OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 20 April 2001
at the request of the Euro Changeover Board of  Ireland on a draft le gislative proposal on
certain provisions included in a draft Euro Changeover (Amounts) Bill, 2001
(CON/2001/5)
1. On 27 March 2001 the European Central Bank  (ECB) received a request from the Euro
Changeover Board of Ireland for an ECB opini on on two provisions included in a draft Euro
Changeover (Amounts) Bill, 2001.
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opi nion is based on Article 2 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 1, as the legislative proposal contains
provisions concerning currency matters, means of payment and payment and settlementsystems. In accordance with Article 17.5, first se ntence, of the Rules of Procedure of the
European Central Bank, this ECB opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of the
ECB.
3. The first provision in the draft Bill on which the ECB has been consulted concerns
Section 135 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, which has been amended to provide, inter alia , that
no person shall be compellable to make any payment or do any act on a day on which theTARGET system is closed where that person w ould not be so compellable on Christmas Day or
Good Friday by virtue of any rule of law re lating to banking. A day on which the TARGET
system is closed has been defined to mean such day or days as the ECB Governing Council
from time to time decide to be a day or days  on which the Trans-European Automated Real-
time Gross settlement Express Transfer system will be closed. The ECB welcomes thisclarification under Irish law which makes provision for the inability of a party to make paymentor conduct banking transactions on days on whic h the TARGET system is closed. The flexible
approach to the definition of a TARGET closin g day is also consistent with the provisions
regarding operating days contained in Article 3(d)(1) of the ECB Guideline of 3 October 2000
on a Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system
                                                          
1OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42-43.
2(ECB/2000/9). The ECB notes, however , one drafting point: it is assumed that there is in fact
an established rule of law relating to bank ing in Ireland, perhaps dating back to the 19th century
or arising at common law, whereby a person w ould not be compellable to make payments on
Christmas Day or Good Friday, but the ECB is in  fact unaware of the precise source of any
such rule of law. 
4. The second provision in the draft Bill on which the ECB has been consulted concerns
Section 5 of the Economic and Monetary Uni on Act, 1998, which has been amended to re-
define the participating Member States (i.e ., Member States having adopted the euro)  to
include Greece and any other EC Member State a dopting the single currency as its currency.
The ECB welcomes this amendment, which will ensure that certain provisions of the 1998 Actrelating to euro-denominated coins issued by th e participating Member States will be applicable
to coins issued by Greece and such other Member States.
5. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to this ECB opinion being made public by the
competent national authorities at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 20 April 2001.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG