Commission Recommendation of 11 October 2000 on measures to facilitate the preparation of economic operators for the changeover to the euro
Date: 2000-10-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, dissemination of EU information, euro, monetary union

C 303/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

24.10.2000

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 11 October 2000

on measures to facilitate the preparation of economic operators for the changeover to the euro

(2000/C 303/05)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 211 thereof,

3.
Public administrations, particularly in the social and
educational sphere, should play an active part in the dissemi-
nation of information on the physical introduction of the euro
and the need for citizens to prepare for it.

Whereas:

(1) The transitional, period between the creation of the euro
and the physical introduction of coins and notes should be
used in order to help economic operators prepare for the
cash changeover
to become
accustomed to the new expressions of prices and values.

and enable

consumers

(2) Surveys and studies carried out in the euro-zone mostly
to some delay in the preparation of economic

point
operators and citizens for the new currency.

(3) The Member States’ authorities and public administrations
have a key role to play in raising the awareness of and
improving the information given to currency users with a
view to speeding up their preparations
the cash
changeover.

for

(4) Full use should be made of the year 2001 in order to
stimulate preparations and spread out the technical effort
involved in the changeover.

(5) Some of the provisions of Commission Recommendation
98/286/EC of 23 April 1998 concerning banking charges
for conversion to the euro (1) need to be clarified,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

Article 1

Informing future users

Trade associations, euro info centres, chambers of trade
4.
should
and commerce, accountants and business advisers
ensure that
the businesses with which they are in contact
make the necessary preparations and are able to carry out all
their transactions in euro from 1 January 2002.

the end of

Banks should inform their customers of

the practical
5.
the transitional period. They
consequences of
should,
that
they will no longer be able to make scriptural payments or
keep an account in any of the old national currency units after
31 December 2001.

in particular, draw their attention to the fact

Businesses should take action to raise the awareness of
6.
their employees and organise appropriate training for members
of their staff who are in contact with the public.

Article 2

Helping citizens to become accustomed to the euro

During the third quarter of 2001 at the latest, all prices
1.
should be set in euro with equivalents in national currency
units in the case of mail order and distance selling and at
sales outlets where scriptural payments predominate. Sales
receipts
in the national
currency unit for the total to be paid.

should then show an equivalent

should ensure that citizens are well
1. Member States
informed of the arrangements for the changeover to the euro
and that this information drive is kept up for some time in
2002. A special effort should be made in favour of those for
whom access to the information is difficult (persons experi-
encing economic or social hardship, senior citizens, persons
suffering from a physical, sensory or mental handicap).

Public administrations and businesses should, as early as
2.
possible in 2001, pay their employees’ wages and salaries in
euro, with an indication of the equivalent of the final amount
in the national currency unit. At the very least, payslips should
show amounts in the national currency unit and in euro. Wage
should be
negotiations between management and labour
conducted in euro in 2001.

2.
Public administrations should provide businesses, and
particularly SMEs, with precise information on the timetable
for the changeover and the relevant legal, tax and accounting
rules.

(1) OJ L 130, 1.5.1998, p. 22.

3.
Advice of payment of retirement pensions should, as
early as possible in 2001, show amounts in the national
currency unit and in euro; where appropriate, the pensions
themselves should be paid in euro with an indication of the
equivalent of the final amount in the national currency unit.

24.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 303/7

Public administrations,

insurance companies and utility
4.
companies (water, gas, electricity, etc.) should set their tariffs
in euro during the third quarter of 2001 and indicate on their
invoices the equivalent in the national currency unit only of
the final amount to be paid.

Article 3

Encouraging economic operators to gain experience in
using the euro

1.
Bank accounts and the associated means of scriptual
payment (cheques, transfer forms and cards), should, unless
the customer expressly requests otherwise, change over from
the national currency units to the euro at the beginning of the
third quarter of 2001. Bank
should show
equivalents in the national currency unit.

statements

All eletronic point-of-sale terminals should be able to

2.
process transactions in euro from the same date.

3.
Economic operators, particularly in the distributive trades
and tourism, are invited to run targeted promotion campaigns
with a view to stimulating the use of the euro.

Article 4

Reducing the flow of transactions to be converted into
euro

(e.g.

contracts

Open-ended

1.
contracts)
concluded in 2001 should be drawn up in euro. Fixed-term
contracts (e.g. leases, loan agreements) concluded in 2001 and
due to expire after 1 January 2002 should be drawn up in
euro.

employment

Government and local authority contracts should be

2.
concluded and paid in euro in 2001.

Companies established in 2001 should be encouraged to

3.
denominate their capital in euro.

4. With a view to reducing the amounts of money to be
physically exchanged, consumers should be encouraged to
deposit
end of
December 2001. Member States should also encourage them
to use up their stock of coins in good time.

cash holdings before

surplus

their

the

Article 5

Facilitating the cash changeover to the euro

1.
During the period of dual circulation, banks in the
participating Member States should exchange their customers’

national notes and coins for notes and coins in euro, free of
charge and without any limitation, subject merely to a period
of notice if the amount to be exchanged exceeds a ceiling set
by the bank and corresponding to a household amount.
Persons who are not customers of the bank should be able
to exchange national notes for euro notes free of charge up
to a ceiling set by the bank.

2.
Appropriate arrangements should be made for enabling
citizens to exchange their national notes and coins for euro at
commercial banks and other financial
institutions for some
time after the end of the dual circulation period.

3. Member States should make arrangements to ensure that
coins can be exchanged at official institutions after they cease
to be legal tender for long enough to allow holders of coins
living abroad to return them.

To facilitate the giving of change, sufficient quantities of
4.
small notes should be made available in cash dispensers or
through any other suitable means from the early days of 2002.

trade associations and chambers of
5. Member States,
commerce should encourage traders, artisans and members of
the professions to give change exclusively in euro from the
beginning of January 2002.

Public

administrations

6.
specific
measures are taken to facilitate the changeover to euro notes
and coins among people for whom access to the information is
difficult, in particular those who do not have a bank account.

should

ensure

that

Article 6

Final provision

Member States are invited to support the implementation of
this Recommendation.

Article 7

Addresses

This Recommendation is addressed to the Member States,
banks, enterprises and all
trade associations and consumer
organisations in the euro-zone.

Done at Brussels, 11 October 2000.

For the Commission

Pedro SOLBES MIRA

Member of the Commission