A specific long term calendar of operation of the Inter European Automated System of Fast Transfer of Capital at Continuous Time (TARGET), as well as of the national systems of settlement at continuous time of the countries of the Euro zone, is put into effect from the year 2002, in accordance with the decision of the Board of Directors of the European Central Bank, dated 14.12.2000.

On the basis of the said calendar, the above systems will remain closed in the year 2002, on the following days(except weekends), i.e. 01.01.002, 29.03.2002, 01.04.2002, 01.05.2002 and 25-26.12.2002 and until further notice.

In accordance with the press release of the European Central Bank, all the financial transactions and inter-bank payment systems will remain off on the above dates. Small value domestic transactions in the Greek banks have been excluded.

No other kind of payments, such as inter border and inter bank transactions will be made through the HERMES system. Consequently, these days do not constitute days of settlement regarding the capital market and money market, the day average interest rate index is not released in the Euro zone, while the system of inter border use of insurance does not operate.

The Bank of Greece, with its document dated 12.03.2002, proceeded to a relevant announcement on the above issues, determining the limited range of domestic banking business that the domestic inter bank systems will serve on the said days in order to comply with the decision of the European Central Bank.

On the basis of the above, the Capital Market Commission, the Athens Stock Exchange, the Athens Derivatives Exchange, the Athens Derivatives Clearing House and the Athens Stock Exchange Members Association explored all the possibilities regarding the application of alternatives.

It was ascertained that the alternatives involved a significant extension of the clearing time and therefore, a large increase of the systemic risks of the Greek capital market and consequently, of the risks regarding the smooth operation of its mechanisms for the investors.

For these reasons, it was ascertained that the stock markets(ASE, ADEX) and the clearing systems (CSD, ADECH) will have to remain closed on 29.03.2002 and 01.04.2002.