Preface to the Third Edition

With the commencement of EMU on 1 January 1999, this third edition of the National Changeover Plan is timely. The third edition updates and expands the material in the first and second editions, which it supersedes. The introduction has been updated, while the main additions to the text are

	a section on dual display in the public sector
	in the public sector, sections on the Department of Agriculture and Food, the Department of Education and Science and the Central Statistics Office, and on the national code of practice on dual display being prepared by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in conjunction with the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs
	in the private sector, sections on the insurance industry and on IBEC.

In addition, the final section of the plan, on legislation, has been updated to reflect the passage earlier this year of the Central Bank Act, 1998; the Finance Act, 1998 (which contains provisions on the tax treatment of the introduction of the euro); and the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998.

Appendix 1 to the Plan, which describes the changeover work being done by a wide range of public and private sector organisations and lists contact points, has been revised and expanded. Three new Appendixes have been added: Appendix 2 lists useful websites and Appendix 3 lists the membership and secretariat of the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland, while Appendix 4 consists of the Standard of good practice on bank charges for conversion to euro and dual display of amounts published by the Irish Bankers' Federation and the Irish Mortgage and Savings Association.

The designs for euro notes, and designs for the common face of euro coins as well as the national faces where these are available, are shown at the end of the document.