1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 974/98
of 3 May 1998
on the introduction of the euro
(OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 2596/2000 of 27 November 2000 L 300 2 29.11.2000
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 974/98
of 3 May 1998
on the introduction of the euro
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and
in particular Article 109l(4), third sentence thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Monetary Institute(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(3),
(1)Whereas this Regulation defines monetary law provisions of the
Member States which have adopted the euro; whereas provisionson continuity of contracts, the replacement of references to the
ecu in legal instruments by references to the euro and rounding
have already been laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to theintroduction of the euro(
4); whereas the introduction of the euro
concerns day-to-day operations of the whole population inparticipating Member States; whereas measures other than those
in this Regulation and in Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 should be
examined to ensure a balanced changeover, in particular forconsumers;
(2)Whereas, at the meeting of the European Council in Madrid on 15and 16 December 1995, the decision was taken that the term ‘ecu’by the Treaty to refer to the European currency unit is a genericterm; whereas the Governments of the 15 Member States havereached the common agreement that this decision is the agreedand definitive interpretation of the relevant Treaty provisions;
whereas the name given to the European currency shall be the
‘euro’; whereas the euro as the currency of the participatingMember States shall be divided into one hundred sub-units withthe name ‘cent’; whereas the definition of the name ‘cent’ doesnot prevent the use of variants of this term in common usage inthe Member States; whereas the European Council furthermore
considered that the name of the single currency must be the same
in all the official languages of the European Union, taking intoaccount the existence of different alphabets;
(3)Whereas the Council when acting in accordance with the thirdsentence of Article 109l(4) of the Treaty shall take the measuresnecessary for the rapid introduction of the euro other than theadoption of the conversion rates;
(4)Whereas whenever under Article 109k(2) of the Treaty a MemberState becomes a participating Member State, the Council shallaccording to Article 109l(5) of the Treaty take the other measuresnecessary for the rapid introduction of the euro as the singlecurrency of this Member State;
(5)Whereas according to the first sentence of Article 109l(4) of theTreaty the Council shall at the starting date of the third stageadopt the conversion rates at which the currencies of the
participating Member States shall be irrevocably fixed and at
which irrevocably fixed rate the euro shall be substituted for thesecurrencies;
(6)Whereas given the absence of exchange rate risk either between
the euro unit and the national currency units or between these
national currency units, legislative provisions should be inter-preted accordingly;1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ C 369, 7. 12. 1996, p. 10.
(2) OJ C 205, 5. 7. 1997, p. 18.
(3) OJ C 380, 16. 12. 1996, p. 50.
(4) OJ L 162, 19. 6. 1997, p. 1.
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(7)Whereas the term ‘contract’ used for the definition of legal
instruments is meant to include all types of contracts, irrespective
of the way in which they are concluded;
(8)Whereas in order to prepare a smooth changeover to the euro atransitional period is needed between the substitution of the eurofor the currencies of the participating Member States and theintroduction of euro banknotes and coins; whereas during thisperiod the national currency units will be defined as sub-divisions
of the euro; whereas thereby a legal equivalence is established
between the euro unit and the national currency units;
(9)Whereas in accordance with Article 109g of the Treaty and withRegulation (EC) No 1103/97, the euro will replace the ECU asfrom 1 January 1999 as the unit of account of the institutions ofthe European Communities; whereas the euro should also be theunit of account of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the
central banks of the participating Member States; whereas, in line
with the Madrid conclusions, monetary policy operations will becarried out in the euro unit by the European System of CentralBanks (ESCB); whereas this does not prevent national centralbanks from keeping accounts in their national currency unit
during the transitional period, in particular for their staff and for
publicadministrations;
(10)Whereas each participating Member State may allow the full useof the euro unit in its territory during the transitional period;
(11)Whereas during the transitional period contracts, national lawsand other legal instruments can be drawn up validly in the eurounit or in the national currency unit; whereas during this period,nothing in this Regulation should affect the validity of any
reference to a national currency unit in any legal instrument;
(12)Whereas, unless agreed otherwise, economic agents have to
respect the denomination of a legal instrument in the performanceof all acts to be carried out under that instrument;
(13)Whereas the euro unit and the national currency units are units ofthe same currency; whereas it should be ensured that paymentsinside a participating Member State by crediting an account canbe made either in the euro unit or the respective national currency
unit; whereas the provisions on payments by crediting an account
should also apply to those cross-border payments, which aredenominated in the euro unit or the national currency unit of theaccount of the creditor; whereas it is necessary to ensure thesmooth functioning of payment systems by laying down
provisions dealing with the crediting of accounts by payment
instruments credited through those systems; whereas the provi-sions on payments by crediting an account should not imply thatfinancial intermediaries are obliged to make available either otherpayment facilities or products denominated in any particular unitof the euro; whereas the provisions on payments by crediting an
account do not prohibit financial intermediaries from coordinating
the introduction of payment facilities denominated in the eurounit which rely on a common technical infrastructure during thetransitional period;
(14)Whereas in accordance with the conclusions reached by theEuropean Council at its meeting held in Madrid, new tradeablepublicdebt will be issued in the euro unit by the partic ipating
Member States as from 1 January 1999; whereas it is desirable to
allow issuers of debt to redenominate outstanding debt in the eurounit; whereas the provisions on redenomination should be suchthat they can also be applied in the jurisdictions of third countries;whereas issuers should be enabled to redenominate outstanding
debt if the debt is denominated in a national currency unit of a
Member State which has redenominated part or all of theoutstanding debt of its general government; whereas theseprovisions do not address the introduction of additional measuresto amend the terms of outstanding debt to alter, among otherthings, the nominal amount of outstanding debt, these being1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 3
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matters subject to relevant national law; whereas it is desirable to
allow Member States to take appropriate measures for changingthe unit of account of the operating procedures of organised
markets;
(15)Whereas further action at the Community level may also be
necessary to clarify the effect of the introduction of the euro onthe application of existing provisions of Community law, in
particular concerning netting, set-off and techniques of similar
effect;
(16)Whereas any obligation to use the euro unit can only be imposedon the basis of Community legislation; whereas in transactionswith the public sector participating Member States may allow the
use of the euro unit; whereas in accordance with the reference
scenario decided by the European Council at its meeting held inMadrid, the Community legislation laying down the time framefor the generalisation of the use of the euro unit might leave somefreedom to individual Member States;
(17)Whereas in accordance with Article 105a of the Treaty theCouncil may adopt measures to harmonise the denominations andtechnical specifications of all coins;
(18)Whereas banknotes and coins need adequate protection againstcounterfeiting;
(19)Whereas banknotes and coins denominated in the nationalcurrency units lose their status of legal tender at the latest sixmonths after the end of the transitional period; whereaslimitations on payments in notes and coins, established byMember States for publicreasons, are not inc ompatible with the
status of legal tender of euro banknotes and coins, provided that
other lawful means for the settlement of monetary debts areavailable;
(20)Whereas as from the end of the transitional period references in
legal instruments existing at the end of the transitional period will
have to be read as references to the euro unit according to therespective conversion rates; whereas a physical redenomination ofexisting legal instruments is therefore not necessary to achievethis result; whereas the rounding rules defined in Regulation (EC)No 1103/97 shall also apply to the conversions to be made at the
