CSMS Message: 99-000017

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION REGARDING THE CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES FOR THE
NEW EURO AND IT'S EFFECT ON THE CURRENCIES OF THE 11 PARTICIPATING MEMBER
STATES HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY BOTH THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NY AND BY
THE EUROPEAN UNION:

FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK WEBSITE:

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW EUROPEAN CURRENCY, THE EURO, ON JANUARY 1,
1999 WILL RESULT IN TWO CHANGES TO THE POSTING OF CERTIFIED RATES BY THE
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK:

1) EFFECTIVE JANUARY 4, 1999, THE FRBNY WILL COMMENCE POSTING A
DOLLAR-EURO EXCHANGE RATE;

2) AFTER A BRIEF COURTESY PERIOD CONCLUDING JANUARY 15, 1999, THE
FRBNY WILL CEASE POSTING DOLLAR RATES AGAINST THE CURRENCIES OF
THE ELEVEN COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING IN MONETARY UNION (I.E. THE
AUSTRIAN SCHILLING, BELGIUM FRANC, FINNISH MARKKA, FRENCH FRANC,
GERMAN MARK, IRISH PUNT, ITALIAN LIRA, LUXEMBOURG FRANC, DUTCH
GUILDER, PORTUGESE ESCUDO, AND SPANISH PESETA).

FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION WEBSITE
(HTTP://EUROPA.EU.INT/EUROBIRTH/INDEX_EN.HTML)

ON JANUARY 1, 1999, 00:00 A.M., THE EURO BECOMES THE OFFICIAL CURRENCY
OF 11 MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WITH A FIXED CONVERSION RATE
AGAINST THEIR NATIONAL CURRENCIES. FROM THEN ON, THE VALUE OF THE
EURO AGAINST THE DOLLAR AND ALL OTHER CURRENCIES, INCLUDING THOSE OF
THE FOUR MEMBER STATES STAYING OUT OF THE EURO ZONE, WILL FLUCTUATE
ACCORDING TO MARKET CONDITIONS.

ALTHOUGH EURO NOTES AND COINS WILL NOT APPEAR UNTIL 1 JANUARY, 2002,
THE NEW CURRENCY CAN BE USED BY CONSUMERS, RETAILERS, COMPANIES OF ALL
KINDS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS FROM 1 JANUARY 1999 IN THE FORM OF
"WRITTEN MONEY" - THAT IS, BY MEANS OF CHEQUES, TRAVELLERS' CHEQUES,
BANK TRANSFERS AND ELECTRONIC PURSES.

1 EUR = 40.3399 BEF
1.95583 DEM
166.386 ESP
6.55957 FRF
.787564 IEP
1936.27 ITL
40.3399 LUF
2.20371 NLG
13.7603 ATS
200.482 PTE
5.94573 FIM

THE COMMISSION HAS MADE THE ABOVE PROPOSAL TO THE COUNCIL FOR THE
IRREVOCABLY FIXED CONVERSION RATES BETWEEN THE EURO AND THE CURRENCIES
(ISO CODES) OF THE 11 PARTICIPATING MEMBER STATES.

THESE RATES HAVE NOW BEEN ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL.

THESE RATES ARE NOW PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL
(L 359 31.12.1998).

BASED ON THE ABOVE, EFFECTIVE ON AND AFTER JANUARY 15, 1999, THE
CUSTOMS SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO PUBLISH RATES FOR THE 11 MEMBER STATES'
CURRENCIES, BUT THE PUBLISHED RATES WILL BE THE "PEGGED" RATE FOR THAT
CURRENCY TO THE EURO BASED ON THE ABOVE INFORMATION. FOR EXAMPLE, IF
THE EURO FOR A GIVEN DAY IS VALUED AT 1.1812 USD, THE RATE FOR THE
GERMAN MARK FOR THAT DAY WILL BE .603938 USD (1.1812 DIVIDED BY THE
FIXED GERMAN MARK EURO CONVERSION RATE OF 1.95583). THE RATE FOR THE
SPANISH PESETA WOULD BE .007099 (1.1812 DIVIDED BY THE FIXED SPANISH
PESETA EURO CONVERSION RATE OF 166.386), AND SO ON FOR EACH OF THE
11 MEMBER STATES.

THE CUSTOMS INFORMATION EXCHANGE WILL CONTINUE TO PUBLISH THESE RATES
AS DECSRIBED ABOVE.