Lithuania’s euro adoption documents will have to be endorsed by July

VILNIUS - The working group on euro adoption has decided that the government will have to endorsethe national euro introduction plan, the plan of implementation measures and the strategy of public information and communication by July, 2013, reports LETA/ELTA.

"In order to keep preparing for the euro adoption smoothly we will have to endorse the main documents before the beginning of the Lithuanian presidency of the European Union. We will focus on the consumer protection issues and awareness-raising," said head of the group, Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius.

Euro adoption plan speaks about a period for a dual circulation of both euro and litas in cash, a period for indicating prices in both currencies, for how much time commercial banks will be obligated to exchange litas into euros free of charge and other issues. It is proposed to sign the code of the good business practice in order to protect consumers, according to which businesses would promise not to make use of the euro introduction as an excuse to raise prices.

Lithuania expects to shift to the euro in 2015.