EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 October 2008  
at the request of the German Ministry of Finance 
on a draft order on the replacement of euro  coins and German euro commemorative coins 
which are unfit for circulation and the charging of appropriate fees 
(CON/2008/49) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 25 August 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft order on the replacement of euro coins and German euro commemorative coins which are unfit for circulation a nd the charging of appropriate fees (hereinafter the 
‘draft order’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the second indent of Artic le 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 
1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions
1, as the draft order relates to means of paym ent. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Eur opean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft order 
The draft order is based on § 9a of the Law on coins
2 which was subject to a separate ECB opinion earlier 
this year3. This provision forms the legal basis for chargi ng a fee as well as for setting up requirements for 
the sorting, packaging and labelling of packaging in the framework of the replacement and the receipt of 
unfit euro coins and German euro commemo rative coins by the Deutsche Bundesbank. 
The draft order is intended to implement Co mmission Recommendation 2005/504/EC of 27 May  2005 
concerning authentication of euro coins and handling of euro coins unfit for circulation4, whose purpose 
is to create equal conditions for the replacement of coins unfit for circulations in the euro area.  
 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Bundesgesetzblatt  I, p. 809, 813, 8.5.2008. 
3  ECB Opinion CON/2008/3 of 9 January 2008 at the reques t 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. 
4  OJ L 184, 15.7.2005, p. 60. 
2 2. General observations  
2.1 The draft order provides for a general fee to be  charged for replacing unfit euro coins and German 
commemorative euro coins. In this context, the ECB notes that the use of the term ‘commemorative 
coin’ (‘ Gedenkmünze ’) in the draft order follows the definiti on of the term contained in the German 
Law on coins5, according to which commemorative coins are covered by the term ‘collector coin’, 
which is different from establis hed EU practice in this regard6.  
 Under § 5 amounts of coins falling below specifi ed levels and unfit coins resulting from the 
manufacture of coin rolls in foil packaging are ex empted from a fee. No fee or a reduced fee may 
be charged ‘for reasons of fairness or in the public interest’. 
2.2 As coins have a long life-span of more than 25 years, the replacement of coins unfit for circulation 
can be considered a rather minor activity in the range of cash services provided by euro area 
national central banks (NCBs). Accordingly the EC B underlines that the principle of basic free-of-
charge cash services as part of the public tasks to be provided by euro area NCBs is agreed 
Eurosystem practice and remains unaffected by the draft order. According to the Eurosystem fee 
policy and common approach to opening hours and debiting/crediting rules for cash services at 
NCB counters7 implemented from 1 March 2002, the different levels of services are:  
• free-of-charge: these are the basic services pr ovided by all NCBs, taking into account their 
unique role in providing th e economy with cash; and 
• fee-based: these are additional services that NCBs may provide. A fee must be paid for these 
optional services, taking into account the fact th at they may also be provided by commercial 
third parties. 
It should be ensured that the main principle of basic free-of-charge cash ser vices in the Eurosystem 
is not called into question by the draft order.  
  
                                                 
5  Section 2(1) of the Law on coins provi des: ‘The Federal Government may issue, as collector coins…commemorative 
coins denominated in euro.’ According to Section 2(2) ‘the German euro commemorative coins shall be domestic legal 
tender in accordance with this Law’. 
6  At EU level, the terms ‘commemorative coins’ and ‘c ollector coins’ are define d in Commission Recommendation  of 
29 September 2003 on a common practice for changes to the de sign of national obverse sides of euro circulation coins 
(OJ L 264, 15.10.2003, p. 38) and the Communication from the Commission on the recommendation of 29 September 
2003 concerning a common practice for changes to the desi gn of national obverse sides of euro circulation coins 
(OJ C 247, 15.10.2003, p. 5). According to these instruments, commemorative coins  are part of euro circulation coins. 
However, their national side differs in that it is usually de stined to commemorate an event or a personality, and the two 
euro coin should be the sole denominati on used for such issues. Collector coins  must have a different face value and their 
legal tender status is restricted to the issuing Member State. 
7  ECB Annual Report 2002, p. 134. Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
3 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 October 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET