Council Regulation (EC) No 2169/2005 of 21 December 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro

• Published date: 29 December 2005
• Subject Matter: Economic and Monetary Union,Economic policy
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 346, 29 December 2005

29.12.2005 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 346/1

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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2169/2005

of 21 December 2005

amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Central Bank (2),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro (3) provides for the substitution of the euro for the currencies of the Member States which fulfilled the necessary conditions for the adoption of the single currency at the time when the Community entered the third stage of economic and monetary union. That Regulation also includes rules which apply to the national currency units of these Member States during the transitional period ending on 31 December 2001, and rules on banknotes and coins.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 2596/2000 amended Regulation (EC) No 974/98 to provide for the substitution of the euro for the currency of Greece.

(3) Regulation (EC) No 974/98 sets out a timetable for transition to the euro in the Member States currently participating. In order to provide clarity and certainty with regard to the rules governing the introduction of the euro in other Member States, it is necessary to lay down general provisions specifying how the various periods in the transition to the euro are to be determined in the future.

(4) It is appropriate to provide for a list of participating Member States which may be extended when further Member States adopt the euro as the single currency.

(5) In order to prepare a smooth changeover to the euro, Regulation (EC) No 974/98 provides for a transitional period between the substitution of the euro for the currencies of the participating Member States and the introduction of euro banknotes and coins. The transitional period should last three years at the most, but should be as short as possible.

(6) The transitional period can be reduced to zero, in which case the euro adoption date and the cash changeover date fall on the same day, if a Member State considers that a longer transitional period is not necessary. In that case, euro banknotes and coins will become legal tender in that Member State on the euro adoption date. However, it should be possible for such a Member State to benefit from a ‘phasing-out’ period of one year, during which it would be possible to continue to make reference to the national currency unit in new legal instruments. This would give economic actors in such a Member State more time to adapt to the introduction of the euro and therefore ease the transition.

(7) It should be possible for the general public to exchange banknotes and coins denominated in the national currency unit for euro banknotes and coins free of charge during the dual circulation period, subject to certain ceilings.

(8) Regulation (EC) No 974/98 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 974/98 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 1 For the purpose of this Regulation: (a) “participating Member States” shall mean the Member States listed in the table in the Annex; (b) “legal instruments” shall mean legislative and statutory provisions, acts of administration, judicial decisions, contracts, unilateral legal acts, payment instruments other than banknotes and coins, and other instruments with legal effect; (c) “conversion rate” shall mean the irrevocably fixed conversion rate adopted for the currency of each participating Member State by the Council in accordance with the first sentence of Article 123(4) of the Treaty or with paragraph 5 of that Article; (d) “euro adoption date” shall mean either the date on which the respective Member State enters the third stage under Article 121(3) of the Treaty or the date on which the abrogation of the respective Member State’s derogation under Article 122(2) of the Treaty enters into force, as the case may be; (e) “cash changeover date” shall mean the date on which euro banknotes and coins acquire the status of legal tender in a given participating Member State; (f) “euro unit” shall mean the currency unit as referred to in the second sentence of Article 2; (g) “national currency units” shall mean the units of the currency of a participating Member State, as those units are defined on

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