EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 4 January 2008
at the request of the Cypriot Ministry of Commerce on a draft law amending the Lawson 
copyright and related rights
(CON/200 8/1)
Introduction and legal basis
On 22November 2007the European Central B ank(ECB) received a request from the Cypriot Ministry of 
Commerce for an opinion on a draft law amendi ng the Laws on copyright and related rights of 1976 to 
2006(hereinafter the ‘draft law’).
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articl e 105(4) of the Treaty a ndthe first and 
second indents of Article 2(1 ) of Council Dec ision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the 
European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft law 
relate stocurrency matters and means of payment .In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of 
the Rules of Procedure of the E uropean Central Bank, the Gove rning Council has adopted this opi nion.
1. Purpose of the draft law 
The main purpose sof the draft law are to (i) provide for the exercise in C yprus of the right to protect
copyright in euro banknotes and coins ;(ii) expressly subject the reproduction of euro banknotes , in 
Cyprus, to the reproduction rules laid down in Decision ECB /2003/4 of 20 Ma rch 2003 on the 
denominations, specifications, reproduction, exchange and withdrawal of euro banknot es(hereinafter the 
‘ECB Decision’)2, subject to the control of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) ;and (iii) to introduce 
sanctions , in the form of fines and /or imprisonment, for breaches of the reproducti on rules laid down in 
the ECB Decision.
2. General observations 
2.1 The draft law inter alia provides ,in Section 3 thereof ,that the excl usive right of enforcement of 
copyright over euro banknote design s isto be exercised inCyprusby the ECB , in which that right 
is vested, or by the CBC on behal f of the E CB.The ECB deems Section 3 of the draft law to be 
unobjectionable, c onsidering that, pursuant to Ar ticle1 of Guideline ECB /1999/3 of 7 Jul y 1998 on 
  
1OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2OJ L 78, 25.3.2003, p. 16.
2certain provisions regarding euro banknotes , as amended on 26 August 19993,national central 
banks ( NCBs )are expected to take all necessary and feasible measure s, unde r their national legal 
systems, to ensure that there is no breach of the copyright over eurobanknot e designs and that the 
ECB’s cop yright over banknote designs needs to be applied and enforced in close cooperation 
between the ECB and the NCBs. 
2.2 Section 4 of the draftlawinter alia provides that the reproducti on, in whole or in part, of eur o
banknotes requires approv albythe CBC and is subject to the reproducti on rul es laid down in 
Article 2 of theECB Decision .The ECB understands that Section4 of the draft law intend s to 
convert the ECB reproduction rules into erga omnes obligations , appl icable to those reproducing 
euro banknotes as well as to the CBC -the national authority responsible, pursuant to Section 4, for 
the scrutiny of euro reproductions within C yprus –and welcomes the inclusion of Section4 in the 
draft law . 
2.3Section 5 o f the draft law provide s for penalties , in the form of a fineand/orimprisonment ,in the 
event of , inter alia ,unauthorised reproduction sof euro banknotes in Cyprus. Sincethe ECB 
Decision appl ieswithout prejudice to t he application of criminal law in the territory of its 
addressees ,and Section 5 of the draft law is a nece ssary corollary of Section 4 there of, the ECB has 
no comments on th is aspect of the draft law .
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 4 Janu ary 2008 .
[signed]
The President of the ECB
Jean-Claude TRICHET
  
3OJ L 258, 5.10.1999, p. 32.