OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 21 April 1999
at the request of the Italian Ministry of the Treasury under Article 105 (4), second
indent, of the Treaty establishing the European Community, Article 4(a), second
indent, of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European
Central Bank and Article 2.1 of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the
consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft
legislative provisions on a draft Legislative Decree containing amendments to
Legislative Decree 213 of 24 June 1998 regarding the introduction of the euro
(the draft Legislative Decree)
(CON/99/02)
1. On 22 March 1999 the European Cent ral Bank (ECB) received a request for an opinion on the
draft Legislative Decree from the Italian Ministry of the Treasu ry. This ECB Opinion is based
on the English translation of th e draft submitted to the ECB by the consulting authority.
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is  based on Article 2.1, first indent, of the
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on th e consultation of the ECB by national
authorities regarding draft legislative provis ions, as the draft Legislative Decree contains
provisions concerning the introduction of the euro. In a ccordance with Article 17.5, first
sentence, of the Rules of Procedure of the EC B, this ECB Opinion has been adopted by the
Governing Council of the ECB.
3. The purpose of the draft Legislative Decree is to adopt provisions in order to amend and
integrate, where necessary, th e provisions of Legislative Decree 213 of 24 June 1998 in the
light of experience. This possibility of furth er amendments was provided for in Law 433 of
17 December 1997, which delegates to the Italia n Government the authority to adopt rules
concerning the changeover and on which th e European Monetary Ins titute (EMI) gave an
Opinion. The need for some further changes in the Italian legislation in order to ensure a
smooth changeover to the euro has become appa rent in the light of the experience of the
past few months. In addition, new legislation ha s been adopted which requires implementation:
in particular, Recommendation 1999/63/EC of  13 January 1999 of the Commission of the
European Communities conc erning collector coins, medals and tokens. 
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4. The ECB takes note of the intent ion to introduce new provisions  which, by introducing small
amendments, clarify the existing Italian legisl ation dealing with the ceilings for quotas and
shares in co-operatives and their expression in  euro, the possibility of choosing the procedure
for converting share capital into euro and whic h simplify the procedures  for the conversion of
share capital into euro while exempting such conversions from fees and stamp duties. Since
clarity of the legal texts increases the confide nce of the citizens and their understanding of
such a complex operation as the changeover  to the euro, the ECB supports and welcomes
such clarifications and simplifications.
5. A change of substance is intr oduced in the new Article 1.3 of the draft Legislative Decree,
which makes it clear to the citizens that th e old procedure for observing reference exchange
rates for individual currencies is now obsolete: in 1999, the reference rates are no longer
rates against the Italian lira, but rather rates against the euro. While confirming the practicealready followed since the beginning of 1999 by  the Italian Ministry of the Treasury of
publishing reference exchange rates in the Gazze tta Ufficiale della Repubblica italiana, (Italian
Official Journal) accord ing to the procedures established within the framework of the ESCB,
the explicit change in the legislation enhanc es the certainty of the law and is therefore
welcomed by the ECB.
6. The ECB welcomes the implementation of  the Commission Recommendation 1999/63/EC.
The introduction into the Italian law of the proh ibition to produce, issue, stock, import and
distribute collector coins, medals and tokens bearing the words euro or euro cent and ofadministrative sanctions in the event of a viol ation of the prohibition should prevent confusion
among citizens of the European Un ion, especially during the transitional period in which there
are no euro coins in circulat ion. The ECB, however, suggest s that eurocent should be
written as two words (euro cent), as in the European Commission recommendation, since
the word cent is not a suffix according to the conclusions of the Madrid European Council.
The ECB confirms that it has no objection to this Opinion being made public by the competent
Italian authorities at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 21 April 1999.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. Duisenberg