BCL Circular 2006/193 of 21 March 2006 — Modification of the General Conditions of the BCL

Luxembourg, 21 March 2006

To all credit institutions and to the financial services of the Post and Telecommunications Company (post-check account service)

BCL CIRCULAR 2006/193
MODIFICATION OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE BCL

Madam, Sir,

Annexes 5, 6, and 8 of the General Conditions of BCL operations have been updated and supplemented. The main modifications made have as their object, in particular:

• Annexes 5 and 6: adding a part dedicated to signatures;
• Annex 8: (i) providing participants in LIPS-Gross with the possibility, upon request, to have recourse to automatic liquidation of payments linked to temporary transfer operations, (ii) clarifying the hours regarding the establishment of deposit facilities, (iii) improving the presentation of forms GTC 001 and GTC 002, and (iv) adding a form GTC 003 which allows the submission of the aforementioned request.

These modifications have occurred on the following pages:

• Annexes 5 and 6: pages 16 and 8 (last pages) respectively;

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• Annex 8: article 3.2.2. (modification of article 3.2.2.1. and addition of new article 3.2.2.2.); article 6.2.1.1., 5th and 7th lines; Annex 1, page 10-2, “Portfolio Management”; forms GTC 001, pages 10-5/10-7, GTC 002, page 10-8, GTC 003, page 10-9.

The Annexes 5, 6, and 8, as modified, enter into force on 4 April 2006.

Annex 7 of the General Conditions of BCL operations has been updated and supplemented.

The main modifications made have as their object, in particular:

• To remove all mentions regarding the exchange of banknotes from the other 10 Member States of the euro area, as the exchange period ended in March 2002;
• To remove all mentions regarding coins in francs and banknotes issued by the Treasury, as these monetary signs have lost their legal tender status;
• To provide for the possibility of issuing packets of 1000 banknotes in order to take into account the standard that is gradually being established in the euro area;
• To provide for the possibility of withdrawing coins from the BCEE, rue Goethe;
• To adapt the provisions regarding the deposit of damaged coins in order to take into account the Commission Recommendation of 27 May 2005 concerning the authentication of coins and the treatment of euro coins unfit for circulation [notified under number C(2005) 1540] (packaging of coins and pricing of the service)1;
• To introduce the possibility of pricing deposits of seriously damaged banknotes;
• To remove the possibility of using the public cash register for immediate operations of less than 100,000 euros.

The main modifications have occurred on the following pages: article 2.2. point 4; article 2.2.2. (deleted); article 3.3.1. point 1; article 4.1. (modification of the former article 4.1.1. and deletion of articles 4.1.2. and 4.1.3.); article 4.2.1.; article 4.3.1. point 2; article 4.3.2. (deletion of the former point 2 and modification of the former points 3 and 4); article 4.3.3. (deletion of point 6); article 4.3.4. point 2; article 4.4.2.; article 4.6.5. (deletion); article 4.7.; article 4.7.1. point 2 and new points 3, 7, 8, and 10; article 4.7.2.; article 5 (deletion of 2 forms).

Annex 7, as modified, enters into force on 4 April 2006.

Article 7.1 of the General Conditions of the BCL, as well as Annex 14 “Glossary and list of abbreviations” of the General Conditions of operations, have also been updated and supplemented in the context of the implementation of the European Central Bank Guideline of 30 December 2005 on the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system (TARGET)2. The main modifications made have as their object, in particular:

• To introduce into the General Conditions the option for the Central Bank of Luxembourg, in exceptional and urgent circumstances, to immediately suspend counterparties without needing to wait for the agreement of the European Central Bank; and
• To add to Annex 14 the definitions of the following concepts: “investment firm”, “public sector body”, and “participants or direct participants” and to update the definition of “close links”.

The main modifications have occurred on the following pages:

• General Conditions: page 7-1, article 7.1., first and last paragraphs;
• Annex 14: pages 6, 8, and 12.

The General Conditions and Annex 14, as modified, apply by operation of law from the receipt of this notice by the counterparties.

2 BCE/2005/16 Official Journal No. L 18 of 23/01/2006, p.1.

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The updated versions of the General Conditions, Annexes 5, 6, 7, 8, and 14 are available from 22 March 2006 on the BCL website: www.bcl.lu. A printed version of the General Conditions of the BCL is available upon request.

Please accept, Madam, Sir, the assurance of our distinguished sentiments.

CENTRAL BANK OF LUXEMBOURG
The Management

Serge KOLB Andrée BILLON Yves MERSCH

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1 Official Journal No. L 184 of 15/07/2005, p. 60 – 63.