Euro Changeover Board of Ireland What's NewReturn to Index










Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top




























Back To Top
PART II: Overseeing the detailed implementation of the changeover

  1. Introduction The first of the Board's two tasks was to oversee the detailed implementation of the changeover to the euro. During the period under review, activity focused on legislation at national and EU level; intensifying the preparations of the public sector; and monitoring the preparations of the organisations most closely involved in carrying out the cash changeover.

    LEGISLATION

    LEGISLATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

  2. The Euro Changeover (Amounts) Act 2001 The need for this Act was explained in the Board's third report. The Act was signed by the President on 25 June 2001. Briefly, it provided, in necessary cases, for the replacement of Irish pound (IR£) amounts set down in law with convenient amounts in euro with effect from 1 January 2002. The amounts replaced were certain fees, charges etc. levied by Government Departments or bodies, and certain statutory thresholds, where the amounts are or may be paid in cash or need to be easily remembered. The fee etc. amounts were reduced to the nearest convenient euro amount below the exact equivalent of the IR£ amounts, so as to favour the citizen, and the threshold amounts were increased to the nearest convenient euro amount above the exact equivalent, again so as to favour the citizen.

    The Act dealt only with cases where a convenient euro amount was identified as necessary. Moreover it did not deal with money amounts in the tax, social welfare or road tax codes: these were dealt with in the Finance Act 2001, the Social Welfare Act 2001 and the Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Act 2001 respectively.

    The Act made technical amendments to certain sections in the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998, in order to enable the exact time of the withdrawal of legal tender status from Irish notes and coins to be aligned with the timing of the repeal of certain sections in earlier law under which Irish notes and coins were issued or under which limits were placed on the number of coins that could be tendered. It also amended the Central Bank Act 1989 to defer, until the next business day, the giving of value by banks in respect of transactions that fall due for processing by them on a public holiday or on a day when the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer (TARGET) interbank settlement system is closed by decision of the European Central Bank (ECB). Such deferral already happened in respect of public holidays, and indeed most of the TARGET closed days already corresponded with Ireland's public holidays. The main exceptions were 1 May each year - Ireland's public holiday is on the first Monday in May - and 31 December 2001, on which the ECB decided that TARGET should be closed in order to safeguard the smooth conversion of retail payment systems and internal bank systems to the euro.

  3. Ministerial Orders The following Orders were made under the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998 during the period under review:

    • The Irish Pound Notes and Coins (Cessation of Legal Tender Status) Order 2001 (SI No. 313 of 2001). This Order was made on 11 July 2001, having first been approved in draft by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas as required by the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998. (The resolution was taken in each House in tandem with the second stage of the Euro Changeover (Amounts) Act 2001). The Order appointed 9 February 2002 as the "earlier operative date" for the purposes of Chapter III of the 1998 Act: this effected the withdrawal of legal tender status from Irish pound notes and coins at midnight on Saturday 9 February 2002.

    • The Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998 (Section 11(2)) (Commencement) Order 2001 (SI No. 310 of 2001). This Order, also made on 11 July 2001, appointed 1 January 2002 as the day for the coming into operation of Section 11(2) of the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998. In effect the Order commenced the Minister's power to issue euro and cent coins from 1 January 2002.

    • The Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998 (Design of Coins) Order 2001 and the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998 (Design of Coins) (No. 2) Order 2001 (SI No. 347 of 2001). The first of these Orders was made on 11 July 2001. However, while legally valid, it was not in the generally-accepted format and legal advice was that it should be remade. Accordingly, the No. 2 Order was made on 26 July 2001. It revoked the first Order and provided for the Irish design of the national face of euro and cent coins and for the "edge lettering" design of the 2 euro coin. It also repeats, in a Schedule, the description agreed at EU level for the designs of the common faces of the coins.

    • The Irish Pound Coinage (Calling In) Order 2001 and the Irish Pound Coinage (Calling In) (No. 2) Order 2001 (SI No. 348 of 2001). Like the first Design of Coins Order mentioned above, the first Calling In Order, made on 11 July 2001, was legally valid but was not in the generally-accepted format and legal advice was that it also should be remade. Accordingly, the Calling In No. 2 Order was made on 26 July 2001. It revoked the first Calling In Order and provided for the calling-in from 10 February 2002 of the £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p, 1p and 10 shilling coins.

  4. Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Act 2001 This Act, which was signed by the President on 3 July 2001, provided inter alia for the replacement of IR£ amounts in the road tax code with convenient amounts in euro to operate from 1 January 2002.

  5. Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 This Act was signed by the President on 19 December 2001. As mentioned in the Board's third report, Part 5 of the Act contains provisions against counterfeiting of currency notes and coins, including euro notes and coins before they were issued. The anti-counterfeiting provisions implement the requirements of the EU Council Framework Decision of 29 May 2000 (2000/383/JHA) on increasing protection by criminal penalties and other sanctions against counterfeiting in connection with the introduction of the euro (OJ L140 of 14 June 2000).

    During the period of this report, a new section, now Section 39 of Part 5, was inserted in the Bill by way of Ministerial amendment during the debate at the Dáil Committee on 13 November 2001. Section 39 contains the legislative measures required to implement Council Regulation (EC) No. 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (OJ L181 of 4 July 2001). The Regulation is described below. Section 39 implements Article 6 of the Regulation and provides for:

    • an obligation on banks, building societies, credit unions, An Post, bureaux de change and cash sorting and distribution firms to withdraw from circulation and transmit to the Central Bank (or the Garda in certain cases) all counterfeit notes and coins received by them;
    • penalties (on summary conviction or on conviction on indictment) for failure to comply;
    • the introduction of recognised codes of practice, proof of adherence to which could be put forward as a defence in proceedings for non-compliance;
    • relief from confidentiality obligations and civil liability in respect of actions taken in compliance with the reporting requirement; and
    • power to extend the list of bodies to which the provision would apply.

    At the end of the period under review the Central Bank of Ireland, in consultation with the Secretariat, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, was in the process of finalising a framework Code of Practice for the purposes of the Section.

    LEGISLATION AT EU LEVEL

  6. Council Regulation (EC) No. 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (OJ L181 of 4 July 2001). The Secretariat, in consultation with the Central Bank, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, participated in the Council Working Group which examined the original proposal made in June 2000 by the European Commission for a Council Regulation on the protection of the euro against counterfeiting.

    The Regulation, which was adopted on 28 June 2001, established procedures for collecting, storing and exchanging information on counterfeits and counterfeiting, and organised co-operation between the competent authorities at national and EU level, as well as with non-member countries and international organisations. Member States were also obliged to take the following measures before 1 January 2002:

    1. to establish a National Analysis Centre (NAC) for the technical analysis and classification of counterfeit euro notes and a Coin National Analysis Centre (CNAC) (Articles 4 and 5). These Centres have been established by the Central Bank at its Currency Centre in Sandyford.

    2. to send to the Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) a list of the competent authorities for the investigation and classification of counterfeits, including the National Central Office (Article 10). These are the Central Bank Currency Centre and the Garda Síochána respectively and the Commission and the ECB were notified accordingly.

    3. to ensure integration of the National Central Office (under the 1929 Geneva Convention on the suppression of counterfeiting) and the EUROPOL National Office. Both Offices are within the structures of An Garda Síochána.

    4. to impose an obligation (with penalties for non-compliance) on credit institutions and other cash handlers to retain and hand over to the competent authorities all counterfeit euro notes and coins received by them. As mentioned earlier, Section 39 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 contains the necessary legislative provisions.

  7. Council Decision (2001/887/JHA) of 6 December 2001 on the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (OJ L329 of 14 December 2001) This Decision provides for the communication of information concerning counterfeiting of the euro to Europol, and for making use, where appropriate, of the facilities offered by the existing provisional Judicial Cooperation Unit and, subsequently, the facilities offered by Eurojust once it has been established by the EU Member States to supersede the Unit, in investigations into counterfeiting.

  8. Council Framework Decision (2001/888/JHA) of 6 December 2001 amending Framework Decision 2000/383/JHA on increasing protection by criminal penalties and other sanctions against counterfeiting in connection with the introduction of the euro (OJ L329 of 14 December 2001) This Framework Decision provides that Member States, for the purpose of establishing habitual criminality, recognise previous convictions in another Member State relating to counterfeiting of currency.

