Opinion of the European Central Bank of 23 January 2014 concerning the rounding of payments denominated in euro (CON/2014/6)
Date: 2014-01-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Belgium, euro, money, national law, payment, price regulations

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 23 January 2014 

concerning the rounding of payments denominated in euro 

(CON/2014/6) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  27  December  2013,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a request  from  the  Nationale  Bank 

van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique (NBB), acting on behalf of the Belgian Minister for Finance, 

for an opinion on a draft law concerning the rounding of payments denominated in euro (hereinafter the 

‘draft  law’).  The  ECB  was  requested  to  deliver  an  opinion  within  two  weeks  in  order  to  enable  the 

Belgian  government  to  take  the  ECB  opinion  into  consideration  before  the  draft  law  is  put  before  the 

Belgian Parliament. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and the first and second indents of 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  provisions1,  since  the  draft  law  relates  to  currency  matters  and  means  of 

payment. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European 

Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

1. 

Purpose of the draft law 

1.1  The draft law amends the Law of 6 April 2010 on market practices and consumer protection, and 

amends  the  rules  on  the  rounding  of  prices  in  Belgium.  It  authorises  retailers  to  round  the  total 

price  to  be  paid  by  consumers  to  the  nearest  five  euro  cents,  regardless  of  whether  the  relevant 

payment is made with banknotes, coins, electronic money or  comparable means of payment such 

as, for example, meal vouchers. However, rounding should not take place if the amount to be paid 

for  the  purchase  of  an  individual  item  is  one,  two,  three  or  four  euro  cents.  In  accordance  with 

Article 9a, rounding will only apply on total amounts due, not on each individual item. If retailers 

decide to engage in the rounding of amounts to be paid, they must do so in a consistent manner. 

They  must  also  inform  consumers  about  the  rounding  by  openly  and  clearly  displaying  on  their 

1  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
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premises a sign containing text stipulated in the draft law2. Such text may not be changed by the 

retailers for any reason, e.g. in order to refuse one and two euro cent coins as a means of payment. 

Symmetrical rounding up or down of the amount payable to the nearest multiple of five cents must 

also be included in the invoice, receipt or any other proof of payment. 

1.2  As explained during the preparatory work on the draft law, the draft law’s aim is to limit the use of 

one  and  two  euro  cent  coins  in  transactions  between  retailers  and  consumers  due  to  the 

disproportionate  costs  involved  in  handling  such  coins  for  authorities,  banks  and  retailers  in 

minting, supplying and handling, respectively, one and two euro cent coins. These coins are often 

lost or not reintroduced into circulation by consumers, which creates an ongoing need to mint and 

replace them in large  quantities. Furthermore,  rounding total  amounts to be paid, as proposed by 

the draft law, would not lead to an overall increase in prices since such rounding would, depending 

on the situation, apply downwards or upwards. Finally, the rounding of prices would also satisfy a 

large number of Belgian consumers, who consider the one and two euro cent coins, similarly to the 

former 25 and 50 cent Belgian coins, as coins of negligible value, which results in either the coins 

not being put back into circulation or undue delay in retail transactions. 

2.  General observations 

2.1 

In accordance with Article 128(2) of the Treaty,  the competence to adopt measures to harmonise 

the  denomination  and  technical  specifications  of  all  coins  intended  for  circulation  to  the  extent 

necessary to permit their smooth circulation within the Union is vested in the Council. The legal 

tender  status  of  euro  cent  coins  within  the  euro  area  is  laid  down  in  Article  11  of  Council 
Regulation (EC) No 974/983. In addition, Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 provides 

that the euro, as the currency of the euro area, is divided into one hundred cent. The denomination 

structure  of  the  euro  coins  (i.e.  1,  2,  5,  10,  50  cents,  1  euro  and  2  euro  coins)  has  remained 

unchanged since the introduction of the euro, the one and two euro cent coins allowing consumers 

to pay the exact amount payable to the last cent. 

2.2  Rounding rules are in place in two Member States. In Finland, the Rounding Act No 890/2000 of 

27 October  2000  was  enacted  by  the  Finnish  Parliament  prior  to  the  introduction  of  the  euro  in 

order  to  ensure  the  continuation  of  a  longstanding  tradition  of  rounding  small  cash  payments  in 

Finnish  markka  to  the  nearest  10  penni.  In  the  Netherlands,  the  Social  Forum  on  the  Payment 

System (a body established by the Ministry of Finance which brings together retail organisations, 

the  consumers’  association,  commercial  banks  and  the  NCB)  recommended  the  nationwide 

introduction  of  the  rounding  rule  from  1 September  2004.  Retailers  applying  the  rounding  rule 

2  

3  

See new Article 9bis, third paragraph, (2) to be introduced by the draft law in the law of 6 April 2010 on market practices 
and  consumer  protection:    “The  total  amount  to  be  paid  may  be  symmetrically  rounded  to  the  nearest  multiple  of 
five cents, for all means of payment accepted by traders in accordance with the law”. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro (OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1). 

