Countdown to E-Day in final phase

There are 112 days to go until E-Day, January 1st, 2002. The countdown to the introduction of euro coins and notes into circulation in Ireland and 11 other European states is now entering its final phase, with more than 50 billion euro coins and 15 billion bank notes being distributed throughout the single currency zone between now and the New Year.

Banks received their first deliveries of new coins last week, while euro starter kits go on sale to the public from post offices on December 17th. After midnight on New Year's Eve, consumers should be able to pay for goods in either Irish pounds, euros or even a combination of both.

This dual circulation period will last six weeks, until Irish bank notes and coins cease to be legal tender on February 9th. Members of the public in each euro-zone state will be able to exchange their national bank notes for the new currency, without commission, at the official conversion rate until March 31st, 2002.

So are businesses and the general public "euro-ready"? The transition from pounds and pence to euro notes and coins is being overseen by the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland, which is producing an estimated half a million information items on aspects of the currency switch each month. The board was established by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, more than three years ago: it now has just more than three months left to ensure the changeover runs as smoothly as possible.

Next month, as part of the National Information Programme on the euro, the Euro Changeover Board will issue booklets to households. It also hopes to provide electronic converters to homes in November.

The public information campaign will be "very persuasive", says the board's chairman, Mr Philip Hamell, with Irish people encouraged to "think euro".

"It will be difficult over the autumn to escape euro advertising," agrees Ms Pauline Mulligan, euro information officer at the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. In an advertising campaign on television and in regional and national press in the run-up to E-day the office will be advising consumers to shop where they see a euro logo. This euro logo indicates that the retailer has signed a voluntary code of practice committing it to a range of dual pricing measures from October 1st.

One consumer concern is that the euro's introduction will act as a catalyst for price increases. Businesses which take advantage of confusion about the conversion rate from Irish to euro currency to inflate or "round up" prices during the six-week euro changeover period may be "named and shamed" by the office, but no legal sanctions are possible.

The Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, recently admitted that consumers were not as "price-aware" as they could be. "We don't have aggressive consumers in Ireland," she said. But the euro logo will help consumers make better informed decisions, according to Ms Mulligan.

"It is a way of empowering consumers and making sure they know they are entitled to an exact conversion." A survey carried out by the changeover board in May found that 64 per cent already knew the conversion rate: a pound will get you €1.27.

So these consumers may be ready for the retailers, but are the retailers ready for the consumers?

Manufacturing, business service and retailing companies must all be able to operate in euros by the end of the year, and time is running out. A recent survey by software supplier Sage suggested that almost 80 per cent of the Republic's 160,000 small businesses were unprepared for the introduction of the euro.

Other surveys have indicated that while businesses may be well informed about the changeover, they may not yet have taken practical steps to ensure a smooth transition.

As far as the euro is concerned, is there such a thing as too much information? Mr John Dunne, chief executive of the Chambers of Commerce, is worried that an "overselling" of the risks of the millennium bug two years ago has resulted in a lack of urgency in the way small businesses are treating the euro changeover.

"Y2K was perhaps overhyped, and some may feel that the euro changeover is being hyped as well. Some of the warnings have been too extreme - for example, that companies might wind up going out of business," he says.

"Having said that, the two situations are very different and there are very real business reasons why companies need to prepare and make practical adjustments. If they don't, they could damage relationships with suppliers and customers once the changeover occurs."

The Chambers of Commerce, IBEC, Ulster Bank and the Forfβs EMU Business Awareness Campaign are beginning the "final push" in preparing business for the changeover by holding travelling workshops around the Republic.

A total of 80 "hands-on" training days will cover a range of areas, including banking, cash, handling, till training, software and accounting.

"The euro isn't something that only one or two people in the office have to bother with," says Mr Dunne.

"Anyone who is dealing with the public needs to be trained. Staff will have to be able to recognise the notes and calculate change in euros even if the customer is paying in Irish money or a mixture of both. Do retailers decide to have euro-only tills or all mixed tills? The training that is required is not wildly complicated, but it is necessary."

But most major retailers are well prepared for the changeover, according to Mr Dunne, and this should have a knock-on effect with their suppliers and distribution networks. "The big companies will force the pace with the smaller companies," he concludes.

Mr Hamell at the changeover board is confident that the behind- the-scenes preparation for putting over 1,000 million euro coins and 200 million notes into circulation in Ireland will help make the switch on January 1st successful. "We don't envisage chaos," he says.

But although careful planning will minimise disruption, "nobody is absolutely confident," according to Mr Dunne. It will, he admits, "be a difficult couple of days" for both consumers and retailers.