  9. Council Decision (2001/923/EC) of 17 December 2001 establishing an exchange, assistance and training programme for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (OJ L339 of 21 December 2001) This Decision established a programme (PERICLES) to provide financial support from the EU budget for a range of measures to promote awareness, co-operation and high level training and support for the authorities (police, technical and legal experts) involved in combating counterfeiting of the euro.

    PUBLIC SECTOR PREPARATIONS

  10. Background to Public Sector Preparations: SCOT Long before the establishment of the Board, the Department of Finance had taken the lead role in urging Government Departments, and through them the rest of the public sector, to prepare for the introduction of the euro. The key group in the changeover preparations of Government Departments and, through them, the public sector was the Single Currency Officers Team (SCOT). The Department of Finance established SCOT in Autumn 1995. Its remit was to co-ordinate preparations for the euro in the public sector. SCOT consisted of a representative from every Government Department as well as from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Central Statistics Office and the National Treasury Management Agency. The Central Bank of Ireland also participated. The membership of SCOT is set out at Appendix 2.

  11. Responsibility of each Department In October 1997 the Government decided that each Department was to be responsible for the changeover of its operations to the euro and to that end was to prepare a detailed changeover plan in respect of its operations, to designate a senior officer to oversee the implementation of its plan, to apply similar arrangements as appropriate to all bodies under its aegis and to submit regular progress reports to the Department of Finance, which would in turn report regularly to the Government on the progress of the changeover across the public sector.

  12. Role of Board Secretariat in relation to SCOT The Department of Finance had chaired and provided the Secretariat for SCOT from its inception. With the establishment of the Board, whose Chair and Secretariat were provided by the Department of Finance, it was natural that the Board Secretariat would take over this role. SCOT met 70 times in all since Autumn 1995, including nine times in the period of this report.

  13. Intensification of Public Sector Preparations from June 2000 and January 2001 In June 2000, on foot of a memorandum prepared by the SCOT Secretariat, the Government decided that the Head of each Department and major Office should report to Government, via the SCOT Secretariat, on progress in the implementation of its changeover plans and that these reports were to be submitted to Government every two months up to March 2001 and every month thereafter. The pace of preparations was further increased when in January 2001, again on foot of a memorandum prepared by the SCOT Secretariat, the Government approved a number of further measures to be adopted in each Department, including that every Minister ensure that his/her Department, and as appropriate the bodies under its aegis, gave top priority from then on to ensuring that they were fully prepared for the changeover to the euro. Accordingly, from July 2000 the Secretariat made two-monthly reports to Government to confirm that changeover preparations were on target; and from January 2001 made such reports every month, on the basis of reports received from the Head of every Department and major Office. These reports included reports from CMOD (the Centre for Management, Organisation and Development in the Department of Finance) on the conversion to euro by Departments of the Payroll Systems and Financial Management Systems (FMS) (see below) common to Departments, as well as brief reports from each Head of Department on staff training and the conversion of in-house information technology systems. This system of close monitoring, regular reports by Heads of Departments and regular reporting to Government ensured that public sector preparations were kept on track, especially in the crucial final year of the changeover.

  14. Conversion Rotas for Common Payroll and Accounts Systems Common Payroll and Financial Management (FMS) systems are used by the majority of Government Departments and clearly their successful conversion to euro was a key element in the public sector changeover. Accordingly, in early 2001, CMOD in the Department of Finance established a Euro Conversion Monitoring Group to oversee the achievement of euro compliance for these systems. (Departments not using the common systems were made responsible for their own conversions). A rota of Departments was established, setting out dates by which each Department had to achieve key stages in the conversion of its systems. CMOD monitored progress against these dates by means of monthly questionnaires which were completed and signed by the Finance Officer/Accountant of each Department. CMOD then submitted to the SCOT Secretariat a monthly report on progress in implementing each of the two rotas, for inclusion with the Secretariat's monthly progress reports to the Government. The target dates in the two rotas were met and the euro changeover of both the Payroll and the Financial Management Systems was successfully completed. In most cases euro payrolls were in operation before end-2001. The FMS switched to euro operation on 1 January 2002. CMOD monitoring also established that no significant problems were subsequently encountered in the operation of these systems.

  15. Attendance at Meetings of Departments' Changeover Groups The Secretariat did not confine its role to providing the SCOT Chair and Secretariat and monitoring Departments' and CMOD progress reports and submitting progress reports to the Government. At the start of 2001, an officer of the Secretariat attended the first Euro Changeover Group meeting that year of each Government Department and Office represented on SCOT. These Groups, on foot of the Government decisions described earlier, were to be held each month under the chairmanship of an officer of Assistant Secretary rank and they included representatives of all relevant units and divisions within the Department/Office. Departments and Offices with public bodies under their aegis were required to ensure that those bodies had similar arrangements in place, and in this round of meetings, the Secretariat was also represented at meetings with bodies under the aegis of such Departments/Offices. Following this, a process was established where follow-up action to Group meetings was taken where necessary, and liaison maintained with the Groups. The Secretariat made a practice of attending all meetings through the year of the Departments most crucial to the changeover, including the Department of Finance. It was agreed with the other Departments and Offices that the Secretariat would be invited to attend their Group meetings when specific items of interest were to be raised. Attendance at these meetings meant that the Secretariat was constantly appraised of developments that would be of common interest to Departments and Offices. It also facilitated direct communication between the Secretariat and the individuals driving the changeover in vital areas of the public service, and provided these individuals with the opportunity to obtain information direct from the Board and to be briefed on the latest developments.

  16. Central Bank Training in Cash Handling A number of Departmental Changeover Groups raised in 2001 the issue of training for the staff in their cash offices on the security features of the euro currency. At the Secretariat's request, the Central Bank agreed to facilitate the in-house training of such staff. The training programme was run on the 'training for trainers' concept, i.e. the individuals selected by Departments/Offices for training by the Central Bank were in turn to train their cash office colleagues. Professional trainers from the Central Bank Currency Centre delivered the training, and products used in it included an ECB-produced CD-ROM and video, copies of which were given to Departments/Offices. Over 100 staff attended these training sessions, in September and November 2001.

  17. Taxi Issue A further example of the Secretariat's involvement in public sector preparations is provided by its representation on a group formed in June 2001 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, consisting of representatives of that Department, the Department of the Environment & Local Government, the Legal Metrology Service, Dublin Corporation, the Garda Carriage Office and Forfás, to identify and help resolve the difficulties involved in the changeover and verification of taxi meters to euro. This group met regularly in the period June-December 2001. It was decided to produce information kits for taxi and hackney drivers on similar lines to the kit produced for retailers by the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign. The kits were prepared by Forfás with input from the parties represented on the group. Kits were issued to some 10,000 taxi licence holders in December, while kits for hackney drivers were made available through licensing authorities to some 13,000 hackney-plate owners. These kits were designed to ensure that throughout the dual circulation period, and if necessary after it, taxis could continue to trade effectively even while waiting to have their meters converted to euro fares.

    MONITORING KEY STAKEHOLDERS' PREPARATIONS

  18. Work of the Cash Changeover Group While it was obviously important to put in place the necessary legislative preparations for the changeover and to ensure that public sector preparations were being implemented satisfactorily, the key part of the changeover was, naturally, the physical introduction of euro notes and coins from 1 January 2002. The Cash Changeover Working Group set up by the Board in 1999 continued its work in this area, meeting regularly throughout the period under review to monitor preparations and take measures to intensify them where necessary.

  19. Board's Planning Unit Naturally, however, the Cash Changeover Working Group could not monitor preparations on a day-to-day level across the many organisations that would be closely involved in actually making the changeover work. That task was carried out with the key stakeholders by the Board's Planning Unit. As mentioned in the third report, in late 2000 the Secretariat established this Unit to support the implementation of the Cash Changeover Plan, with appropriate consultancy assistance, and to report to the Cash Changeover Working Group and the Board. The Unit's task was to monitor key stakeholders' issues and the milestones in their preparations, with a view to the changeover to euro notes and coins being implemented as smoothly as possible. The background to the setting up of the Unit, and the work it did in carrying out this oversight project, are described in the following paragraphs.

  20. Oversight Project Background Changing over to a new currency is a complex process. It affects virtually all businesses and there are many connections and dependencies within and across businesses and sectors. It is also a project which must have a clear deadline and that deadline must be met; and the success - or otherwise - of the project's implementation will be immediately visible to the entire population. These unique features of the project, together with the Board's specific task of overseeing the implementation of the changeover, made it clear that the changeover would require to be overseen and driven forward on a daily basis. This was the task of the Secretariat Planning Unit, headed at Principal Officer level, and staffed by two Assistant Principals, with clerical assistance. The assistance of consultants was enlisted to help the Unit to prepare a plan for its oversight of the implementation of the Cash Changeover Plan and to carry out the plan.

  21. Oversight Project Methodology The oversight project was based on recognition that four elements were essential for the introduction of euro cash to work: first, sufficient euro cash had to be produced in time; second, it had to be successfully front-loaded (i.e. delivered in advance of 1 January 2002) to financial institutions and sub-frontloaded from there to retailers; third, it had then to be got out quickly to the public from 1 January 2002; and finally, the public had to be able to use it (e.g. in parking meters, vending machines etc.) when they got it. Following this cash trail, the Planning Unit and consultants identified some 60 key stakeholders essential to the production, distribution and retail use of cash (a further 20 were added following discussion with the stakeholders initially identified). Briefly, these stakeholders included not just the Central Bank, the main financial institutions, An Post etc., but also supermarket groups, "symbol" groups of retailers, organisations representing newsagents, petrol stations etc., public transport companies, city local authorities (as regards parking meters) and vending machine operators. It was then a question of visiting each of the stakeholders identified, in order to check the state of their preparations, list the tasks and issues outstanding for each of them and attach a deadline for the completion of each task and the resolution of each issue. This process enabled an overall list of issues to be compiled and cross-cutting issues to be identified and solutions found for them; it also provided the basis for the next stage of the project, when stakeholders were regularly revisited to check on their implementation of the tasks identified in the first visit. This structured approach ensured that the oversight project adhered to project management best practice, was structured and controlled, provided sufficient early warning of important risks, and was well fitted to achieving its goal of a smooth, timely and integrated changeover.

  22. Role of Planning Unit The Planning Unit made it clear to the stakeholders that the Unit was not responsible for the execution of tasks, but rather for seeing to it that the stakeholders had plans in place to fulfil their responsibilities and that they fulfilled them in a timely manner. The Unit did of course facilitate dialogue between stakeholders to achieve the objectives of the project.

  23. Benefits of Oversight Project The end-objective of the Project was to facilitate the implementation by the stakeholders of a smooth, timely, integrated and controlled changeover to the euro, and this was of course achieved. However, during 2001 the project also had the vital benefit of enabling the Secretariat to assess on an ongoing basis how preparations for the changeover were progressing among the key stakeholders, and to identify the issues and problems faced by stakeholders and where possible to facilitate a resolution of them - whether by the stakeholders themselves, by stakeholders in conjunction with other stakeholders, or by stakeholders in conjunction with the Unit and the Cash Changeover Working Group.

  24. Conclusions The oversight project was a valuable undertaking. It obliged stakeholders to examine their plans critically and even, in some cases, to begin the planning process; it also created a sense of cooperation and national effort among stakeholders; and, not least, it engendered a sense of appreciation among stakeholders at the extensive efforts being undertaken by the national authorities to ensure that they could play their part to the full in implementing the changeover in their areas. Finally, it also created an awareness among stakeholders of the interdependence between them and provided a means of communication with and among stakeholders.

  25. Frontloading and Sub-Frontloading It was crucial to the success of the changeover that detailed arrangements be put in place for having adequate supplies of euro notes and coins appropriately distributed throughout the country. The Central Bank and financial institutions were central to the formulation of these arrangements and undertook the appropriate consultations with other stakeholders, including cash distribution companies and retail organisations. Individual retailers were consulted at bank branch level. Retailers had to estimate their requirements for euro cash well in advance and make arrangements with their financial institutions for obtaining these requirements so that they would be able to give change only in euro from 1 January 2002. The Planning Unit monitored and where necessary facilitated the development of these arrangements. In particular, the Unit used meetings with stakeholders to emphasise the need for retailers to make arrangements to be sub-frontloaded and to encourage retailers to speak to their banks about their cash requirements if they had not already done so.

  26. Waiver of Cash Handling Charges The Unit was also involved in negotiating the agreement with the banks, detailed in the third annual report, whereby the banks agreed not to charge cash handling charges on euro cash provided to retailers in advance of 1 January 2002; and not to charge cash lodgement charges on Irish notes and coins lodged by retailers during the dual circulation period and for a short time afterwards - that is, from 1 January 2002 until the end of the week after legal tender status was withdrawn from Irish notes and coins. In return for this waiver, the Central Bank provided the banks with a lodgement fee for Irish notes and coins that it received from them during the dual circulation period and for a short period afterwards. The fee for coins was also available to others subject to certain minimum quantities. Along with the ECB's debiting model, under which financial institutions were charged value in three thirds for the euro cash frontloaded to them, on 2, 23 and 30 January, this agreement facilitated the decision by banks that they would not debit retailers' accounts with the value of euro cash sub-frontloaded to them until, in most cases, significantly later than 2 January 2002.

  27. Insurance cover for Retailers In order to further promote the acceptance of sub-frontloading by retailers, representatives of the Cash Changeover Working Group met the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) and the Irish Brokers' Association (IBA) in Autumn 2001 to explore whether the insurance industry would be in a position to provide insurance cover for retailers in respect of their higher-than-normal cash holdings in advance of 1 January 2002 and in the early days of the changeover, and at what cost; and whether, to ease storage capacity on retail premises, insurers would be willing, exceptionally, to make a distinction between notes and coins as regards how they are stored.

    In response, the IIF member companies agreed to provide, free of charge, for the cash changeover an automatic uplift in cover to four times retailers' existing policy limit, or up to a maximum of IR£20,000 (e25,394.76), whichever was the less, from 1 December 2001 to 15 January 2002. In addition, insurers agreed, subject to certain conditions, not to insist on compliance with safe manufacturers' stated capacity limits for the duration of the increased cover period. The IIF also undertook that underwriters would on an ad hoc basis give sympathetic consideration to requests for additional cover, again subject to certain conditions. In parallel, the IBA made available, as a broker-to-broker scheme, an excess euro cash policy, at a cost, for retailers who could not obtain sufficient cover from their primary insurer.

  28. Level of Sub-Frontloading Overall, these arrangements removed important obstacles for retailers in accepting sub-frontloaded euro cash and greatly facilitated the achievement of sub-frontloading of virtually all retailers - an achievement which contributed enormously to the success of the changeover. The level of sub-frontloading of retailers in Ireland significantly exceeded that attained in most of the other euro area Member States.

  29. International Contacts via the European Commission Throughout the period, the Secretariat participated in meetings of the Member States' Public Administrations Network for the Changeover established by the European Commission. While obviously the processing of national legislation, the preparation of the public sector and the implementation of the changeover were fundamentally matters for national administrations, nevertheless the Network meetings provided the opportunity for useful contact with the Commission and the other euro Member States and for sharing experiences and ideas with them. The Commission also produced Communications from time to time suggesting good practices for national authorities and others involved in the changeover, and these also stimulated consideration of fresh ideas and experiences.

  30. Conclusion In summary, in the period under review the Board continued to invest considerable time and resources in the legislative and practical preparations required for the changeover. Part IV of this report describes how well the changeover actually worked and demonstrates that the preparations undertaken by the Board and all the other organisations involved paid off in practice.



Part I: Introduction and Establishment, Tasks and Membership of the Board etc.
Part III: Public Information Activities

Table of Contents
Home Page | What is the ECBI? | Whats New | Notes and Coins | Schools Page | Timetable for the Changeover | National Changeover Plan
Cash Changeover Plan | Legislation | Articles | Euro Calculator | Frequent Questions | Further Information & Links
Homepage What is the ECBI ? Whats New Notes & Coins Schools Page Timetable for Change The National Changeover Plan The Cash Changeover Plan Legislation Articles Euro Calculator Frequently Asked Questions Further Information & Links & Links