Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2004:188
Date: 2004-03-25
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Economic and monetary policy;Euro
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment Economic and monetary policy – Introduction of the euro – Regulation No 1103/97 – Rule prescribing the rounding of monetary amounts to be paid or accounted for after conversion – Application to a telephone tariff – Excluded – Rounding of the tariff applied by a national operator – Whether permissible – Conditions (Council Regulation No 1103/97, Art. 5) Regulation No 1103/97 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro, first, was intended to ensure compliance with the principle of continuity of contract, so that the transition to the euro took place without affecting obligations already entered into by citizens and firms, and, secondly, shares the objective that the transition to the euro should be neutral. It sets only minimum rules in relation to the rounding of certain amounts and leaves it to national authorities to maintain or adopt rules which are more conducive to achieving that objective. It follows that the first sentence of Article 5 of that regulation, prescribing the rounding up or down to the nearest cent of monetary amounts to be paid or accounted for must not be broadly interpreted. It therefore does not cover a tariff fixed by a national operator such as the per-minute price (of a telephone call, consisting of an amount which is not actually invoiced to, or paid by, the consumer and it is not entered as such in any accounting document or statement of account. In that respect, the fact that the tariff relates to a particular multiple of the unit on the basis of which the final amount of the invoice is calculated or that for the consumer the tariff represents the decisive factor as regards the price of the goods or services does not affect that finding. Nevertheless, the same regulation does not preclude the rounding to the nearest cent of amounts (such as that tariff), provided that that rounding practice is consistent with the principle of continuity of contract and with the objective that the transition to the euro should be neutral; in other words, provided that the practice does not affect contractual obligations entered into by economic agents, including consumers, and that it does not have a real impact on the price actually to be paid. (see paras 31-32, 34, 36, 40-43, 57, operative part 1-2)