S.I. No. 424/1998:

ORDER entitled ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION ACT, 1998 (REDENOMINATION OF NEGOTIABLE DEBT INSTRUMENTS) ORDER, 1998

ORDER entitled ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION ACT, 1998 (REDENOMINATION OF NEGOTIABLE DEBT INSTRUMENTS) ORDER, 1998

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 23 (1) of the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998 (No. 38 of 1998), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998 (Redenomination of Negotiable Debt Instruments) Order, 1998.

2. In this Order-

"the Minister" means the Minister for Finance;

"negotiable debt instruments" shall be deemed to include securities denominated in the Irish pound unit and to which section 69 of the Finance Act, 1985 (No. 10 of 1985), or section 44 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 (No. 39 of 1997), relate;

"Registrar" means the Central Bank of Ireland or the National Treasury Management Agency, as appropriate in the circumstances.

3. With effect from the 1st day of January, 1999, negotiable debt instruments issued by or on behalf of the State shall be redenominated into the euro unit.

4. The Minister shall notify in writing each Registrar concerned of the making of this Order and shall specify therein the terms and conditions set out in Article 5 of this Order and the date redenomination shall take effect in accordance with Article 3 of this Order.

5. Negotiable debt instruments shall be redenominated in accordance with the following terms and conditions:

(a) they shall be redenominated by the recorded value on the register of each individual holding identified on the register and valued prior to redenomination in the Irish pound unit being re-stated in the euro unit, which statement of the value of that individual holding shall be calculated by applying the conversion rate adopted for the Irish pound unit by the Council according to the first sentence of paragraph 4 of Article 1091 (inserted by the Treaty on European Union) of the Treaty Establishing the European Community to the recorded value of each such holding;

(b) the value of each individual holding shall, after redenomination, be stated on the register to the nearest cent and roundings carried out to determine the value of individual holdings to the nearest cent shall follow the rule that, when the third decimal is equal to or greater than 5, the amount is rounded up to the next cent, while if the third decimal is less than 5 the amount is rounded down to the previous cent, and

(c) the Registrar shall take all such other steps as may be necessary or desirable consequent on such redenomination.

6. Notwithstanding the terms and conditions under which a negotiable debt instrument was issued or the terms of any other agreements governing that instrument, the Minister, or the National Treasury Management Agency acting on behalf of the Minister, may issue or withdraw such amounts of that instrument as may be necessary to ensure that the sum of the values of the individual holdings outstanding in the euro unit immediately after redenomination is equivalent to the sum of the values of the individual holdings in the Irish pound unit of that instrument outstanding immediately prior to redenomination and no such issuance or withdrawal shall constitute a contravention of any contractual agreement.

7. The Minister, or the National Treasury Management Agency acting on behalf of the Minister-

(a) shall arrange or cause to arrange for the publication in at least one newspaper published generally within the State of a notice, and

(b) may arrange or cause to arrange for the publication within the State or otherwise of such further notices, as the Minister or the National Treasury Management Agency considers appropriate or desirable in the circumstances,

of the redenomination of the negotiable debt instrument in question and of the date of its redenomination.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 29th day of October, 1998,

CHARLIE McCREEVY

Minister for Finance

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order enables the Minister for Finance, or the National Treasury Management Agency on his behalf, to redenominate into the euro unit Bonds, Bills and Notes issued by or on behalf of the Minister in the Irish pound unit under Irish law.