Central Bank of the Philippines sets rules for timely and accurate data submissions and subpoenas with one-year sanctions grace period

The Central Bank of the Philippines has issued Circular No. 1209 setting implementing guidelines for Section 23 of Republic Act No. 7653, as amended by Republic Act No. 11211, to govern the accurate and timely submission of data requested by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for statistical and policy development purposes. The circular applies to any person or entity, including government offices, instrumentalities, and government-owned or controlled corporations, and supplements BSP regulations for banks and BSP-supervised institutions. Submissions must be complete, accurate, consistent, reliable, and timely, and respondents are expected to review and validate submissions before transmittal; incomplete schedules or attachments are treated as non-compliant. The BSP Governor (or an authorised representative) may issue a data request or a subpoena for the production of books and records, with deadlines set in the data request and moved to the next working day where the deadline falls on a local non-working day or where government operations are suspended due to events such as typhoons or floods. Non-compliance, non-submission, or refusal to comply with a subpoena can trigger contempt proceedings and sanctions under the Act, while the circular also lists the types of reports and surveys covered across BSP functions. The circular takes effect 15 calendar days after publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, and provides a one-year transitory period after effectivity during which non-compliance with BSP data requests will not be subject to the sanctions set out in the circular.