EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 28 April 2006 
at the request of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance and Public Administration 
on a draft decree-law on the issue, minting, pu tting into circulation and marketing of coins 
(CON/2006/22) 
 On 20 March 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Portuguese Ministry of 
Finance and Public Administration for an opinion on a draft decree-law on the issue, minting, putting into 
circulation and marketing of coins (hereinafter the ‘draft decree-law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the first and second indents of Article 2(1) of 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the c onsultation of the European Central Bank by 
national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft decree-law 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 European Central Bank, th e Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft decree-law The purpose of the draft decree-law is to codify in a single legal act the various laws relating to the 
classification of coins and the rules on the issue, mark eting and distribution of co ins that are currently in 
force in Portugal, namely Decree-Law 293/86 of 12 September 1986, Decree-Law 178/88 of 19 May 1988 and Decree-Law 318/2002 of 28 Decembe r 2002. Furthermore, it lays down sanctions for 
infringements of Council Regulation (EC) No 2182/ 2004 of 6 December 2004 concerning medals and 
tokens similar to euro coins
2.  
 2. General observations 2.1 The ECB understands that the aim of the draft d ecree-law is to regulate those matters relating to the 
issue, minting, putting into circulation and marke ting of coins that are not covered by Community 
legislation. From a formal point of view, the ECB trusts that grouping all these rules, which are currently dispersed in various legal acts, in th e draft decree-law will enhance legal certainty and 
transparency.  
2.2 The ECB welcomes the fact that the draft decree- law includes a sanctions regime for infringements 
of Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004, as required under Artic le 6(1) of that Regulation. However, this 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2 OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 1. 
2 opinion does not assess whether the sanctions laid  down in the draft decree-law are effective, 
proportionate and dissuasive, as required by Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004, since 
this is an implementation matter falling ou tside the ECB’s competences under the Treaty 
establishing the European Community. 
 3.  Issues relating to the classification of coin types 3.1 Articles 2 and 3 of the draft decree-law distingui sh between ‘standard coins’ and ‘collector coins’. 
The former refers to coins that are intended to  meet the needs of monetary circulation and 
Community legislation provides for the visual ch aracteristics of the common side, the face value 
and technical specifications of such coins; the la tter are issued solely for numismatic purposes. The 
ECB understands that, pursuant to Article 2(3) and (4) of the draft decree-law, commemorative 
issues may be made of standard coins, and such i ssues are characterised by a variation in the design 
of the national side of the coins to celebrate  important national or international events.  
3.2 The ECB supports including commemorative coins with in the classification of ‘standard coins’, in 
particular as they are circulation coins which comply  with the technical specifications laid down in 
Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 of 3 May 1998 on  denominations and technical specifications 
of euro coins intended for circulation
3, even if they have a different national design from the 
standard national obverse design. Article 2( b) of Commission Recommendation 2003/734/EC of 
29 September 2003 on a common practice for changes to the design of national obverse sides of 
euro circulation coins4 refers to the 2-euro coin as the so le denomination for commemorative coin 
issues. Recital 7 to the draft decree-law refers to Recommenda tion 2003/734/EC, thus anticipating 
that the decree-law will comply with Recommenda tion 2003/734/EC, in particul ar with Article 2(b) 
thereof, and this Recommendation was endor sed in the EU Council’s Conclusions of 
8 December 2003 on changes in the design of the national sides of euro coins5. The ECB therefore 
proposes rewording recital 7 to the draft decree-law so  that it includes a reference to the fact that 
Recommendation 2003/734/EC refers to a single denomination for the issuance of commemorative 
euro circulation coins. 
3.3 As for collector coins, the ECB welcomes the fact that these will be issued solely for numismatic 
purposes, hence not for circulation, and the fact that  they have different visual characteristics, face 
values and technical specifications from standard coins. 
 4.  The issue and putting into circulation of coins 4.1 The ECB notes that Article 5 of the draft decree-l aw correctly states that the issue of coins is the 
responsibility of the Portuguese State, irrespective of the type of finish, and that this is subject to 
                                                 
3 OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 6. Regulatio n as amended by Regulation (EC) No 423/1999 (OJ L 52, 27.2.1999, p. 2).  
4 OJ L 264, 15.10.2003, p. 38. 
5  Available on the European Commi ssion’s website at www.europa.eu.int. 
3 the volume of coin issuance approved by the ECB.  The ECB understands that the latter reference 
includes both standard and collector coins. 
4.2 The ECB notes that Article 8(1) of the draft d ecree-law entrusts the Banco de Portugal with the 
task of putting coins into circulation. Article 8(4)  of the draft decree-law states that the face value 
of coins put into circulation is paid over by the Banco de Portugal to the Directorate-General of the 
Treasury. The ECB understands that these payments ar e only due in relation to the number of euro 
coins which have actually been put into circulation,  rather than in relation to the number of coins 
the Banco de Portugal holds. In this regard, the E CB recalls that, pursuant to Article 6 of Council 
Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 speci fying definitions for the application of the 
prohibitions referred to in Articles 104 and 104(b)(1) of the Treaty6, ‘the holding by the European 
Central Bank or the national central banks of coins issued by the public sector and credited to the 
public sector shall not be regarded as a credit f acility where the amount of these assets remains at 
less than 10 % of the coins in circulation’.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 April 2006.  
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
6 OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1.