EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 19 September 2001
at the request of the Netherl ands Ministry of Finance on  an amendment of the current
Decision dated 27 July 1998 on the establis hment of rules con cerning the exchange,
withdrawal and cancelling of banknotes by De Nederlandsche Bank and the information
thereon to be provided to the general public
CON/2001/26
1. On 10 August 2001 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Netherlands
Ministry of Finance for an opinion on a draft Decision amendi ng the Decision of 27 July 1998
on the establishment of rules concerning the exchange, withdrawal and cancelling of banknotes
by De Nederlandsche Bank and the information thereon to be provided to the general public(hereinafter the draft Decision).
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty
establishing the European Community, Article 4 of the Statute of th e European System of
Central Banks and of the European Central Ba nk and Article 2(1), first, second and third
indents, of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European
Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1. 
3. Article 1A of the draft Decision amends Article  1 of the existing Decision and it clarifies that
withdrawn banknotes denominated in guilder s can be exchanged during office hours at De
Nederlandsche Bank's branches. The new wording set out in Article 1A of the draft Decision is
marginally more restrictive in that De Nederlands che Bank's offices might, in addition to the list
of public holidays contained in Article 1 of th e existing Decision, also be closed on Liberation
Day and on days falling between a public holiday and a weekend. However, as this concernsonly a small restriction of the general public's rights to exchange guilder banknotes at De
Nederlandsche Bank's branches, the ECB does not ra ise any objections to Article 1A of the draft
Decision.
                                                     
1OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
24. Article 1 B of the draft Decision deletes Article  2(1) of the current Decision, which holds that
De Nederlandsche Bank shall decide the denomin ations and the form of guilder banknotes. The
deletion of this Article is appropriate in view  of the withdrawal of banknotes denominated in
guilders as from 1 January 2002. 
5. Finally, Article 1C of the draft Decision dele tes Article 4(5) of the current Decision. This
Article deals with the inclusion in De Nederla ndsche Bank's profit and loss account of the profit
accruing from guilder banknotes that have been withdrawn from circulation and which, 10 years
after their withdrawal, still have not been  submitted for exchange. The Explanatory
Memorandum accompanying the draft Decision notes that this is a private law matter, whichwill be incorporated in a separate agreement between De Nederlandsche Bank and the Ministry
of Finance. 
6. This separate agreement has not yet been finalised, but the Explanatory Memorandum envisages
the following scenario: in 2003 65% of the wit hdrawn guilder banknotes that are reasonably
estimated on 1 January 2003 not to be submitted for exchange in that year, will be included inDe Nederlandsche Bank's profit and loss account for 2002. In 2008 90% of the withdrawn
guilder banknotes that are reasonably estimat ed on 1 January 2008 not to be submitted for
exchange in 2008, will be included in De Nederlandsche Bank's profit and loss account for 2007after deduction of the amount which has been included in the profit and loss account for 2002.
Finally, in 2013 the remainder of the withdrawn gu ilder banknotes that have not by then been
submitted for exchange will be included in De Nederlandsche Bank's profit and loss account for2012 after deduction of the amounts which have b een included in the De Nederlandsche Bank's
profit and loss accounts for 2002, respectively for 2007. The ECB has no objections as such toArticle 1C of the draft Decision. The ECB understands that the draft agreement will merelyincorporate the aforementioned rules without affecting more general financial matters. 
7. In accordance with Article 17.5, first sentence, of the Rules of Procedure of the European
Central Bank,2 this ECB opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB.
8. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this
opinion publicly available at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 19 September 2001.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG
                                                     
2 OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p 34