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inform their customers by displaying a special sticker at the entrance of their shops. Nevertheless, it 

is still possible for customers to pay the exact amount payable, using one and two euro cent coins. 

2.3  The  competent  authorities  have,  however,  repeatedly  expressed  their  concern  as  regards  such 

rounding rules, which undermine the legal tender status of one and two euro cent coins. As stated 

in Opinion CON/2002/15, issued further to the proposed amendment of the Finnish Rounding Act, 

‘the Rounding Act should in any case not prevent the one and two cent coins from being used as a 

means  of  payment  as  they  are  de  jure  legal  tender  in  the  entire  euro  area.  Member  States’ 

legislation  should  not  lead  to  divergent  treatment  of  the  euro’.  In  its  ‘Report  on  the  definition, 

scope  and  effects  of  legal  tender  of  euro  banknotes  and  coins’,  the  Euro  Legal  Tender  Expert 

Group (ELTEG) advised that ‘rounding rules seem to be contradictory to the notion of legal tender 

of  coins  [as]  tendering  the  exact  amount  due  does  not  extinguish  the  debt  (except  in  the 

Netherlands), while the very notion of legal tender implies the possibility to settle the exact amount 

owed’. In its Recommendation of 22 March 2010 on the scope and effects of legal tender of euro 
banknotes and coins4, the Commission recommended that ‘Member States should […] refrain from 

adopting new rounding rules since they affect negatively the power to discharge from a payment 

obligation by tendering the exact amount owed and since it may lead in some circumstances to a 

surcharge on cash payments’. 

2.4  With a view to preserving the unity and integrity of the single monetary area, the ECB  therefore 

recommends that any rounding rules are established in a harmonised manner at Union, rather than 

national, level. 

2.5  The  ECB,  nevertheless,  welcomes  that,  as  emphasised  in  the  preparatory  work  for the  draft  law5 

and the consultation letter, the draft law does not alter the legal tender status of one and two  euro 

cent coins in Belgium. It must therefore be ensured that these coins continue to be fully accepted in 

Belgium  for:  (a)  all  payments  amounting  to  one,  two,  three  or  four  euro  cent  and  payments  of 
individual items, which are not subject to the rounding rules6; (b) payments that retailers decide not 

to round; and (c) payments rounded up or down by retailers in accordance with the draft law when 

the customers want to pay the rounded up price with one and two euro cent coins. 

2.6 

In any event, the mere introduction in Belgium of a principle that allows rounding up or down, as 

appropriate,  to  the  nearest  five  cents  for  total  amounts  payable  in  shops  should  not  lead  to  the 

discontinuance  of  one  and  two  euro  cent  coins  by  Belgian  authorities,  as  appears  to  have  been 
considered  in  a  recent  report7.  On  the  contrary,  Belgian  authorities  need  to  ensure  that  one  and 

4  
5  

6  

7  

OJ L 83, 30/3/2010, p. 70. See in particular the ninth recommendation. 
See the preparatory work of the draft law, commentary of article 5: «It is important to note that the one and two euro cent 
coins remain legal means of payments and shall not be suppressed ». 
See new article 9bis, (2), second indent, to be introduced by the draft law in the law of 6 April 2010 on market practices 
and consumer protection. 

Conséquences  de  l’introduction  en  Belgique  d’un  principe  d’arrondi  symétrique  à  cents  près  pour  les  montants  totaux 
payés en magasin », available on the NBB’s website at www.nbb.be. 

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two euro cent coins are widely available in Belgium in accordance with market needs in order to 

safeguard retailers’ freedom to choose whether or not to apply the rounding  rules and to comply 

with  the  draft  law,  which  expressly  excludes  rounding  for  total  prices  of  one,  two,  three  or 

four euro cents and implicitly excludes rounding for the purchase of individual items. 

2.7  The  ECB,  nevertheless,  understands  that,  should  the  practice  of  rounding  up  or  down  become 

widespread,  it  is  expected  that  retailers  will  need  fewer  one  and  two  euro  cent  coins  as  change. 

This, in  turn,  goes some  way  towards  addressing  the issue  of the high  cost  of replacing  one  and 

two euro cent coins that are no longer in circulation due to loss and hoarding. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 January 2014. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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