Later on the baton will be passed on to thousands of the Lithuanian enterprises, business representatives, municipalities that will be able to join the Memorandum on a voluntary basis and will assume a commitment to be fair with consumers during the euro adoption in Lithuania, i.e. to not use the euro adoption as an excuse for raising prices of goods and services and to ensure fair conversion and display of prices of services and goods.
All those joining the Memorandum will acquire the right to use the logo "Perskaiciuota Saziningai" (Converted Fairly) created especially for this purpose and to mark trading and service provision sites with it, use it in advertisements, official documents and events as well as to inform a consumer that they follow the principles established in the Memorandum.
"Signing of the Memorandum is a consistent step in moving from forecasts and speculations on the future price changes to real works. By signing the Memorandum the business representatives working responsibly and fairly will make a commitment for the euro adoption not to become an excuse for unjustified growth of prices. The residents will be able to observe, and the state institutions will have to control how this commitment is pursued in practice, and where necessary, to apply sanctions," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius says.
The ceremony to be held on 18 August at the Government will mark the start of joining the Memorandum. It will be possible to join the Memorandum before the euro adoption date, i.e. before 1 January 2015, online or by filling in an application and submitting it to the organiser administering joining the Memorandum or the Ministry of Economy, a municipality administration, representatives of state or municipal institutions, agencies, non-governmental organisations, PI Enterprise Lithuania and its representatives in cities and towns of Lithuania, business incubators and business information centres.
"By taking part in the Fair Price Conversion Campaign economic entities will have a possibility to demonstrate business maturity and responsibility to consumers. We expect that the Memorandum will be joined by the majority of the enterprises operating in Lithuania and associations unifying them," Minister of Economy Evaldas Gustas said. "I would like to note that joining the Memorandum should be estimated not as an additional constraint assumed on a voluntary basis but as a possibility for business to become more visible, known, and recognizable and to make use of joining the Memorandum and its logo as a free marketing tool. By this logo the public will be informed that the principles established in the Memorandum are pursued. Thus, I encourage all business entities to join the Memorandum and I invite both business representatives and institutions to focus on working together during this significant period."
The Law on the Euro Adoption in the Republic of Lithuania stipulates that in case of undue conversion of the values of goods or services from the litas to the euro or non-compliance with other requirements of the Law, warning and fines will be imposed.
The final decision on Lithuania's acceptance to the eurozone was announced by the EU Council of Ministers during its meeting on 23 July 2014 in Brussels. In 30 days after this decision, i.e. from 22 August, in all trading and service provision sites the prices to consumers should be displayed in two currencies – in litas and in euro.
In 2015 Lithuania will become the 19th member of the eurozone and the last one from the three Baltic States to introduce the single EU currency.
