The European Central Bank, its system and its law

Abstract:

The world of banking and finance entered a new era on 1 January 1999, the starting date of the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Since then, natural and legal persons operating in the financial markets may not only use a new and still unique currency, the euro. They also have to get used to a new legal framework for their activities, a framework, which is determined by the new European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

This article wants to contribute to a better understanding of the organizational structure of the ESCB. This structure is laid down in the Treaty establishing the European Community and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, this means in primary Community law. The article's starting point is the observation that the ESCB has a two-level organizational structure, but is governed exclusively by the ECB (II). In accordance with this observation, the article shows how the Treaty and the Statute have centralized decision-making within the ESCB in the hands of the decision-making bodies of the ECB; it then analyses the various forms and effects of ECB law that are produced by such centralized decision -making (III). The final part of this article deals with the implementation of ECB law which can take place both directly by the ECB's own activities and indirectly through the national central banks.