make investments in securities. 2. 49. The monetary financial institutions (MFIs) comprise the subsector the central bank (S. 121) and the institutions (S. 122), and coincide with the monetary financial subsector other monetary financial institutions for statistical purposes as defined by the EMI. 2. 50. MFIs cannot be described simply as ‘banks', because they may possibly include some financial corpora- tions which may not call themselves banks, and some which may not be permitted to do so in some countries, while some other financial corporations describing themselves as banks may not in fact be MFIs. In general, the following financial intermediaries are classified in subsector S. 122: (a) commercial banks, ‘universal' banks, ‘all-purpose' banks; (b) savings banks (including trustee savings banks and savings banks and loan associations); (c) post office giro institutions, post banks, giro banks; (d) rural credit banks, agricultural credit banks; (e) cooperative credit banks, credit unions; (f) specialised banks (e. g. merchant banks, issuing houses, private banks). 2. 51. The following financial intermediaries may also be classified in subsector S. 122 where it is their business to receive repayable funds from the public whether in the form of deposits or in other forms such as the continuing issue of bonds and other comparable securities. Otherwise, they should be classified in subsector S. 123: (a) corporations engaged in granting mortgages (including building societies, mortgage banks and mortgage credit institutions); (b) mutual funds (including investment trusts, unit trusts and other collective investment schemes, e. g. undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities-UCITS); (c) municipal credit institutions. 27. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 318/19 2. 52. Subsector S. 122 does not include: (a) holding corporations which only control and direct a group consisting predominantly of other monetary financial institutions, but which are not other monetary financial institutions themselves. They are classified in subsector S. 123; (b) non-profit institutions recognised as independent legal entities serving other monetary financial institutions, but not engaged in financial intermediation. SUBSECTOR: OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES, EXCEPT INSURANCE CORPORA- TIONS AND PENSION FUNDS (S. 123) 2. 53. Definition: The subsector other financial intermediaries except insurance corporations and pension funds (S. 123) consists of all financial corporations and quasi-corporations which are principally engaged in financial intermediation by incurring liabilities in forms other than currency, deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from institutional units other than monetary financial institutions, or insurance technical reserves. 2. 54. Subsector S. 123 includes various types of financial intermediaries especially those which are predomi- nantly engaged in long-term financing. In most cases this predominant maturity forms the basis of a distinction from the other monetary financial institutions subsector. Based on the non-existence of liabilities in the form of insurance technical reserves, the borderline with the insurance corporations and pension funds subsector can be determined. 2. 55. In particular, the following financial corporations and quasi-corporations are classified in subsector S. 123 unless they are MFIs: (a) corporations engaged in financial leasing; (b) corporations engaged in hire purchase and the provision of personal or commercial finance; (c) corporations engaged in factoring; (d) security and derivative dealers (on own account); (e) specialised financial corporations such as venture and development capital companies, export/import financing companies; (f) financial vehicle corporations, created to be holders of securitised assets; (g) financial intermediaries which receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from MFIs only; (h) holding corporations which only control and direct a group of subsidiaries principally engaged in financial intermediation and/or in auxiliary financial activities, but which are not financial corpora- tions themselves. 2. 56. Subsector S. 123 does not include non-profit institutions recognised as independent legal entities serving other financial intermediaries except insurance corporations and pension funds, but not engaged in financial intermediation