EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 26 June 2001
at the request of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique on a draft
law relating to the cash change over to the euro in Belgium
(CON/2001/15)
1. On 11 June 2001 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Nationale Bank
van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique (NBB)  for an opinion on a draft law relating to the
cash changeover to the euro in Belgium (her einafter referred to as the Draft Law).
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty
establishing the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty), Article 3(1) of
the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European
Central Bank and Article 2(1) of Counc il Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the
consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative
provisions1. In accordance with such Articles, the sc ope of this opinion is limited to those
provisions of the Draft Law that relate to the powers of the ECB.
3. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17( 5) of the Rules of Procedure of the European
Central Bank2, this opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB. 
4. The ECB notes that in line with Article  15 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of
3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro3, Articles 2 and 3 of the Draft Law introduce a dual
circulation period, which will be limited to the period running from 1 January 2002 to28 February 2002. From 1 March 2002, banknotes and coins denominated in Belgian francs
will cease to be legal tender.
5. As per Article 2(2), banknotes denominated in Belgian francs will be exchangeable without
time limit at the NBB as, according to the NB B, was traditionally the case in Belgium.
6. Article 2(3) stipulates that exchanges of Be lgian franc banknotes which take place after the
NBB has credited the Belgian Treasury for the amount of the banknotes, which have not been
presented for exchange to the NBB, will be charged to the account of the Belgian Treasury.
                                                     
1OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
2OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p 34.
3OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p 1.
2This provision results from Article 9 of the Organic Law on the NBB, which will be repealed
from 28 February 2002. However, this law produces legal effects after this date that need to besettled in order to avoid double payment by the NBB with respect to the withdrawn notes. Thisprovision does not appear to interfere with the accounting rules applying to banknotes that
cease to be legal tender nor with the decision of when the NBB and the Belgian Treasury settlethe payment referred to in Article 2(3). The ECB understands that this time of payment will
depend upon a separate agreement, between the Belgian Treasury and the NBB, implementing
Article 9, which agreement has yet not been finalised. This matter was among others addressedin the context of an ex-post informal opinion of the ECB delivered to the NBB at the end of
February 2001.
7. The ECB notes that coins denominated in Belgia n francs will only be exchangeable at the NBB
and DE POST/LA POSTE until 31 December 2004, as provided by Article 3 of the Draft Law.There seem to be no limits or fees imposed on the exchange of coins as, according to the NBB,
this was traditionally the case for withdrawn coins
4. 
8. The NBB has confirmed to the ECB that Article  4 of the Draft Law refers to the existing
practice in Belgium. Following this practice, Article 4 authorises both the NBB and DEPOST/LA POSTE to accept coins without limits, a nd implements the possibility provided for
by Article 11 of the aforementioned Council Re gulation (EC) No 974/98 for Member States to
appoint persons/institutions to accept more than 50 coins in any single payment (Except for
the issuing authority and for those persons specific ally designated by the national legislation of
the issuing Member State, no party shall be ob liged to accept more than 50 coins in any single
payment).
9. The NBB also confirmed that Article 4 mainta ins the existing practice of the NBB according to
which this service is without charge, in order to meet the needs of individuals and households
and that, in so far as this service goes be yond these needs, the NBB or DE POST/LA POSTE
would be entitled to charge a fee.
10. Article 5 of the Draft Law allows the transfer of the capital gains realised on the transfer of
assets in gold from the NBB to the ECB for an amount of EUR 177,114,566. The ECB hasconfirmed in an earlier opinion that this transfer may be considered to give rise to a realised
capital gain. For this reason such gain may be  accounted for in the profit and loss account and
may be subject to distribution. Th e distribution avoids treating th e income as current income in
the budget but affects it to the Zilverfonds, bein g a legal entity, created by law as a long-term
funding structure for pension liabilities. The E CB understands that this fund invests mainly in
public government bonds and therefore contributes  to the decrease of the Belgian public debt.
11. The ECB welcomes Article 6 of the Draft Law to  the extent that it confirms the responsibility
of the NBB for the quality of banknote circulation. This task constitutes a public mission and is
                                                     
4Articles 7 to 18 of the Draft Law deal also with coins.
3a natural corollary of the issuance. It is pe rformed free of charge by the NBB. The NBB
confirms that supplementary services provided  at customer demand may be subject to a fee.
12. The ECB understands that Article 19 of the Draf t Law transposes two existing provisions of
Belgian criminal law into the Penal Code and ad apts them to the introduction of the euro. The
new Article 178bis of the Penal Code is intende d to prevent fanciful means of payment from
being put into circulation which might confuse the consumers as to which is the real legal
tender. The new Article 178ter of the Penal Code  protects the banknotes and coins against all
kinds of damage which would jeopardise their use as legal tender.
13. The ECB understands that the purpose of Article 23 of the Draft Law is to facilitate and protect
the withdrawal of banknotes de nominated in Belgian francs. The ECB is of the view that
national measures taken in the context of the w ithdrawal of national ba nknotes (including the
marking or neutralisation of such banknot es) should be possible. However, once the
characteristics of this marking will have been decided by Royal Decree, the ECB should beinformed about them considering that article 52 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European
System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank requires national central banks to
exchange at par banknotes of all participating Member States.
14. The ECB notes that Article 35 of the Draft La w protects the frontloading and subfrontloading
operations in Belgium by penalising the use of euro banknotes as a means of payment before1 January 2002. Banknotes used before this date as a means of payment may moreover beconfiscated.
15. The ECB welcomes Article 37(8) of the Draft Law which abrogates Article 76 of the
Programme Law of 2 January 2001 as this Article 76 might have allowed for credit facilities,prohibited under Article 101 of the Treaty (see the opinion of the ECB of 27 February 2001).
16. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the publication of this opini on at the discretion of
the competent national authority.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 26 June 2001.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG