EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 2 September 2008 
at the request of the Slovak Ministry of De fence and of the Slovak Ministry of Labour, 
Social Affairs and Family on draft laws laying down further detailed rules on the 
euro changeover falling within their field of competence 
(CON/2008/40) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 28 July 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovak Ministry of 
Defence for an opinion on a draft law amending certain laws  in the field of defence in relation to the euro 
introduction (hereinafter the ‘first draft law’)1 and on 30 July 2008 the ECB received a request from the 
Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family on a draft law amending certain laws in the field of 
its competence in relation to the euro intr oduction (hereinafter the ‘second draft law’)2, a draft law on 
civil service and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter the ‘third draft law’)3, a draft law amending 
the Law No 533/2003 Coll. on remuneration of certain employees performing work in the public interest 
and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter the ‘fourth draft law’)4, a draft law amending the Law 
No 283/2002 Coll. on reimbursement of travel expenses (hereinafter the ‘fifth draft law’), a draft law 
amending the Law No 599/2003 Coll. on assistance in ma terial need and on amendments to certain laws, 
and amending the Law No 453/2003 Coll. on state administration bodies in the field of social affairs, family and employment services and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter the ‘sixth draft law’)
5 
and a draft law on child care allowanc e and on amendments to certain laws6 (hereinafter the ‘seventh draft 
law’).7 
                                                 
1  The first draft law consists of five amendments to specific laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Defence. 
2  The second draft law consists of six amendments to specifi c laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Labour, Soci al Affairs and Family. 
3  The third draft law consists of 10 am endments to specific laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, but only four of them ar e relevant to this consultation. 
4  The fourth draft law consists of two am endments to specific laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, but only one of them is relevant to this consultation. 
5  The sixth draft law consists of two amendments to specific  laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, but only one of them is relevant to this consultation. 
6  The seventh draft law consists of three amendments to specific laws falling within the field of competence of the Slovak 
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, but only two of them ar e relevant to this consultation. 
7  For ease of reference, each draft law is divided into sections  and subsequently into points a nd articles, if necessary, within  
each section. 
2 The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the first and second indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions8, as the draft laws relate to currency ma tters and means of payment. In accordance 
with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rule s of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the 
Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft laws 
The purpose of the draft laws is to facilitate the sm ooth euro changeover in Slova kia. All of them provide 
for technical details concerning the introduction of th e euro and specific provisions relate to conversion 
and rounding of certain amounts and to  foreign exchange rates. As specific legislative measures, all of the 
draft laws should be in accordance with the genera l legal framework established by the Law No 659/2007 
Coll. on the introduction of the euro in Slovakia and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter the 
‘Slovak Euro-Law’).  
2. General observations The Slovak authorities have already consulted the E CB on issues relating to the euro changeover. The 
ECB would therefore like to concentrate in this opini on on issues that were not addressed in its previous 
opinions
9 and which are also significant for other Slovak authorities with regard to draft legislative 
provisions on the introduction of the euro falling with in their competence and currently submitted to the 
legislative process in Slovakia10. Among these issues, the following should be highlighted: (i) specific 
aspects of conversion and rounding of certain amount s in relation to the principle of neutrality; 
(ii) foreign exchange reference rates.  
 
                                                 
8  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
9  See ECB Opinion CON/2007/43 of 19 December 2007 at the reques t of the Slovak Ministry of Finance on a draft law on 
the introduction of the euro in Slova kia and on amendments to certain laws ; ECB Opinion CON/2008/23 of 30 May 2008 
at the request of Národná banka Slovenska on a draft decree  laying down rules for the dua l display of certain prices, 
payments and other amounts and on a dr aft decree laying down the number of decimal places of certain types of 
securities for the purpose of rounding by redenomination of  their nominal value from the Slovak currency to the euro; 
ECB Opinion CON/2008/25 of 12 June 2008 at the request of th e Slovak Ministry of Finance on a draft decree laying 
down the scope of prices, payments and ot her amounts subject to dual display with regard to the field of gambling games 
and methods of their dual display; a nd ECB Opinion CON/2008/27 of 1 July 2008 at  the request of the Slovak Ministry 
of Labour, Social Affairs and Family on a draft decree laying down further detailed rules on the dual display, conversion 
and rounding of certain prices, payments and other amounts in  the labour law and social security sectors on the euro 
changeover. 
10  Apart from requests received from the Slovak Ministry of De fence and the Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and 
Family, the ECB has also been consulted either officially or  informally by the Slovak Ministry of Education (on eight 
draft laws), Národná banka Slovenska (on two draft decrees),  the Slovak Ministry of Interior (on 38 draft laws), the 
Slovak Ministry of Transport, Post a nd Telecommunication (on six draft laws), the Slovak Ministry of Culture (on one 
draft law), the Slovak Ministry of Justice (on 24 draft laws ), the Slovak Ministry of Health (on 14 draft laws and one 
draft decree), the Slovak Ministry of Finance (on 17 draft laws) and the Slovak Ministry of Environment (on 22 draft 
laws and one draft decree) in each case in relation to the sa me or very similar issues relating to the euro changeover. 
3 3. Specific observations on the first draft law 
Foreign exchange reference rates 3.1 The general provisions establishing the system fo r setting and publishing fo reign exchange rates 
are laid down in Article 17(2) of the Slovak Euro -Law and in new Articles 28(2) and 49ab(6) of the 
Law on Národná banka Slovenska
11. This system applies from the date of introduction of the euro 
in Slovakia, after which: (i) the respective excha nge rates between the euro and other currencies are 
set and published by the ECB; and (ii) other rele vant exchange rates between the euro and other 
currencies are set and published by Národná banka  Slovenska in the event the ECB does not set 
and publish the rates for such currencies, unless othe rwise agreed by the parties to the respective 
legal relationship or provided for in a separate legal act. The provision proposed pursuant to Point 
22 in Section III of the first draft law states tha t: ‘[…] if the prepayment was made in a currency 
other than euro, the exchange rate for such cu rrency published by Národná  banka Slovenska on the 
first day of the month in which the prepayment is deducted shall be used.’ This provision should be 
aligned with the abovementioned pr ovisions of the Slovak Euro-Law in order to recognise the role 
of the ECB and the Council of the European Union in the field of exchange rate policy12 in 
accordance with Article 111 of the Treaty and Article 12.1 of the Statute. 
Rounding rules and principle of neutrality 3.2 Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro
13 
lays down the principle that ‘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’ (hereinafter th e ‘principle of neutralit y’). Moreover, pursuant 
to Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/ 97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating 
to the introduction of the euro
14, any monetary amount to be paid or accounted for must be rounded 
up or down to the nearest cent. This provision is reflected in the first and second sentences of Article 2(3) of the Slovak Euro-Law
15. The last sentence of Article 2(3) of the Slovak Euro-Law 
introduced the rule ‘in favour of citizens’, thereb y allowing the national legislator to deviate from 
the general legal framework for the euro changeove r by adopting a specific law in relation to the 
                                                 
11  See the Law No 566/1992 Coll. on Národná banka Slovenska. 
12  The ECB notes that a comparable legal technique is already applied in the second draft law (see the second sentence of 
the provision proposed pursuant to Point 8 of Section I), in Ar ticle 111(7) in Section I of the third draft law and also in 
another provision of the first draft law (see the provision proposed pursuant to Point 20 of Section III). 
13  OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1. 
14  OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1. 
15  The first and second sentences of Article 2(3) of the Sl ovak Euro-Law provide: ‘If calculation of conversion from the 
Slovak currency to euros in accordance with the conversion rate results in final financial amounts in euro which shall be 
actually paid or accounted (hereinafter ‘final amounts’), in particular final amounts accounted in statements of account or 
final amounts of price, payment or other value stated in  invoices, other accounting documents or payment documents, 
such final amount in euro shall, after conversion in accordance with  the conversion rate, be r ounded to a number with two 
decimal places, i.e. to the nearest euro cent, pursuant to ru les set out in a separate legal provision. The total calculated 
remainder of a final amount which is lower than one half of one euro cent, shall, pursuant to a separate legal provision, be 
rounded down to the nearest euro cent, and the total calculated  remainder of a final amount which is higher than one half 
of one euro cent, shall, pursuant to a se parate legal provision, be rounded up to the nearest euro cent, unless all parties to 
the respective legal relationship agree otherwise or a separate legal provisi on stipulates otherwise.’ 
4 rounding up or down of amounts to be paid or accounted for depending on whether such amounts 
are income or expenditure of the State budget16. Moreover, in line with existing rules and 
practices17 for rounding of such amounts in Slovak legislation, the respective amounts were 
rounded up or down to 50 haliers, to the nearest Slovak koruna, and to the nearest SKK 10, 100 or 
300, etc. As a consequence of the application of these rules and practices, the amounts to be paid or 
accounted for as stated in all the draft laws18, e.g. in the provisions proposed pursuant to Point 5 of 
Section II of the first draft law19, Point 5 of Section I of the second draft law, Point 14 of Section I 
of the fourth draft law20, Point 5 of Section I of the sixth draft law21 and Point 17 of Section III of 
the first draft law, are rounded up or down to the nearest cent, to the nearest 10 or 50 cent, to the 
nearest euro or to the nearest EUR 10. Furtherm ore, amounts are rounded inconsistently, even in 
the case of the same type or category of amount. 
The ECB would like to point out that the rounding of amounts to be paid or accounted for up or 
down to more than one cent is not per se  in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation 
(EC) No 1103/97 and Article 7 of Regulation (E C) No 974/98. Nevertheless, the principle of 
neutrality22 must not prevent the national legislat or from using its sovereign powers when 
expressing monetary amounts such as fines, fees, mi nimum capital, taxes, allowances, salaries, etc. 
in legislative provisions. 
Accordingly, the national legislator remains free to legislate on the increase or decrease of any 
monetary amounts while addressing euro changeove r matters. In doing so, however, it is bound to 
act in accordance with the principles of legal certa inty and transparency, i.e. it must ensure that 
economic agents are able to make a clear distinction23 between a decision of the Member State’s 
                                                 
16  The last sentence of Article 2(3) of the Slovak Euro-Law provides that ‘Final amounts repr esenting revenues of the State 
budget or another type of general government budget shall pref erentially be rounded down in favor of the persons obliged 
to make the respective payments, and fi nal amounts representing expenditures of the state budget or another type of 
general government budget shall pr eferentially be rounded up in favor of the pe rsons entitled for receipt of the respective 
payments, unless a separate legal provision stipulates otherwise.’ 
17  A different approach to the methodology of rounding is deri ved from all of the following: (a) the relationship between 
rounded amounts and time units, i.e. either hours or months; (b ) the levels of rounding applied until now, which start with 
rounding to tens of haliers in respect of hourly rate units , and end with rounding to hundreds of korunas in respect of 
monthly wages and lump sum re imbursements for certain groups of people; an d (c) the source of funds, which is either 
the State budget or a municipal budget (gener al government budget), or expenses paid  by an employer; this factor also 
has an impact on the direction of rounding of a particular amount. 
18  It should be noted that rounding of certain moneta ry amounts in whole Slovak korunas up or down to 10 cent is 
recognised pursuant to the Law No 461/2003 Coll. on soci al insurance, which has already been adopted. 
19  For rounding up or down to the nearest euro, see also the pr ovision proposed pursuant to Point 1 of Section III of the 
second draft law, Article 113(8) in Section I of the third draft law and the provision proposed pursuant to Point 25 of 
Section III of the first draft law. 
20  For rounding up or down to 50 cent see also the provisions proposed pursuant to Point 15 of Section I and Point 18 of 
Section I of the fourth draft law, and Articl e 137(3) in Section I of the third draft law. 
21  For rounding up or down to the nearest cent see also the provi sions proposed pursuant to Point 2 of Section IV and Point 
4 of Section VI of the second draft law, Point 5 of Section I of the sixth draft law and Point 43 of Section I of the fifth 
draft law. 
22  As stated in paragraph 25 of Case C-359/05 Estager v Receveur principal de la recette des douanes de Brive  [2007] ECR 
I-00581 ‘The principle of the continuity of legal instruments and the objective that the trans ition to the euro should be 
neutral apply to the “terms” or to the “wording” of the “leg al instruments” within the m eaning of Regulations No 1103/97 
and No 974/98’. 
23  It applies not only to legislative acts,  but also to implementing measures or other legal instruments, e.g. collective 
agreements governing the issue of rounding of certain mone tary amounts up or down to more than one cent. See for 
5 authorities to increase or decrease any amount and the process of converting that amount into euro 
and rounding it24. The national legislator is therefore obliged to act in accordance with the 
abovementioned principles when applying the pr ovisions of the Slovak Euro-Law which permit 
certain amounts to be rounded up ‘in favour of citizens’. 
Finally, in the light of its Opinion CON/2008/2325, the ECB would also like to emphasise that the 
same rounding method and a consistent approach shou ld be used in draft legislative provisions for 
monetary amounts of a comparable type and/or category. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 2 September 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                                                                                                                             
example the provision proposed pursuant to Point 9 of Section I of the second draft law, which states th at ‘Paid out wages 
shall be rounded up to the nearest euro cent unless the coll ective agreement or employer in an internal implementing 
regulation provide for more favourable arrangements for employees with regard to rounding of wages’. 
24  The Court held in Estager that ‘Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 … and Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 … 
must be interpreted as precl uding national legislation whic h, on effecting the conversi on into euros of an amount … 
raised it to an amount higher than that which would have resu lted from application of the ru les of conversion provided for 
in those regulations, unless such an increase meets the requirements of legal certainty and transparency guaranteed by 
those regulations, which presupposes  that the legislative texts at issue make it possible to distinguish clearly the decision 
of the authorities of a Member State to  increase that amount from the operation of  conversion of that amount into euros.’ 
See also paragraphs 34, 35 and 37 of the judgment in Estager . 
25  See paragraph 4 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/23.