Joint Communiqué of 3 May 1998 by the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States adopting the euro as their single currency, the Commission and the European Monetary Institute on the determination of the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro Official Journal C 160 , 27/05/1998 P. 0001 - 0002 JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ OF 3 MAY 1998 BY THE MINISTERS AND CENTRAL BANK GOVERNORS OF THE MEMBER STATES ADOPTING THE EURO AS THEIR SINGLE CURRENCY, THE COMMISSION AND THE EUROPEAN MONETARY INSTITUTE ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE IRREVOCABLE CONVERSION RATES FOR THE EURO (98/C 160/01) In accordance with Article 109l(4) of the Treaty, the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro will be adopted by the Council, on a proposal from the Commission and after consultation of the European Central Bank (ECB), on the first day of stage three, i.e. on 1 January 1999.
With a view to guiding markets in the run-up to stage three, the Ministers of the Member States adopting the euro as their single currency, the Governors of the Central Banks of these Member States, the European Commission and the European Monetary Institute (EMI) have agreed on the method for determining the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro at the starting date of stage three. The current ERM bilateral central rates of the currencies of the Member States which, on the first day of stage three, will adopt the euro as their single currency, will be used in determining the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro.
These rates are consistent with economic fundamentals and are compatible with sustainable convergence among the Member States which will participate in the euro area. The central banks of the Member States adopting the euro as their single currency will ensure through appropriate market techniques that on 31 December 1998 the market exchange rates, recorded according to the regular concertation procedure used for calculating the daily exchange rates of the official ecu, are equal to the ERM bilateral central rates as set forth in the attached parity grid. The procedure agreed on by all parties to this Joint Communiqué will ensure that the adoption of the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro will by itself, as required by Article 109l(4) of the Treaty, not modify the external value of the ecu, which will be replaced on a 1:1 basis by the euro.
The attached annex provides detailed information on this procedure. The final official ecu exchange rates calculated accordingly and released on 31 December 1998 will be proposed by the Commission for adoption by the Council on the first day of stage three, i.e. on 1 January 1999, as the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro for the participating currencies. In compliance with the legal framework for the use of the euro, once the irrevocable conversion rate for the euro for each participating currency has been adopted, it will be the only rate which will be used for conversion either way between the euro and the national currency unit and also for conversions between national currency units. >TABLE>