end of the transitional period or after the transitional period;
whereas for reasons of clarity it may be desirable that the physicalredenomination will take place as soon as appropriate;
(21)Whereas paragraph 2 of Protocol 11 on certain provisions relatingto the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
stipulates that, inter alia, paragraph 5 of that Protocol shall have
effect if the United Kingdom notifies the Council that it does notintend to move to the third stage; whereas the United Kingdomgave notice to the Council on 30 October 1997 that it does notintend to move to the third stage; whereas paragraph 5 stipulates
that, inter alia, Article 109l(4) of the Treaty shall not apply to the
United Kingdom;
(22)Whereas Denmark, referring to paragraph 1 of Protocol 12 oncertain provisions relating to Denmark has notified, in the contextof the Edinburgh decision of 12 December 1992, that it will not
participate in the third stage; whereas, therefore, in accordance
with paragraph 2 of the said Protocol, all Articles and provisionsof the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB referring to aderogation shall be applicable to Denmark;
(23)Whereas, in accordance with Article 109l(4) of the Treaty, the
single currency will be introduced only in the Member States
without a derogation;
(24)Whereas this Regulation, therefore, shall be applicable pursuantto Article 189 of the Treaty, subject to Protocols 11 and 12 andArticle 109k(1),1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 4
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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
PART I
DEFINITIONS
Article 1
For the purpose of this Regulation:
— ‘participating Member States’ shall mean Belgium, Germany,
►M1Greece,◄Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland,
— ‘legal instruments’ shall mean legislative and statutory provisions,
acts of administration, judicial decisions, contracts, unilateral legalacts, payment instruments other than banknotes and coins, and other
instruments with legal effect,
— ‘conversion rate’ shall mean the irrevocably fixed conversion rate
adopted for the currency of each participating Member State by theCouncil according to the first sentence of Article 109l(4) of theTreaty►
M1or in accordance with paragraph 5 of that Article ◄,
— ‘euro unit’ shall mean the currency unit as referred to in the second
sentence of Article 2,
— ‘national currency units’ shall mean the units of the currencies of
participating Member States, as those units are defined on the daybefore the start of the third stage of economic and monetary union►
M1or, as the case may be, on the day before the euro is
substituted for the currency of a Member State which adopts the euro
at a later date ◄,
— ‘transitional period’ shall mean the period beginning on 1 January
1999 and ending on 31 December 2001,
— ‘redenominate’ shall mean changing the unit in which the amount of
outstanding debt is stated from a national currency unit to the euro
unit, as defined in Article 2, but which does not have through the act
of redenomination the effect of altering any other term of the debt,this being a matter subject to relevant national law.
PART II
SUBSTITUTION OF THE EURO FOR THE CURRENCIES OF
THE PARTICIPATING MEMBER STATES
Article 2
►M1As from 1 January 1999 the currency of the participating
Member States except Greece shall be the euro. As from 1 January 2001the currency of Greece shall be the euro. ◄The currency unit shall be
one euro. One euro shall be divided into one hundred cent.
Article 3
The euro shall be substituted for the currency of each participating
Member State at the conversion rate.
Article 4
The euro shall be the unit of account of the European Central Bank
(ECB) and of the central banks of the participating Member States.
PART III
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
Article 5
Articles 6, 7, 8 and 9 shall apply during the transitional period.1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 5
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Article 6
1. The euro shall also be divided into the national currency units
according to the conversion rates. Any subdivision thereof shall bemaintained. Subject to the provisions of this Regulation the monetary
law of the participating Member States shall continue to apply.
2. Where in a legal instrument reference is made to a national
currency unit, this reference shall be as valid as if reference were made
to the euro unit according to the conversion rates.
Article 7
The substitution of the euro for the currency of each participating
Member State shall not in itself have the effect of altering the
denomination of legal instruments in existence on the date of
substitution.
Article 8
1. Acts to be performed under legal instruments stipulating the use of
or denominated in a national currency unit shall be performed in that
national currency unit. Acts to be performed under legal instruments
stipulating the use of or denominated in the euro unit shall be performedin that unit.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 are subject to anything which parties
may have agreed.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, any amount
denominated either in the euro unit or in the national currency unit ofa given participating Member State and payable within that MemberState by crediting an account of the creditor, can be paid by the debtor
either in the euro unit or in that national currency unit. The amount shall
be credited to the account of the creditor in the denomination of hisaccount, with any conversion being effected at the conversion rates.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, each participating
Member State may take measures which may be necessary in order to:
— redenominate in the euro unit outstanding debt issued by that
Member State's general government, as defined in the European
system of integrated accounts, denominated in its national currency
unit and issued under its own law. If a Member State has taken sucha measure, issuers may redenominate in the euro unit debtdenominated in that Member State's national currency unit unlessredenomination is expressly excluded by the terms of the contract;this provision shall apply to debt issued by the general government
of a Member State as well as to bonds and other forms of securitised
debt negotiable in the capital markets, and to money marketinstruments, issued by other debtors,
— enable the change of the unit of account of their operating
procedures from a national currency unit to the euro unit by:
(a) markets for the regular exchange, clearing and settlement of any
instrument listed in section B of the Annex to Council Directive93/22/EEC of 10 May 1993 on investment services in thesecurities field(
1) and of commodities; and
(b) systems for the regular exchange, clearing and settlement of
payments.
5. Provisions other than those of paragraph 4 imposing the use of the
euro unit may only be adopted by the participating Member States in
accordance with any time-frame laid down by Community legislation.
6. National legal provisions of participating Member States which
permit or impose netting, set-off or techniques with similar effects shallapply to monetary obligations, irrespective of their currency denomina-1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 6
(1) OJ L 141, 11. 6. 1993, p. 27. Directive as amended by Directive 95/26/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 168, 18. 7. 1995, p. 7).
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tion, if that denomination is in the euro unit or in a national currency
unit, with any conversion being effected at the conversion rates.
Article 9
Banknotes and coins denominated in a national currency unit shall retain
their status as legal tender within their territorial limits as of the daybefore the entry into force of this Regulation ►
M1or, in the case of
Greece, up to and including 31 December 2000 ◄.
PART IV
EURO BANKNOTES AND COINS
Article 10
As from 1 January 2002, the ECB and the central banks of the
participating Member States shall put into circulation banknotesdenominated in euro. Without prejudice to Article 15, these banknotes
denominated in euro shall be the only banknotes which have the status
of legal tender in all these Member States.
Article 11
As from 1 January 2002, the participating Member States shall issue
coins denominated in euro or in cent and complying with thedenominations and technical specifications which the Council may lay
down in accordance with the second sentence of Article 105a(2) of the
Treaty. Without prejudice to Article 15, these coins shall be the onlycoins which have the status of legal tender in all these Member States.Except for the issuing authority and for those persons specificallydesignated by the national legislation of the issuing Member State, noparty shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins in any single
payment.
Article 12
Participating Member States shall ensure adequate sanctions against
counterfeiting and falsification of euro banknotes and coins.
PART V
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 13
Articles 14, 15 and 16 shall apply as from the end of the transitional
period.
Article 14
Where in legal instruments existing at the end of the transitional period
reference is made to the national currency units, these references shall be
read as references to the euro unit according to the respective conversionrates. The rounding rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 shallapply.
Article 15
1. Banknotes and coins denominated in a national currency unit as
referred to in Article 6(1) shall remain legal tender within their territorial
limits until six months after the end of the transitional period at thelatest; this period may be shortened by national law.
2. Each participating Member State may, for a period of up to six
months after the end of the transitional period, lay down rules for the useof the banknotes and coins denominated in its national currency unit asreferred to in Article 6(1) and take any measures necessary to facilitatetheir withdrawal.1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 7
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Article 16
In accordance with the laws or practices of participating Member States,
the respective issuers of banknotes and coins shall continue to accept,
against euro at the conversion rate, the banknotes and coins previously
issued by them.
PART VI
ENTRY INTO FORCE
Article 17
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1999.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States, in accordance with the Treaty, subject to Protocols
11 and 12 and Article 109k(1).1998R0974 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 8