EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 12 February 2014 
on the introduction of the euro in Lithuania 
(CON/2014/14) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 22 January 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Lithuanian Ministry 
of Finance for an opinion on the draft law on the introduction of the euro in Lithuania (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
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 and the first, second and third indents of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC
1, as the draft law relates to currency matte rs, means of payment and Lietuvos bankas. 
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. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft law  
The purpose of the draft law is to establish a procedure for the introducti on of the euro in Lithuania and, 
more particularly, to lay down rules governing the fo llowing matters: (a) the exchange of the litas to the 
euro after the adoption of the euro in Lithuania a nd related rounding rules; (b) the exchange of non-cash 
and electronic money; (c) the dual display of prices of goods and services; (d) references to the litas and the euro in legal instruments; and (e) the withdrawal of the litas from circulation. The draft law also contains measures relating to the adaptation of accounting practices and enforcement of the law. 
 2. General observations 2.1 The ECB welcomes the timely preparations for the introduction of the euro, and notes that the Law 
on foreign currency in Lithuania
2 will be repealed from the date of the adoption of the euro in 
Lithuania to avoid any inconsis tencies in the legal framework. 
2.2 The draft law addresses an earlier concern3 and uses the correct spelling of the euro. It is therefore 
compatible with Union law in this respect. 
                                                 
1  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 (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
2  Valstybės žinios , 14.07.1993, No 28-640. 
3  See Opinion CON/2005/21, paragraph 10. All ECB opinions ar e published on the ECB’s webs ite at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2  
3. Definition of dual circulation period The ECB understands that the ‘transitional period’ men tioned in Article 3(2) of the draft law means the 
dual circulation period, i.e. the 15-calendar day peri od following the adoption of the euro within which 
the litas keeps its legal tender status in parallel with  the euro as laid down in Article 25(1) of the draft 
law. This is in line with Article 15( 1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98
4. The term ‘transitional 
period’ is used in Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 to  define a different concept, related to the start of 
stage three of the economic and monetary union, i.e.  a period of three years between the euro adoption 
date and the cash changeover date5. The ECB recommends that the term ‘transitional period’ used in the 
draft law should be replaced by a reference to Article  25(1) of the draft law, which would clarify that 
‘dual circulation period’ is the correct term. 
 4.  Rounding rules and the principle of neutrality  
4.1 Article 7(1) of the draft law specifies that th e conversion and rounding rules laid down in Articles 4 
and 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97
6 apply in the context of the conversion mechanism 
relating to the litas and the euro. Ho wever, the wording of the first part of Article 7(2) of the draft 
law unnecessarily complicates the application of Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97. 
The draft law should regulate only those issues relating to the introduction of the euro in Lithuania not covered by Union legislation. This appr oach would also help simplify the draft law
7. 
4.2 Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 lays down the principle that ‘the substitution of 
the euro for the currency of each participating Memb er State shall not in itself have the effect of 
altering the denomination of legal instruments in ex istence on the date of substitution’ (hereinafter 
the ‘principle of neutrality’). 
 Article 7(4) of the draft law allows the rounding up  of fines or other monetary obligations to the 
nearest euro. In this regard, the principle of ne utrality does not prevent the national legislator from 
using its sovereign powers when expressing monetary amounts such as fines, fees, minimum capital, taxes, allowances, salaries, etc. in legislative provisions
8.  
 Accordingly, the national legislator remains fre e to legislate on the increase or decrease of any 
monetary amounts when addressing euro changeover matters. In doing so, however, it is bound to 
act in accordance with the principles of legal certain ty and transparency, i.e. it must ensure that 
economic agents are able to make a clear dis tinction between a decision of the Lithuanian 
authorities to increase or decrease any amount and the process of converting an amount into euro and rounding it. 
                                                 
4  Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of  3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro (OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1). 
5  In Article 1(h) of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 the term  ‘transitional period’ is defined as ‘a period of three years 
at the most beginning at 00.00 hours on the euro adoption da te and ending at 00.00 hours on the cash changeover date’. 
6  Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certa in provisions relating to the introduction of the euro 
(OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1). 
7  See also Opinion CON/2007/43, in particular paragraph 2.2.  
8  See also Opinion CON/2012/97, in particular paragraph 3.2. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 4.3 The ECB welcomes the greater  precision of the rounding rules on monetary amounts for tariffs 
contained in Article 7(5) of the draft law, which are in line with previous ECB opinions9 and the 
case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union10. 
 5. Settlement in euro at automated retail locati ons after expiry of the dual circulation period 
Article 25(6) of the draft law provides that after the ex piry of the dual circulation period, automated retail 
locations shall only accept euro for settlement. The ECB trusts that an impact assessment with regard to 
the practical feasibility of this provision has been made. 
 6. Entry into force and application of the draft law 6.1 Article 1 of the draft law defines the purpose of the draft law as being to establish the procedure for 
the preparations to introduce the euro, the exchange of the litas to  the euro, and the conversion of 
litas-denominated values to euro-denominated values after the adoption of the euro in Lithuania. 
Article 2(2) of the draft law defines the date of adoption of the euro as the date set in the Council 
decision abrogating Lithuania’s derogati on under Article 140(2) of the Treaty. 
 Article 32 of the draft law provides that the draft law shall enter into force on the date the Council 
makes a decision to abrogate Lithuania’s de rogation under Article 140(2) of the Treaty. 
 Furthermore, most of the provisions of the draft law contain specific references to their application 
date, e.g. ‘before the date of adoption of the euro’
11, ‘as from the date of adoption of the euro’12, 
‘on the date of adoption of the euro’13 etc. 
6.2 Certain provisions of the draft law do not specify the dates from which they apply. These include, 
inter alia , Article 4 (information on images of euro ba nknotes and coins), Article 6(2) (destruction 
of litas banknotes and coins), Article 14 (redenomin ation of the nominal value of securities and 
other financial instruments), and Article 15 (redenomination of the State debt, loans and 
guarantees). These provisions should be read and inte rpreted systemically, either in conjunction 
with Article 1 (i.e. attributed to one of the fields  mentioned in Article 1) or with Article 32 of the 
draft law (general entry into force provision). In th e interests of clarity and legal certainty, the dates 
of entry into force and application of the provi sions of the draft law should be simplified and 
clarified.  
                                                 
9  See Opinion CON/2005/21, in particular paragraph 20. 
10  Case C-19/03 Verbraucher-Zentrale Hamburg eV v O2  (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG  [2004] ECR-I-8183. 
11  E.g. Article 6(1) of the draft law. 
12  E.g. Articles 3(1), 3(3), 8, 9(1), 12 (1), 16(1), 20, 25 etc. of the draft law. 
13  E.g. Article 10(1) of the draft law. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
4 6.3 The national authorities should ensure that the national law provisions introducing amounts in euro 
that replace the national currency do not enter into  force prior to the date of the adoption of the 
euro, following the Council decision abr ogating the Member State’s derogation14. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 12 February 2014. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
  
                                                 
14 See also paragraph 3.1 of Opinion CON/2012/97, paragra ph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2006/28 and paragraph 5.1 of Opinion 
CON/2007/43.