General provisions

Contents

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Balance of payments

The balance of payments provides a systematic record of all economic transactions conducted by the residents of a given country with residents of other countries during a given period, reflecting the degree of economic and financial integration between that country and the rest of the world.

Austria’s balance of payments for a given period thus shows the sum total of transactions, as valued at market prices, that Austrian residents conducted across borders with nonresidents over time.

Technically, the balance of payments consists of two major parts, the current account and the financial account. The current account essentially captures exports and imports of goods and services and the corresponding capital inflows and outflows. The financial account measures the domestic ownership of foreign financial assets and the foreign ownership of domestic financial assets.

In Austria, it is the job of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) to compile the national balance of payments statistics in line with the requirements defined by (inter)national organizations. In this process, the OeNB cooperates closely with Statistics Austria, with a view to realizing synergies and minimizing the reporting burden that may arise from duplicate reporting and additional survey rounds.

This division of labor reflects the traditional tasks and competencies of the OeNB and Statistics Austria. Hence, the focus of Statistics Austria is on collecting data on the real economy (current account), whereas the OeNB’s focus is on collecting data on financial assets and liabilities (financial account). Apart from calculating the balance of payments, we also use the data collected to compile Austria’s international investment position. These statistics show the accumulated value of any financial assets that Austrian residents owned in other countries and financial liabilities that Austrian residents owed to residents of other countries at the reporting reference date.

[1] For more information on Austria’s balance of payments, see https://www.oenb.at/en/reporting/reporting-requirements/external-statistics 

Legal obligation

Producing and disseminating, in adequate ways, the statistics listed below, is part of the OeNB’s statutory mandate, as defined in Article 6 para. 1 Foreign exchange act 2004 (Devisengesetz – DevG 2004), Federal Law Gazette I No. 37/2018:

1. Austria’s balance of payments,

2. Austria’s international investment position statistics,

3. Austria’s direct investment statistics, and

4. all statistics covering Austria’s external sector in the context of these statistics.

Among other things, the OeNB publishes the data thus generated through its website.

To meet this legal obligation, the OeNB is authorized by Article 6 para. 2 Foreign exchange act 2004 to request information and reports from resident natural and legal persons as well as other resident entities with a separate legal identity.

It is up to the OeNB to establish, by way of regulation, the deadlines for data transmission, the reporting formats and the breakdown of the data to be submitted. The regulation that the OeNB published to this effect – the BOP Reporting Regulation 1/2022 of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank on cross-border capital transactions, based on Article 6 paras. 2 and 3 Foreign exchange act 2004 – serves as a basis for identifying the reporting agents and for defining their reporting obligations for the deadlines specified.

The purpose of the guidelines published herewith is to guide interpretation and provide technical notes on the BOP reporting regulation, which is available on the OeNB’s website.

The data reported to the OeNB under the BOP reporting regulation serve to produce statistics that reflect the international integration of the Austrian economy and to support monetary and economic policymaking. The OeNB, in turn, is required to forward these statistics, inter alia, to the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Moreover, these statistics serve to generate important indicators for the competitiveness of Austria as a business location. To access the aggregated data, see the OeNB’s statistical data warehouse at: External Sector - Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB).

Scope of reporting and general reporting requirements

The reporting requirements cover data, including master data, on cross-border direct investment, other cross-border investments, cross-border capital transfers and real estate-linked transactions, cross-border transactions with financial derivatives as well as portfolio investment activities. 

• If your institution is subject to reporting requirements, you will be expected to submit all reports and master data, except for the AWBES report, by the required deadlines without being asked to do so. Only the annual AWBES reports are specifically requested by the OeNB through notifications sent directly to the selected reporting agents.

• The data, including master data, must be submitted electronically in line with the technical standards defined by the OeNB, as published on our website and outlined in these reporting guidelines.

• Note that the reporting language is German.

• Reporting agents are required to complete the registration, login and authentication procedure well in advance of the reporting deadlines. See the OeNB’s website or this reporting guideline for guidance.

• Reporting agents must provide the data breakdowns specified in this guideline.

• All items to be reported per reporting period must be submitted in a single report.

• Any master data that may be required for reporting must be submitted or updated in due time before the reporting deadlines. These reporting guidelines serve to provide detailed guidance on this point.

• Euro equivalents must be converted using the exchange rates published on the OeNB’s website.

• Country and currency codes must be indicated in line with the prevailing ISO standards published on the OeNB’s website.

• When a reporting deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline shifts to the next working day.

• If data sent earlier need to be modified (e.g. changed, added or deleted), an adjusted report must be retransmitted without delay. The OeNB is entitled to request data adjustments when the original report was incomplete or contained technical errors or errors of substance.

• Reporting agents may authorize a third party to submit the reports. Such parties must provide evidence of their authorization. Irrespective of the existence of such an authorization, the OeNB is entitled to address requests for further information or data corrections and other inquiries directly to the reporting agents.

• If reportable transactions are carried out by a trustee on behalf of resident reporting agents, the reporting obligation lies with the trustor (resident). If reportable transactions are carried out by a domestic trustee on behalf of nonresidents, the reporting obligation lies with the trustee.

• The reporting obligations of residents without a legal identity of their own (e.g. branch offices) that are owned by nonresidents are equivalent to those of residents.

• The reporting obligations must also be complied with in the event of dissolution or liquidation of the reporting entity until final deletion from the commercial register. For certain reports, a final report transmission is required upon deletion from the commercial register. Detailed information in this regard can be found in the report-specific explanations of the reporting guideline.

Professional secrecy

The data collected by the OeNB will be used for statistical purposes only and will be kept strictly confidential in accordance with Article 6 para. 4 Foreign exchange act 2004. The OeNB’s right to obtain these data (Article 6 para. 8 Foreign exchange act 2004) is not prejudiced by reporting agents’ obligation to maintain banking secrecy under Article 38 Banking Act (Bankwesengesetz – BWG).

Reporting paths and data exchange

Data may be transmitted through one of three channels:

• Encrypted data transfer via Secure Report Mailing (SRM) or Connect:Direct (C:D)

  • File format: XML (OeNBSendung)

  • Available for all reports

• Online data entry in MeldeWeb (on the OeNB reporting portal)

  • Available for the reports: AWBET, AWBES, AWVLM

    • Guidelines for reporting AWBET data

    • Guidelines for reporting AWBES data

    • Guidelines for reporting AWVLM data

  • Master data for the reports AWBET, AWBES and AWFUV

    • Guidelines for managing master data

• Data upload via MeldeWeb (on the OeNB portal)

  • File format: xlsx (see template)

  • Available for all reports

    • Guidelines for reporting AWFUV data

Registration details for all reporting channels: OeNB portal

Please note that any master data that may be required for reporting must be submitted or updated in due time before the reporting deadlines. This applies for AWBET, AWBES, AWFUV, AWWPI, AWWPA reports.

Please note the following conventions/rules for completing Excel upload templates:

Below you will find the permitted formatting for all columns of the upload templates; these specifications must be adhered to. If several formats are listed, one must be selected.

The following specifications must be taken into account for the value fields:

1) Number of decimal places: If, for example, 2 decimal places are mandatory in a survey, then at least 2 must be entered in the cell. All decimal places specified in the cell formatting are taken into account when transmitting the report. 

2) Specification of percentage values: In the survey master data of each survey, it is defined whether 1 percent corresponds to 0.01 or 1.00. The corresponding survey attribute is <einheitfuerprozentwerte>. If the attribute is filled with "100% = 100", then 100 percent is to be specified as 100.00 (plus potentially further decimal places). If, on the other hand, "100% = 1" is specified for the attribute, then 100 percent must be specified with 1.00 (plus potentially further decimal places). 

Penal provisions

In line with the Foreign exchange act, the OeNB has the right to initiate sanctions if reporting agents do not comply with their reporting requirements. Reporting agents that do not comply fully and on time with the obligation to provide data and information; submit or give access to evidence; or knowingly provide incomplete and/or incorrect information may be fined by the relevant district administrative authority or provincial police directorate. The reporting obligation must be met without prejudice to any financial penalties.

Use of gender-specific terms

The use of the masculine form in the German version of the reporting regulation is not intended to be gender-specific.