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)

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term ‘competent national central bank’ means the national central bank of the Member State in whose jurisdiction the alleged infringement has occurred or, for infringements in the field of oversight of systemically important payment systems, it means the Eurosystem central bank that has been identified as a competent authority within the meaning of Article 2(5) of Regulation (EU) No 795/2014 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2014/28) (¹). Other terms used have the same meaning as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2532/98.

Article 1a

Scope

This Regulation shall only apply to sanctions that may be imposed by the ECB in the exercise of its non-supervisory central bank tasks. It shall not apply to any administrative penalties that may be imposed by the ECB in the exercise of its supervisory tasks.

Article 1b

Independent investigating unit

Article 2

Initiation of an infringement procedure

Article 3

Powers of the ECB and the competent national central bank

Article 4

Assistance by the authorities of the Member States

Article 5

Notice of objections

Article 6

Rights and obligations of the undertaking concerned

Article 7

Confidentiality of the infringement procedure

Article 7a

Submission of a proposal to the Executive Board

If the investigating unit or the competent national central bank considers that one or more of the exceptions set out in Article 9(1) applies, it shall specify this in its proposal.

Article 8

Review of the decision by the Governing Council of the ECB

In carrying out the review, the Governing Council may:

(a) confirm the decision of the Executive Board;

(b) amend the decision of the Executive Board by modifying any of the following: (i) the amount of the sanction to be imposed; (ii) the grounds giving rise to an infringement; (iii) whether and to what extent the sanction is published;

(c) set aside the decision of the Executive Board.

Article 9

Enforcement of the decision

The publication shall include information on the type and nature of the breach and the identity of the undertaking concerned, as well as the amount and the nature of the sanction, unless the Executive Board determines that such publication would:

(a) jeopardise the stability of the financial markets or the financial system or an ongoing criminal investigation;

(b) cause, in so far as can be determined, disproportionate damage to the undertaking concerned; or

(c) result in the publication of confidential information, which would put at risk legitimate public interests in security, such as the security and protection of the integrity of euro banknotes or the secure management of cyber or operational risks to systemically important payment systems.

In the circumstances referred to in the second subparagraph, points (a) to (c), decisions regarding sanctions shall be published on an anonymised basis. Alternatively, where such circumstances are likely to cease within a reasonable period of time, publication under this paragraph may be postponed for such period of time.

For the purposes of second subparagraph, point (c), the ECB may choose not to publish a decision imposing a sanction where it considers that the risk to legitimate public interests in security may not be mitigated by publishing the relevant decisions on an anonymised basis or by postponing their publication, as referred to in the previous subparagraph.

Where a decision imposing a sanction is under appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the ECB shall, without undue delay, also publish on its official website information on the status of the appeal in question and the outcome thereof.

The information published pursuant to this paragraph shall remain on the official website of the ECB for at least five years.

Article 10

Simplified procedure for minor infringements

The simplified procedure shall entail the following steps:

(a) the Executive Board of the ECB shall notify the undertaking concerned of the alleged infringement;

(b) the notification shall contain all the facts which constitute the evidence of the alleged infringement and the corresponding sanction;

(c) the notification shall inform the undertaking concerned of the fact that the simplified procedure is being applied and of its right to object to this procedure within 10 working days of receipt of the notification; and

(d) if an objection is raised before the deadline laid down in (c) above, the infringement procedure shall be deemed to be initiated and the time limit of 30 working days within which it is possible to exercise the right to be heard shall start as from expiry of the deadline laid down in (c) above. If no objection is raised before the deadline laid down in (c) above, the decision of the Executive Board of the ECB on the imposition of a sanction becomes final.

Article 11

Procedure in the event of non-compliance with minimum reserve requirements

Upon receipt of the notification, the undertaking concerned shall be given five working days either:

— to acknowledge the alleged non-compliance and agree to the payment of the specified sanction, in which case the infringement procedure shall be deemed to have come to an end, or

— to present any written information, explanations or objections which may be deemed relevant to a decision on whether or not to impose the sanction. The undertaking concerned may also attach any relevant documents as proof of the content of its reply. The competent national central bank shall without undue delay forward the file to the Executive Board of the ECB, which shall then decide whether or not to impose a sanction.

Article 12

Time limits

ANNEX (Indicative)