Brussels, 16/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission unveiled the "encouraging" results of two surveys into how prepared SMEs are for the introduction of euro notes and coins, and progress made in the third quarter by banks, national administrations and individuals concerning the use of the euro. According to the last survey, the Eurobarometer of SMEs and the euro, carried out between 27 October and 6 November, 43% of European SMEs say they are ready for the changeover to the Euro (compared with only 23% in the previous survey in July/August). Most SMEs are planning to change over to the euro on 1 January 2002. The Commission's survey into the use of the euro concludes that it has sharply risen, particularly in terms of bank accounts, national business payments and individuals' payments, VAT returns and customs duties. Just over 80% of electronic payment terminals managed by banks are ready for euro operations.
The surveys into SMEs reveal that 91% of companies will change their invoicing system to euro at the end of the transitional period and 78% of them will be able to carry out all operations in euro as from 1 January 2002. More medium-sized companies have completed their preparations for the euro with 55% of them saying they are ready, compared with 43% of SMEs. The businesses that were not yet ready were generally working on the final preparations. 72% has an action plan for the changeover, and 39% even had a detailed action plan. Internal measures also reflect a greater degree of preparedness. 60% of business have identified the impact of the euro on various aspects of their activities (compared with 49% in the previous survey) 75% have defined the changes to be made to their computer applications (compared with 66%), and 82% (compared with 69%) have informed their staff and 61% (compared with 46%) their partners on their intentions. 75% of SMEs have now started to set their prices in euro, compared with 63% in the July/August survey. The level of confidence among heads of business is increasing. 94% were confident of their business's ability to make a success of the changeover (62% completely confident, 32% fairly confident) - a slight increase over previous surveys.
In terms of the quarterly survey on the use of the euro, the use of the euro in relations with public administrations is increasing substantially for both VAT returns and customs declarations. For example, in five participating countries more than 25% of customs declarations are now in euro. National payments in euro by firms have doubled (from 7.8% to 15.1% in volume). Nearly 40% of international payments are in euro (48% in value terms). In participating countries, the number of firms keeping their records in euro is slowly on the increase. The proportion of euro accounts is rising significantly (from 8% to 20.3%), although the situation varies widely from one country to another (from 0.6% in Ireland to 63% in France). Payments in euro by individuals have risen fivefold from 1.9% to 10.1% in volume (from 8.8% to 15.1% in value). The percentage of private individuals' euro accounts is also growing dramatically (from 3.2% to 26%), the maximum being 69.9% in France, where the early switching of accounts is well underway. An average of slightly more than 84% of electronic payments terminals managed by banks are now technically able to accept euro operations (the percentage ranges from 0% in the Netherlands, Ireland and Austria to 100% in Belgium).