Opinion of the European Central Bank of 31 March 2004 at the request of the Council of the European Union regarding a proposal for a Council regulation on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro (codified version) (CON/2004/10)
Date: 2004-03-31
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: EU Member State, European Central Bank, conversion rate, euro, monetary union, national currency

C 88/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.4.2004

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 31 March 2004

at the request of the Council of the European Union regarding a proposal for a Council regulation
on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the
euro (codified version)

(CON/2004/10)

(2004/C 88/10)

from the Council of

1. On 2 February 2004, the European Central Bank (ECB)
received a request
the European
Union for an opinion on a proposal for a Council regu-
lation on the conversion rates between the euro and the
currencies of the Member States adopting the euro (here-
inafter the ‘proposal for a regulation’).

2. The ECB is competent

to deliver an opinion since the
proposal for a regulation is based on the third sentence of
Article 123(4) of
the Treaty establishing the European
Community, which provides for the consultation of the
ECB. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5
the Governing
of
Council of the ECB has adopted this opinion.

the Rules of Procedure of

the ECB,

3. With the aim of clarifying and simplifying Community
legislative acts that have been amended, the proposal for
in one single text, without any
a regulation codifies
changes of
substance, 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 euro (1) and the instrument amending it. Regu-
lation (EC) No 2866/98 irrevocably fixed the conversion
rates between the euro and the currencies of
the 11
Member States adopting the euro on 1 January 1999 and
was amended by Regulation (EC) No 1478/2000 in order to
include the conversion rate between the euro and the Greek
drachma. The ECB delivered Opinions CON/98/61 (2) and
CON/00/12 (3) on Regulations
(EC) Nos 2866/98 and
1478/2000, respectively.

4. The ECB generally welcomes codification of

the acquis
communautaire, and in particular in the field of economic
and monetary union, which contributes
clear,
effective and workable legal framework.

to a

6. The ECB further notes that Regulations (EC) Nos 2866/98
and 1478/2000 were adopted with unanimity on the basis
of the first sentence of Article 123(4) and Article 123(5) of
the Treaty, respectively. In contrast, the proposal for a regu-
lation is intended to be adopted on the basis of the third
sentence of Article 123(4) of the Treaty. This provides that
the Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall take the
other measures necessary for the rapid introduction of the
euro as a single currency. The ECB considers that these
‘other measures’ do not include measures on the conversion
rates.

7. The ECB notes that codification is a procedure whereby the
acts to be codified are repealed and formally replaced by a
new single legal act (4). The ECB considers that the fact that
codification is not intended to change the substance of the
acts does not prevent the codifying act from being adopted
on the legal basis required by the contents of the act. In
view of paragraph 6 regarding the scope of the measures
referred to in the third sentence of Article 123(4) of the
Treaty, the ECB raises the question whether this provision
constitutes an appropriate legal basis for codifying regu-
lations on conversion rates, such as Regulations (EC) Nos
2866/98 and 1478/2000. Considering that Regulation (EC)
No 2866/98 has only been amended once, an alternative
solution might be to codify Regulations (EC) Nos 2866/98
regulation is
and 1478/2000 when the next Council
adopted on the basis of Article 123(5) of the Treaty,
i.e.
if and when the derogation of a non-euro area Member
State is abrogated.
(policy) reason, an
immediate codification is required, then a more appropriate
basis for adopting the codified regulation might be the first
sentence of Article 123(4) of
the Treaty, preferably in
conjunction with Article 123(5) of the Treaty.

for whatever

If,

5. The ECB is also pleased to note that the proposal for a
regulation does not change the substance of Regulations
(EC) Nos 2866/98 and 1478/2000. Considering that Regu-
lation (EC) No 2866/98 has only been amended once to
include the conversion rate of the Greek drachma, the ECB
proposes deleting the word ‘substantially’ in recital 1 of the
proposal for a regulation.

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 31 March 2004.

The President of the ECB

Jean-Claude TRICHET

(1) 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).

(2) OJ C 412, 31.12.1998, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 177, 27.6.2000, p. 11.

(4) See Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 December 1994, paragraph

1 (OJ C 102, 4.4.1996, p. 2).