Parliament on Tuesday approved a Finance Ministry-sponsored amendment allowing the price of purchases in cash to be rounded out in order to limit the circulation of one- and two-cent euro coins, with 79 of the 126 MPs present supporting the bill.
Despite the bill, one-cent and two-cent coins will remain legal currency in the country, and payment recipients will be obliged to accept them even after the measure has entered into force.
According to the ministry, the chosen method of rounding is neutral and fair for both buyers and sellers. In line with the bill, any final price above 5 cents that is not exactly divisible by 5 cents will be rounded to the nearest such sum. Any prices below 5 cents will be rounded up.
This will only concern payments in cash, however. Should the buyer opt to pay with a card, the final price won’t change. In the case of mixed payments, only the portion paid in cash will be rounded.
