EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 28 August 2006  
at the request of Česká národní banka 
on a draft decree on the terms and conditions und er which it is possible to reproduce banknotes, 
coins, cheques, securities and payment card s and to produce objects imitating them 
(CON/2006/45) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 14 July 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Česká národní banka ( ČNB) 
for an opinion on a draft decree on the terms and conditions under which it is possible to reproduce 
banknotes, coins, cheques, securities and paymen t cards and to produce objects imitating them 
(hereinafter the ‘draft decree’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the first and second indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft decree relates to currency matters and means of payment. In 
accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, the Governing 
Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.
  Purpose of the draft decree 
The terms and conditions under whic h banknotes, coins, cheques, securities and payment cards (‘money 
symbols’) may be reproduced or imitated in the Czech Republic are currently laid down in ČNB Decree 
No 36/1994 Coll2. The purpose of the draft decree, which will replace Decree No 36/1994, is to adapt the 
existing rules to the relevant Community legislatio n, reflect developments in national administrative 
offences law3, and take into account new methods of repr oduction of money symbols, i.e. intangible 
reproductions. In particular, it is necessary to exclude  euro coins from the scope of the draft decree since 
this area is now subject to directly applicable Community regulations4. Furthermore, the draft decree is 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Decree of Česká národní banka No 36/1994 Coll., on the terms a nd conditions under which it is possible to reproduce 
banknotes, coins, cheques, securities and payment cards and to produce objects imitating them. 
3  New Article 46c concerning administrative offences in reproducing money symbols and their imitations was recently 
inserted into the Law on Česká národní banka No 6/1993 Coll., as ame nded, providing for a substantially increased 
penalty as compared to a previously applicable provi sion of the Law on offences No 200/1990 Coll., as amended. 
4  Council Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004 of 6 December 2004 c oncerning medals and tokens similar to euro coins 
(OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 1) and Council Regulation (EC) No 2183/2004 of 6 December 2004 extending to the non-
2 aimed at aligning Czech banknote reproduction rules to those applicable to euro banknotes pursuant to 
Decision ECB/2003/4 of 20 March 2003 on the denomina tions, specifications, reproduction, exchange 
and withdrawal of euro banknotes5. 
 2. Banknote reproduction rules 2.1 In order to protect the integrity of euro ba nknotes as a means of payment, the general public must 
be able to distinguish genuine  euro banknotes from reproductions. The ECB would therefore like to 
emphasise the importance of the rules on the repr oduction of euro banknotes laid down in Decision 
ECB/2003/4 (hereinafter the ‘euro banknote reproducti on rules’). Article 2 of the draft decree lays 
down the terms and conditions unde r which it is possible to reproduce banknotes and to produce 
objects imitating them in the Czech Republic. Sin ce Decision ECB/2003/4 is not yet applicable in 
the Czech Republic, the above provision of the dr aft decree effectively provides for the protection 
of euro banknotes on the national level. In general terms, the ECB welcomes the banknote 
reproduction rules under the draft decree, as they  draw on the euro banknote reproduction rules. 
However, the ECB notes that certain provisions of  the draft decree differ from those of Decision 
ECB/2003/4. In view of preparations for the future  adoption of the euro by  the Czech Republic, the 
ECB would recommend that the euro banknote reprodu ction rules are taken into account in national 
legislation as far as possible at this stage. The C zech legislator could consider including a statement 
in the draft decree that euro banknote reproduc tions will be governed by the euro banknote 
reproduction rules, and rules on the enforcement of measures to counter non-compliant reproductions of euro banknotes. 
2.2 The ECB also notes that the draft decree does not  reflect Article 2(3)(c) of Decision ECB/2003/4, 
which allows the reproduction of individual design elements of euro banknotes provided that they 
are not depicted on a background that resembles a banknote. The ECB would also propose aligning the content of Article 2(1)(e) in conjunction with Article 4 of the draft decree with Article 2(3)(e) 
of Decision ECB/2003/4 as regards the concept of ‘mat erial that cannot be mistaken for the original 
material’. 
2.3 Furthermore, the ECB observes that Article 2(1)(c) of the draft decree, which provides for 
reproductions of parts of banknotes along the lines of Article 2(3)(d) of Decision ECB/2003/4, contains an additional criterion, namely that such  parts must be ‘produced in a way that does not 
allow the whole banknote to be assembled from the individual parts’. The ECB welcomes this provision as it further clarifies the conditions unde r which parts of banknotes may be reproduced in 
the Czech Republic. 
2.4 As far as the conditions under which intangible reproductions can be made are concerned, the ECB 
points out that Article 2(3)(f) of Decision ECB/2003/4 requires, inter alia , the word ‘SPECIMEN’ 
to be printed across the reproduction. Under Article 2(2) of the draft decree, other words of similar 
                                                                                                                                                             
participating Member States the appli cation of Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004 con cerning medals and tokens similar to 
euro coins (OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 7).  
5 OJ L 78, 25.3.2003, p. 16. 
3 meaning may be used instead of the word ‘ SPECIMEN’. The ECB welcomes this provision as it 
makes the concept easily understandable to the general public. 
2.5 Finally, the ECB notes that under Article 2(1)(d) of the draft decree it is permissible to produce 
reproductions of visually distorted banknotes6. While this criterion is not explicitly provided for in 
Decision ECB/2003/4, the ECB considers that re productions meeting the criteria specified in 
Article 2(1)(d) of the draft decree can be considered  as sufficiently distorted to eliminate the risk of 
the general public mistaking them for genuine  banknotes. Such distorted reproductions would 
accordingly also be considered lawful under the ECB banknote reproduction rules in application of Article 2(4) of Decision ECB/2003/4. 
 3. Other comments  
3.1 Exclusion of euro coins from the scope of the draft decree 
Article 1 of the draft decree defines the scope of application of the draft decree ‘with reference to 
directly applicable Community legislation’. The E CB understands that this reference relates to the 
application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004 and Council Regulation (EC) 
No 2183/2004. The ECB considers that Article 1 could be further clarified to explicitly provide that 
euro coins are excluded from the scope of the decree. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 August 2006. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
                                                 
6 Article 2(1)(d) of the draft decree allows ‘one-sided re productions and imitations of ba nknotes on which the longer and 
shorter sides form an angle differing from a right angle by at  least 20 degrees’.