Background
Eleven European Union Countries joined the single currency - the euro - on 1 January 1999, as part of economic and monetary union Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain

The United Kingdoms position
The United Kingdom has taken a decision not to join on that date but many UK businesses will still be affected by the euro. The new euro zone could offer big opportunities for your business, but also challenges. This site will help you assess the impact of the euro to your own business.

Navigation
The Main Menu contains six main facilities designed to help you consider the steps you need to take to assess the impact of the euro on your business and what action you may need to take.
Will your business be affected?
You will be asked a number of simple questions to help you assess the impact of the euro on your business. It also provides you with draft letters to send to your customers and suppliers to find out whether they would like you to do business with them in euro. To help you monitor the responses a chart is also provided under this section to record the replies you receive. Both these tools can also be found in the utilities section. This section also lists a number of market opportunities that you may wish to consider.
Creating an Action Plan
This section contains six checklists: organisation, sales and marketing, purchasing, money, IT and legal issues. The checklists will help you to develop an action plan to respond to those issues. We recommend that you start at the top and work down the lists. This will help you to understand what effects the euro will have on your business before you consider the implications for your IT systems and your finance arrangements.
EMU Information
This section signposts you to sources of information on where to go for further details and help, including access to appropriate web sites. You can also read the series of factsheets on EMU provided by the Euro Preparations Unit, HM Treasury. Euro tools The following tools to help you prepare for the euro appear under this section; Letters to customers and suppliers; Record of euro needs; Pricing tool; Payment conditions; Currency converters; Exchange risk tool; IT systems affected by the euro; and Euro symbol
Euro tools
The following tools to help you prepare for the euro appear under this section; Letters to customers and suppliers; Record of euro needs; Pricing tool; Payment conditions; Currency converters; Exchange risk tool; IT systems affected by the euro; and Euro symbol.

Getting the most from the site
Will your business be affected and Creating an action Plan (Sections 1 and 2) will help you assess the best approach for your business. We advise that you fully complete these two sections.