Proposal for a Council Regulation on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro (Codified version)
Date: 2004-01-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, codification of EU law, euro, exchange rate, national currency

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 22.1.2004
COM(2004) 32 final

2004/0009 (CNS)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States
adopting the euro

(Codified version)

(presented by the Commission)

EN

  EN

1.

2.

3.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

In  the  context  of  a  people’s  Europe,  the  Commission  attaches  great  importance  to
simplifying  and  clarifying  Community  law  so  as  to  make  it  clearer  and  more
accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance
to make use of the specific rights it gives him.

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended
several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought
partly  in  the  original  instrument  and  partly  in  later  amending  ones.  Considerable
research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the
current rules.

For  this  reason  a  codification  of  rules  that  have  frequently  been  amended  is  also
essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent.

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  to  instruct  its  staff  that  all
legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that
this is a  minimum requirement  and  that  departments  should  endeavour  to  codify  at
even  shorter  intervals  the  texts  for  which  they  are  responsible,  to  ensure  that  the
Community rules are clear and readily understandable.

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.

the  Presidency  of 

Codification  must  be  undertaken  in  full  compliance  with  the  normal  Community
legislative procedure.

Given  that  no  changes  of  substance  may  be  made  to  the  instruments  affected  by
codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed,
by  an  interinstitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments.

1

2

COM(1987) 868 PV.
See Annex 3 to Part A of the Conclusions.

2

 
                                                
4.

5.

The  purpose  of  this  proposal  is  to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council  Regulation
(EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and
the  currencies  of  the  Member  States  adopting  the  euro3.  The  new  Regulation  will
supersede  the  various  Regulations  incorporated  in  it4;  this  proposal  fully  preserves
the  content  of  the  acts  being  codified  and  hence  does  no  more  than  bringing  them
together  with  only  such  formal  amendments  as  are  required  by  the  codification
exercise itself.

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation,
in  all  official  languages,  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  2866/98  and  the  instrument
amending  it,  carried  out  by  the  Office  for  Official  Publications  of  the  European
Communities, by means of a data-processing system. Where the Articles have been
given new numbers, the correlation between the old and the new numbers is shown
in a table contained in Annex II to the codified Regulation.

3

4

Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the
Council - Codification of the acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final.
Annex I of this proposal.

3

 
                                                
(cid:1) 2866/98 (adapted)

2004/0009 (CNS)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States
adopting the euro

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular
Article (cid:2) 123(4), third (cid:3) sentence thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(cid:2) Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament5, (cid:3)

(cid:2) Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee6, (cid:3)

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank7,

Whereas:

(1)

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  2866/98  of  31  December  1998  on  the  conversion  rates
between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro8 has been
substantially  amended9.  In  the  interests  of  clarity  and  rationality  the  said  Regulation
should be codified.

(cid:1) 

(2)

According  to  Article  (cid:2) 121(4) (cid:3)  of  the  Treaty,  the  third  stage  of  Economic  and
Monetary  Union  (cid:2) started (cid:3)  on  1  January  1999.  The  Council,  meeting  in  the

(cid:1) 2866/98 Recital 1 +
1478/2000 Recital 3 (adapted)

5

6

7

8

9

OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ  L  359,  31.12.1998,  p.  1.  Regulation  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  1478/2000
(OJ L 167, 7.7.2000, p. 1).
See Annex I.

4

 
                                                
composition  of  Heads  of  State  or  Government,  has  confirmed  (cid:2) by  Council
Decision 98/317/EC  of  3  May  1998  in  accordance  with  Article  109j(4)  of  the
Treaty10 (cid:3)  that  Belgium,  Germany,  Spain,  France,  Ireland,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  the
Netherlands,  Austria,  Portugal  and  Finland  (cid:2) fulfilled (cid:3)  the  necessary  conditions
for  the  adoption  of  a  single  currency  on  1  January  1999.  (cid:2) Pursuant  to  Council
Decision  2000/427/EC  of  19  June  2000  in  accordance  with  Article  122(2)  of  the
Treaty on the adoption by Greece of the single currency on 1 January 200111 Greece
fulfilled the necessary conditions. (cid:3)

(cid:1) 2866/98 Recitals 2 and 3
(adapted)

(3)

According to Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction
of  the  euro12,  the  euro  (cid:2) is (cid:3)  the  currency  of  the  Member  States  which
(cid:2) adopted (cid:3)  the  single  currency  as  from  1  January  1999  (cid:2) and  in  the  case  of
Greece as from 1 January 2001 (cid:3) . The introduction of the euro (cid:2) required (cid:3) the
adoption  of  the  conversion  rates  at  which  the  euro  (cid:2) was (cid:3)  substituted  for  the
national  currencies  and  at  which  rates  the  euro  (cid:2) was (cid:3)  divided  into  national
currency units. The conversion rates in Article 1 are the conversion rates referred to in
the  third  indent  of  Article  1  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  974/98,  (cid:2) as  calculated  on
31 December 1998 and 19 June 2000 respectively (cid:3) .

(cid:1) 2866/98 Recital 5 (adapted)

(4)

Regulation  (EC)  No  1103/97  stipulates  that  the  conversion  rates  shall  be  adopted  as
one euro expressed in terms of each of the national currencies of the Member States
adopting the euro. In order to ensure a high degree of accuracy, these rates (cid:2) are (cid:3)
adopted with six significant figures and no inverse rates nor bilateral rates between the
currencies of the Member States adopting the euro (cid:2) are (cid:3) defined,

(cid:1) 2866/98
(cid:4)1 1478/2000 Art.1

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The  irrevocably  fixed  conversion  rates  between  the  euro  and  the  currencies  of  the  Member
States adopting the euro are:

1 euro

=

40,3399

Belgian francs

10

11

12

OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 30.
OJ L 167, 7.7.2000, p. 19.
OJ  L  139,  11.5.1998,  p.  1.  Regulation  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  2596/2000
(OJ L 300, 29.11.2000, p. 2).

5

 
                                                
=

1,95583

German marks

(cid:4)1 

340,750

Greek drachma (cid:5)

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

166,386

6,55957

Spanish pesetas

French francs

0,787564

Irish pounds

1936,27

40,3399

2,20371

13,7603

200,482

5,94573

Italian lire

Luxembourg francs

Dutch guilders

Austrian schillings

Portuguese escudos

Finnish marks.

(cid:1) 

Article 2

Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 is repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and
shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.

(cid:1) 2866/98 Art. 2 (adapted)

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on (cid:2) the twentieth day following that of its publication
in the Official Journal of the European Union. (cid:3)

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, […]

For the Council
The President

6

 
(cid:6) 

ANNEX I

Repealed Regulation with its amendment

Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98

(OJ L 359, 31.12.1998, p. 1)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1478/2000

(OJ L 167, 7.7.2000, p. 1)

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ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Regulation (EC) No 2866/98

This Regulation

Article 1

–

Article 2

–

–

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Annex I

Annex II

_____________

8