11.5.98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 139/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 1091(4), third sentence thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Monetary Institute (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia- ment (%), O Whereas this Regulation defines monetary law provisions of the Member States which have adopted the euro; whereas provisions on continuity of contracts, the replacement of references to the ecu in legal instruments by references to the euro and rounding have already been laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduc- tion of the euro (*); whereas the introduction of the euro concerns day-to-day operations of the whole population in participating Member States; whereas measures other than those in this Regulation and in Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 should be exam- ined to ensure a balanced changeover, in particular for consumers; Whereas, at the meeting of the European Council in Madrid on 15 and 16 December 1995, the decision was taken that the term ‘ecu’ used by the Treaty to refer to the European currency unit is a generic term; whereas the Governments of the 15 Member States have reached the common agree- ment that this decision is the agreed and definitive interpretation of the relevant Treaty provisions; whereas the name given to the European currency shall be the ‘euro’; whereas the euro as the currency of the participating Member States shall be divided into one hundred sub-units with the name ‘cent’; C 369, 7. 12. 1996, p. 10. C 205, 5. 7. 1997, p. 18. C 380, 16. 12. 1996, p. 50. L 162, 19. 6. 1997, p. 1. whereas the definition of the name ‘cent’ does not prevent the use of variants of this term in common usage in the Member States; whereas the European Council furthermore considered that the name of the single currency must be the same in all the official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets; Whereas the Council when acting in accordance with the third sentence of Article 1091(4) of the Treaty shall take the measures necessary for the rapid introduction of the euro other than the adop- tion of the conversion rates; Whereas whenever under Article 109k(2) of the Treaty a Member State becomes a participating Member State, the Council shall according to Article 1091(5) of the Treaty take the other meas- ures necessary for the rapid introduction of the euro as the single currency of this Member State; Whereas according to the first sentence of Article 1091(4) of the Treaty the Council shall at the starting date of the third stage adopt the conversion rates at which the currencies of the participating Member States shall be irrevocably fixed and at which irrevocably fixed rate the euro shall be substituted for these currencies; Whereas given the absence of exchange rate risk either between the euro unit and the national currency units or between these national currency units, legislative provisions should be interpreted accordingly; Whereas the term ‘contract’ used for the definition of legal instruments is meant to include all types of contracts, irrespective of the way in which they are concluded; Whereas in order to prepare a smooth changeover to the euro a transitional period is needed between the substitution of the euro for the currencies of