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)
Date: 1999-04-21
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Italy, euro, monetary integration, money, national law, share capital

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 Central Bank (ECB) received a request for an opinion on the

draft Legislative Decree from the Italian Ministry of the Treasury. This ECB Opinion is based

on the English translation of the 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  the  consultation  of  the  ECB  by  national

authorities  regarding  draft  legislative  provisions,  as  the  draft  Legislative  Decree  contains

provisions  concerning  the  introduction  of  the  euro.  In  accordance  with  Article 17.5,  first

sentence, of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, 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,  the  provisions  of  Legislative  Decree  213  of  24  June  1998  in  the

light  of  experience.  This  possibility  of  further  amendments  was  provided  for  in  Law  433  of

17 December  1997,  which  delegates  to  the  Italian  Government  the  authority  to  adopt  rules

concerning  the  changeover  and  on  which  the  European  Monetary  Institute  (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  apparent  in  the  light  of  the  experience  of  the

past few months. In addition, new legislation has been adopted which requires implementation:

in  particular,  Recommendation  1999/63/EC  of  13  January  1999  of  the  Commission  of  the

European Communities concerning collector coins, medals and tokens. 

- 2 -

4. 

The ECB takes note of the intention to introduce new provisions which, by introducing small

amendments,  clarify  the  existing  Italian  legislation  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 which 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  confidence  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  introduced  in  the  new  Article  1.3  of  the  draft  Legislative  Decree,

which makes it clear to the citizens that the 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  practice

already  followed  since  the  beginning  of  1999  by  the  Italian  Ministry  of  the  Treasury  of

publishing reference exchange rates in the “Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica italiana”, (Italian

Official Journal) “according to the procedures established within the framework of the ESCB”,

the  explicit  change  in  the  legislation  enhances  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  prohibition  to  produce,  issue,  stock,  import  and

distribute collector coins, medals and tokens bearing the words “euro” or “euro cent” and of

administrative sanctions in the event of a violation of the prohibition should prevent confusion

among citizens of the European Union, especially during the transitional period in which there

are  no  euro  coins  in  circulation.  The  ECB,  however,  suggests  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