Official Journal of the European Union

DECISION (EU) 2020/1997 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 24 November 2020

on the approval of the volume of coin issuance in 2021 (ECB/2020/57)

THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 128(2) thereof,

Having regard to Decision (EU) 2015/2332 of the European Central Bank of 4 December 2015 on the procedural framework for the approval of the volume of euro coin issuance (ECB/2015/43) (1), and in particular Article 2(9) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The European Central Bank (ECB) has the exclusive right since 1 January 1999 to approve the volume of coins issued by the Member States whose currency is the euro (hereinafter ‘euro area Member States’).

(2) The 19 euro area Member States have submitted to the ECB their requests for the approval of the volume of coins to be issued in 2021, supplemented by explanatory notes on the forecasting methodology. Certain of these euro area Member States have also provided additional information regarding circulation coins, where such information is available and considered important by the euro area Member States concerned to substantiate the approval request.

(3) As the right of euro area Member States to issue euro coins is subject to approval by the ECB of the volume of the issue, in accordance with Article 3 of Decision (EU) 2015/2332 (ECB/2015/43), the volumes approved by the ECB may not be exceeded by the euro area Member States without prior approval by the ECB.

(4) Pursuant to Article 2(9) of Decision (EU) 2015/2332 (ECB/2015/43), as no modification of the requested volume of coin issuance is required, the Executive Board is empowered to adopt this decision on the approval requests for the volume of coin issuance in 2021 submitted by euro area Member States,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 Definitions For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions apply: (a) ‘volume of coin issuance’ means volume of coin issuance as defined in point 3 of Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2015/2332 (ECB/2015/43); (b) ‘circulation coins’ means circulation coins as defined in point 1 of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EU) No 729/2014 (2); (c) ‘collector coins’ means collector coins as defined in point 3 of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

Article 2 Approval of the volume of euro coins to be issued in 2021 The ECB hereby approves the volume of euro coins to be issued by the euro area Member States in 2021 as set out in the following table: (million EUR) Volume of euro coins approved for issuance in 2021 Circulation coins Collector coins (not intended for circulation) Volume of coin issuance Belgium 33,0 1,0 34,0 Germany 417,0 241,0 658,0 Estonia 10,4 0,3 10,7 Ireland 15,8 0,5 16,3 Greece 99,5 3,6 103,1 Spain 291,5 30,0 321,5 France 243,0 50,0 293,0 Italy 169,3 2,7 172,0 Cyprus 11,0 0,1 11,1 Latvia 5,5 0,2 5,7 Lithuania 20,0 0,6 20,6 Luxembourg 14,7 0,4 15,1 Malta 8,2 0,3 8,5 Netherlands 0,0 0,1 0,1 Austria 62,5 153,5 216,0 Portugal 31,5 2,0 33,5 Slovenia 21,0 1,0 22,0 Slovakia 14,0 2,0 16,0 Finland 15,0 10,0 25,0 Total 1 482,9 499,3 1 982,2

Article 3 Taking effect This Decision shall take effect on the day of its notification to the addressees.

Article 4 Addressees This Decision is addressed to the euro area Member States.

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 24 November 2020. The President of the ECB Christine LAGARDE

(1) OJ L 328, 12.12.2015, p. 123.

(2) Council Regulation (EU) No 729/2014 of 24 June 2014 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation (OJ L 194, 2.7.2014, p. 1).

(3) Regulation (EU) No 651/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on the issuance of euro coins (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 135).