EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 9 January 2008 
at the request of the German Ministry of Finance 
on a draft law consolidating federal law within  the field of competence of the Ministry of 
Finance and  amending the Law on coins 
(CON/2008/3) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 27 November 2007 the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request fro m the German Federal 
Ministry of Finance (hereinafter the ‘Ministry of Finance’) for an opinion on a draft law consolidating 
federal law within the field of competence of the Ministry of Finance and amending the Law on coins  
(hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is b ased on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the second indent of Ar ticle 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the ECB by national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions1, as the draft regulation relates to means of pa yment. 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 law 
The draft law repeals a number of obsolete federal la ws and amends the Law on coins. The amendments 
to the Law on coins empowers the Ministry of Finance to adopt regulations implementing Commission Recommendation 2005/504/EC of 27 May 2005 concerning authentication of euro coins and handling  of 
euro coins unfit for circulation
2. § 9a(1) of the draft law provides that the Ministry of Finance may, with 
the consent of the Deutsche Bundesbank, adopt a regu lation concerning fee structures for the replacement 
of euro coins which are unfit for circulation, and that such fee structures should be in line with 
Recommendation 2005/504/EC § 9a(2) of the draft law also empowers the Ministry of Finance, with the consent of the Deutsche Bundesbank, to adopt a regulation dealing with the sorting, packaging and labelling of euro coins which are unfit for circulation. 
 
                                        
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  OJ L 184, 15.7.2005, p. 60. 
 
2 2.  General observations 
2.1 The ECB welcomes the draft law which will align German legislation with the harmonised rules of 
Recommendation 2005/504/EC. The draft law is therefore a further step towards achieving common standards for the treatment by national centr al banks in the euro ar ea of euro coins which 
are unfit for circulation. The ECB also welcomes that  § 9a of the draft law requires the consent of 
the Deutsche Bundesbank for the adoption of th e implementing regulations, since the Deutsche 
Bundesbank is responsible for replacing, sorti ng and packaging euro coins which are unfit for 
circulation. 
2.2 The ECB notes that § 9a(2) of the draft law does not explicitly provide that the implementing 
regulation concerning the sorting, packaging and labelling of euro coins which are unfit for circulation should accord with Recommendation 2005/50 4/EC. In contrast, § 9a(1) of the draft law 
expressly requires this of the implementing regulation on fee structures. The ECB therefore recommends the inclusion of a reference to Reco mmendation 2005/504/EC in § 9a(2) of the draft 
law if it is also intended for the implementing regulation on sorting, packaging and labelling to 
comply with Recommendation 2005/504/EC. 
2.3 The ECB notes that the draft law deletes the re ference to the Federal cash offices (‘Bundeskassen’) 
in § 3(1) and in the first sentence of § 8 of the La w on coins, which reflects the fact that the Federal 
cash offices no longer handle cash. 
2.4 The draft law contains further technical amendments on which the ECB has no comments.  This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 January 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET