EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 6 January 2006  
at the request of Magyar Nemzeti Bank  
on a draft regulation on  the reproduction of  the Hungarian legal tender and the euro  
(CON/2006/2) 
 
1. On 21 November 2005, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Magyar 
Nemzeti Bank (MNB) for an opinion on a draft regulation on the reproduction of the Hungarian 
legal tender and the euro  (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’).  
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the first, second and third indents of 
Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29  June 1998 on the consultation of the European 
Central Bank by national authorities re garding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft regulation 
concerns currency matters, means of payment and a national central bank’s tasks. In accordance 
with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rul es of Procedure of the ECB, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
3. The draft regulation intends to protect forint and euro banknotes and coins against illegal or non-
compliant reproductions. It should be noted that this opinion will not address the rules on the 
reproduction of forint banknotes or coins. Article 10 of the draft regulation states that euro banknote reproductions are governed by the rules of the ECB on the production of euro banknote 
reproductions and the enforcement of measures to  counter non-compliant reproductions of euro 
banknotes. This Article also provides that euro coin  reproductions shall be governed by the rules of 
the Commission on the copyright protection of the co mmon face design of the euro coins in force. 
In addition, Article 14 of the draft regulation lists  EU legal acts with which the draft regulation is 
considered to comply with.  
4. The ECB takes this opportunity to point out again the importance of the rules on the reproduction 
of euro banknotes. In order to protect the euro  banknotes’ integrity as a means of payment, the 
general public must be able to distinguish ge nuine euro banknotes from reproductions. In this 
context, the ECB welcomes the draft regulation’s ge neral reference to the fact that the reproduction 
of euro banknotes is subject to the rules of the ECB. The ECB understands that the draft regulation 
intends to ensure that the ECB reproduction rules apply also in Hungary.  
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
 
2 5. The ECB would like to stress that it holds the copyright on the design of the euro banknotes. The 
ECB, or the NCBs on its behalf, may enforce such copyright, irrespective of the applicability of the 
abovementioned ECB reproduction rules, with regard  to reproductions issued or distributed in 
breach of this copyright, if the Member State’s le gislation provides for copyright protection. Since 
Article 10(2) refers to the copy right protection of euro coins, the ECB would welcome, to avoid 
any misconception that euro banknotes might not be co pyright protected in Hungary, a reference in 
Article 10(1) to the ECB’s copyright in euro ba nknotes and that Hungarian copyright laws protect 
this right.  
6. Finally, the ECB would like to point out that  it does not express an opinion concerning the 
reproduction of euro coins. However, it notes in ge neral that similar treatment of the provisions on 
coins and banknotes when making references would be merited.  
7. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 6 January 2006. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET