Rm Naar Euro

[Firman Lamarre]

Whenthe Council approves a Member State's entry to the euro, it also adopts a fixed conversion rate between the national currency and the euro. It does this on the basis of a Commission proposal and after consulting the European Central Bank.

The conversion rate, which becomes irrevocable, is usually set at the central rate observed by the national currency within the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II). Participation in ERM II for at least two years without severe tensions is one of the preconditions a Member State must meet for adopting the euro. It therefore provides the best reference for the fixing of the conversion rate.

The way the conversion rates must be expressed and applied is laid down in a Council Regulation (1103/97), the aim of which is to ensure fairness and continuity of contracts and other legal instruments ('legal certainty') during the changeover. It sets out the specific conversion and rounding rules to be respected:

National law can bring more detail to rules on rounding as long as this leads to a higher degree of accuracy. For example, some groups of services that are sold in units, such as the telephone, electricity or fuel, may require greater precision. In this case, their unit price could be expressed in three or four decimal places and rounding to the nearest cent may only take place on the total amount.

Bilateral conversion rates between national currency units are not defined and cannot be used since this may lead to inaccuracies. To convert from one national currency into another, the national currency must first be converted into euro. The resulting amount will be rounded to at least three decimals and then converted into the other national currency.

The EU sanctions map provides comprehensive details of all EU sanctions regimes and their corresponding legal acts, including a whistleblower tool, a consolidated list of travel bans and a consolidated list of financial sanctions.

The Council adopted a 14th package of restrictive measures designed to target high-value sectors of the Russian economy, like energy, finance and trade, and make it ever more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions.

The suspension of the broadcasting activities of four more media outlets - Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta - in the EU or directed at the EU, in view of their role supporting and justifying Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

This package further deepens our actions to stop Russia from acquiring Western sensitive technologies for Russian military. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have been central to Russia's war against Ukraine. This package thus specifically lists companies procuring Russia with key drone components and introduces some sectoral sanctions to close loopholes and make drone warfare more complicated.

Based on hard evidence from various sources, supported by trade and customs data, the package adds 27 Russian and third country companies to the list of entities associated to Russia's military-industrial complex (Annex IV of Regulation 833/2014). The EU will impose export restrictions towards these companies regarding dual-use goods and technology, as well as goods and technology which might contribute to the technological enhancement of Russia's defence and security sector. The package adds

In addition, the package expands the list of advanced technology items that may contribute to Russia's military and technological enhancement or to the development of its defence and security sector. It adds components used for the development and production of drones, such as electric transformers, static converters and inductors found inter aliain drones, as well as aluminium capacitors, which have military applications, such as in missiles and drones and in communication systems for aircrafts and vessels. This will further weaken Russia's military capabilities.

The new package adds the United Kingdom to the list of partner countries for the iron and steel imports. These partner countries apply a set of restrictive measures on imports of iron and steel and a set of import control measures that are substantially equivalent to those in the EU Regulation (EU) No 833/2014.

New measures amend Regulation (EC) 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus. These amendments create a closer alignment of EU sanctions targeting Russia and Belarus and will help to ensure that Russian sanctions cannot be circumvented through Belarus.

These restrictive measures are fast-tracked in view of the urgency linked to the fight against circumvention regarding certain highly sensitive goods and technologies. They are without prejudice to the remainder of the proposals presented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Commission to amend Decision 2012/642/CFSP and Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 on 26 January 2023, which remain on the table.

Enforcement and anti-circumvention measures: Today's package imposes new reporting obligations on Russian Central Bank assets. This is especially important regarding the possible use of public Russian assets to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine after Russia is defeated.

Other measures include the following

In response to Russia recognising the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and its decision to send troops into the region, the Council adopted a package of sanctions on 23 February 2022. These sanctions target

The G7 Oil Price Cap Coalition established an oil price cap mechanism on Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products. EU operators are only allowed to provide maritime transport and related services for Russian crude oil and petroleum products if these are sold at or below the relevant price caps. This mechanism has been specifically designed to further reduce Russia's revenues, while keeping global energy markets stable through continued supplies. It is applicable to Russian crude oil since 5 December 2022, and to Russian petroleum products since 5 February 2023.

In 2022, restrictions on trade and investment were also imposed regarding to the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine. This sanctions regime consists of Council Decisions (CFSP) 2022/266 and Council Regulation (EU) 2022/263. The measures therein are very similar to those concerning Crimea and Sevastopol.

Since 2020, a wide range of restrictive measures have been imposed regarding Belarus, including economic sanctions, individual restrictive measures and restrictions on trade. All these measures form part of a single sanctions regime consisting of Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP and Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006.

Member States are responsible for implementing sanctions. The Commission oversees the implementation by Member States and is working closely with them in order to support them on implementation, provide information to stakeholders, and engage in a dialogue to collect feedback on how sanctions are implemented.

The Commission has published guidance and extensive FAQs (over 500) covering a broad range of topics and continues to update them, in order to assist stakeholders on how to apply the sanctions packages.

EU economic operators: ec-russia-sanctionsec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ec-russia-sanctions[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

The primary responsibility for the implementation of EU sanctions rests with the Member States. Therefore, when in need of guidance on specific cases, EU operators should foremost reach out to their national competent authority. However, this contact point allows for particularly complex matters to be raised with the European Commission.

Foreign authorities and operators: ec-sanctions-internationalec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ec-sanctions-international[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

The aim of the contact point is to encourage foreign (non-EU) authorities and operators to reach out directly to the Commission when facing difficulties in interpreting EU sanctions. It is also meant to help ensure that the flow of agrifood products and fertilisers to their countries continues unimpeded.

... Quick info Consumer price inflation measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) - Overall index; euro area (changing composition); annual rate of change; Eurostat; neither seasonally nor working day adjusted

New information on a separate breakdown for special purpose entities (SPEs) in euro area balance of payments and international investment position statistics is now available. SPEs are legal entities with minimal employment, physical presence and production in the host economy, established to obtain specific advantages provided by the host jurisdiction, controlled by non-residents and transacting almost entirely with non-residents of the host jurisdiction. More information in the press release.

New experimental statistics offer information on the distribution of wealth across household wealth deciles, housing and working status, including indicators of inequality and household debt. More information in the press release.

Payments statistics data collected under the amending Regulation ECB/2020/59 published for the first time. Semi-annual data for 2022 and quarterly data from Q1-2022 until Q2-2023 are now available. More information here: Press release, Data in the ECB Data Portal and Interactive dashboards.

The SDW web services API are repointed to the ECB Data Portal API ( -api.ecb.europa.eu) as of EDP official go-live. API request syntax will remain unchanged, as data structures and codifications remain the same. User requests are automatically redirected for at least a year from SDW API to the new address.

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