EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 23 February 2010  
on preparations for the introduction of the euro 
(CON/2010/16) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 5 January 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Estonia’s Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on the draft law on introduction of the euro, the draft law on State fees and the draft amendments to the Commercial Code and other laws (hereinafter the ‘draft laws’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the firs t and second indents of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consulta tion of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft laws relate to currency matters and means 
of payment. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of  the Rules of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
The ECB will also comment on the Law on the salaries of higher State officials2 adopted by the Riigikogu 
(Parliament) on 16 December 2009 that will enter into force on the date of commencement of authority of 
the composition No 12 of the Riigikogu, expected in March 2011.  
 1.
  Purpose of the draft laws 
1.1  The draft laws replace amounts in kroons with amounts in euro, specify the rounding rules and 
enter into force on the date that the derogation will be abrogated; some of the Commercial Code 
draft provisions will enter into force on 1 July 2010.  
1.2  The draft amendments to the Commercial Code  accommodate the need to express amounts in euro 
on the one hand and the need to express amounts in  evenly divisible integer numbers on the other 
hand. The draft amendments also specify that before the derogation is abrogated, amounts expressed in euro will be calculated in kroons b ased on the Eesti Pank rate and thereafter based on 
the rate established by the EU Council. To a llow time for undertakings to make the necessary 
adjustments, monetary indicators that are important from the point of view of undertakings’ activities may be expressed in euro from 1 July 2010. The general obligation to express all amounts 
only in euro enters into force one year after in troduction of the euro. An additional aspect of the 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Riigi Teataja  I, 7.1.2010, 1, 2.  
 
2 amendments to the Commercial Code is the intro duction of no par value shares in line with the 
Communication from the Commission of 2 July 1997 on the impact of the introduction of the euro 
on capital markets3.  
 2. General observations  2.1 The draft laws should refer to the TFEU which entered into force on 1 December 2009, instead of 
to the Treaty establishing the European Community.  
2.2 The draft laws comply with the principles of the introduction of the euro, according to which the 
EU Council decides when to abrogate the de rogation of a Member State according to 
Article 140(2) of the TFEU and the conversion rate  will be set amending Council Regulation (EC) 
No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro
4 on the basis of Article 140(3) TFEU. 
2.3 The ECB has already noted that  the official redenomination shou ld only take place on the basis of 
the conversion rate fixed according to Article 140(3) of the TFEU5. However, the ECB has 
accepted that national legal provisions containing am ounts in euro may enter into force before that 
if the Law refers to an amount in national currency equivalent to EUR [X]6. In the case of the draft 
amendments to the Commercial Code, the possib ility of expressing amounts in euro before the 
abrogation of the derogation is in line with this approach. 
2.4 The ECB notes that the draft amendments to th e Commercial Code allow for the continued limited 
use of the legacy currency after the euro adoption date. This would, however, require the application of a ‘phasing-out’ period under Article  9a of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 
3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro
7. If this Regulation is amended with a view to the 
introduction of the euro in Estonia, its annex will need to provide that Estonia is a Member State 
with a phasing-out period. 
2.5 The draft law on State fees expresses all fees in euro and rounds the amounts to the nearest 
complete cent. This is intended to cover the costs underlying the services and is based on the 
current exchange rate of the central bank. The eventual balance between the costs underlying the 
services and the fees to be paid will depend on the final conversion rate that  will be set amending 
Regulation (EC) No 2866/98. 
2.6 Rounding rules for the euro introduction prepara tions are set out in Articles 4 and 5 of Council 
Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certa in provisions relating to the introduction of 
the euro8. The draft laws further specify these rules while  staying within the scope of these articles.  
                                                 
3  COM(97) 337 final, not publishe d in the Official Journal. 
4  OJ L 359, 31.12.1998, p. 1. 
5  Paragraph 3.3 of ECB Opinion CON/ 2006/28. All ECB opinions and reports ar e available on the ECB’s website at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 
6  Paragraph 5.1 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/83. 
7  OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1. 
8  OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1. 
 
3 2.7 The ECB welcomes timely prepar ations for the introduction of th e euro. The ECB also welcomes 
the repeal of the Law on currency and the Law on th e security of kroons which did not comply with 
the requirements for legal integration into the Eurosystem9.  
 3.  Draft law on the introduction of the euro 3.1 The draft law on the introduction of the euro specifies the methodology for converting kroons to 
euro. According to Article 4(3) of Regulation (E C) No 1103/97, inverse rates must not be used. 
However, the conversion rates must be used for conversions either way between the euro unit and 
the national currency units. To avoid any misunderstanding concerning the conversion 
methodology, it might be useful to follow in Artic le 224 of the draft law on the introduction of the 
euro the order of the wording of Article 4(3); th at is conversion rates will be used ‘between the 
euro unit and the national currency units’
10. 
3.2 As explained by the consulting authority, the ob ligation set out in Article 222 of the draft law on 
the introduction of the euro is relevant for persons not specified in Article 2. As another point, the 
ECB notes that Article 223(2) should specify a period rather than a point in time for removal of the national currency from circulation.  
 4. The Law on the salaries of higher State officials  
4.1 The Law on the salaries of higher State officials set s in euro the highest rate of salary and specifies 
coefficients applicable to the salaries for different  posts. The Law also specifies that these rates in 
euro will be calculated in kroons based on the centr al rate of Eesti Pank and that the Law enters 
into force with the next composition of Riigikogu, which can be expected in March 2011.  
4.2 National authorities have the obligation to consult the ECB on draft legislative provisions 
concerning matters that fall within its competence. Currency matters are expressly listed among the areas of the ECB’s competence
11. According to Article 4 of Decision 98/415/EC, each Member 
State must ensure that the ECB is consulted at an  appropriate stage enabling the authority initiating 
the draft legislative provision to take into c onsideration the ECB’s opinion before taking its 
decision on the substance. This obligation was not fulfilled in respect of the Law on the salaries of 
higher State officials. 
4.3 The currency of a Member State with a derogati on is its national currency until the entry into force 
of the Council decision abrogating the derogation under Article 140(2) TFEU. National provisions 
may only contain amounts in euro either when the euro is referred to as a foreign currency or where 
it is necessary due to the transposition of  Union law provisions expressed in euro12. Neither of these 
conditions are present here, and the Law does not comp ly with the principles of the introduction of 
                                                 
9  Convergence Report May 2008, p. 40. 
10  A similar comment applies also in respect of the draft Article 5253(1) of the Commercial Code. 
11  First indent of Article 2(1) of Decision 98/415/EC. 
12  Paragraph 5.1 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/43. 
 
4 the euro. Therefore, the ECB recommends amending th is Law in line with the techniques applied to 
the draft laws as described above.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 February 2010. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET