Opinion of the European Central Bank of 26 June 2001 at the request of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique on a draft law relating to the cash changeover to the euro in Belgium (CON/2001/15)
Date: 2001-06-26
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Belgium, central bank, credit institution, euro, money, penal code

EN

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 26 June 2001

at the request of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique on a draft

law relating to the cash changeover to the euro in Belgium

(CON/2001/15)

1. 

On 11 June 2001 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Nationale Bank

van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique (NBB) for an opinion on a draft law relating to the

cash changeover to the euro in Belgium (hereinafter referred to as the “Draft Law”).

2. 

The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on  Article 105(4)  of  the  Treaty

establishing the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the “Treaty”), Article 3(1) of

the  Protocol  on  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European

Central  Bank  and  Article  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

provisions1.  In  accordance  with  such  Articles,  the  scope  of  this  opinion  is  limited  to  those

provisions of the Draft Law that relate to the powers of the ECB.

3. 

In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17(5) of the Rules of Procedure of the European

Central Bank2, this opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB. 

4. 

The  ECB  notes  that  in  line  with  Article  15  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  974/98  of

3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro3, Articles 2 and 3 of the Draft Law introduce a dual

circulation  period,  which  will  be  limited  to  the  period  running  from  1 January 2002  to

28 February 2002.  From  1  March  2002,  banknotes  and  coins  denominated  in  Belgian  francs

will cease to be legal tender.

5. 

As  per  Article  2(2),  banknotes  denominated  in  Belgian  francs  will  be  exchangeable  without

time limit at the NBB as, according to the NBB, was traditionally the case in Belgium.

6. 

Article  2(3)  stipulates  that  exchanges  of  Belgian  franc  banknotes  which  take  place  after  the

NBB has credited the Belgian Treasury for the amount of the banknotes, which have not been

presented  for  exchange  to  the  NBB,  will  be  charged  to  the  account  of  the  Belgian  Treasury.

1

2

3

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p 34.
OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p 1.

                                                     
This provision results from Article 9 of the Organic Law on the NBB, which will be repealed

from 28 February 2002. However, this law produces legal effects after this date that need to be

settled in order to avoid double payment by the NBB with respect to the withdrawn notes. This

provision  does  not  appear  to  interfere  with  the  accounting  rules  applying  to  banknotes  that

cease to be legal tender nor with the decision of when the NBB and the Belgian Treasury settle

the  payment  referred  to  in  Article  2(3).  The  ECB  understands  that  this  time  of  payment  will

depend upon a separate agreement, between the Belgian Treasury and the NBB, implementing

Article 9, which agreement has yet not been finalised. This matter was among others addressed

in the context of an ex-post informal opinion of the ECB delivered to the NBB  at  the  end  of

February 2001.

7. 

The ECB notes that coins denominated in Belgian francs will only be exchangeable at the NBB

and DE POST/LA POSTE until 31 December 2004, as provided by Article 3 of the Draft Law.

There seem to be no limits or fees imposed on the exchange of coins as, according to the NBB,

this was traditionally the case for withdrawn coins4. 

8. 

The  NBB  has  confirmed  to  the  ECB  that  Article  4  of  the  Draft  Law  refers  to  the  existing

practice  in  Belgium.  Following  this  practice,  Article  4  authorises  both  the  NBB  and  DE

POST/LA POSTE to accept coins without limits, and implements the possibility provided for

by Article 11 of the aforementioned Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 for Member States to

appoint persons/institutions to accept  more  than  50  coins  in  any  single  payment  (“Except  for

the issuing authority and for those persons specifically designated by the national legislation of

the issuing Member State, no party shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins in any single

payment”).

9. 

The NBB also confirmed that Article 4 maintains the existing practice of the NBB according to

which this service is without charge, in order to meet the needs of individuals and households

and that, in so far as this service goes beyond these needs, the NBB or DE POST/LA POSTE

would be entitled to charge a fee.

10.  Article  5  of  the  Draft  Law  allows  the  transfer  of  the  capital  gains  realised  on  the  transfer  of

assets  in  gold  from  the  NBB  to  the  ECB  for  an  amount  of  EUR  177,114,566.  The  ECB  has

confirmed in an earlier  opinion  that  this  transfer  may  be  considered  to  give  rise  to  a  realised

capital gain. For this reason such gain may be accounted for in the profit and loss account and

may be subject to distribution. The distribution avoids treating the income as current income in

the budget but affects it to the Zilverfonds, being a legal entity, created by law as a long-term

funding structure for pension liabilities. The ECB understands that this fund invests mainly in

public government bonds and therefore contributes to the decrease of the Belgian public debt.

11.  The ECB welcomes Article 6 of the Draft Law to the extent that it confirms the responsibility

of the NBB for the quality of banknote circulation. This task constitutes a public mission and is

4

Articles 7 to 18 of the Draft Law deal also with coins.

2

                                                     
a  natural  corollary  of  the  issuance.  It  is  performed  free  of  charge  by  the  NBB.  The  NBB

confirms that supplementary services provided at customer demand may be subject to a fee.

12.  The  ECB  understands  that  Article  19  of  the  Draft  Law  transposes  two  existing  provisions  of

Belgian criminal law into the Penal Code and adapts them to the introduction of the euro. The

new Article 178bis of the Penal Code is intended to prevent fanciful means of payment from

being  put  into  circulation  which  might  confuse  the  consumers  as  to  which  is  the  real  legal

tender. The new Article 178ter of the Penal Code protects the banknotes and coins against all

kinds of damage which would jeopardise their use as legal tender.

13.  The ECB understands that the purpose of Article 23 of the Draft Law is to facilitate and protect

the  withdrawal  of  banknotes  denominated  in  Belgian  francs.  The  ECB  is  of  the  view  that

national measures taken in the context of the withdrawal of national banknotes (including the

marking  or  neutralisation  of  such  banknotes)  should  be  possible.  However,  once  the

characteristics  of  this  marking  will  have  been  decided  by  Royal  Decree,  the  ECB  should  be

informed about them considering that article 52 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European

System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank requires national central banks to

exchange at par banknotes of all participating Member States.

14.  The ECB notes that Article 35 of the Draft Law protects the frontloading and subfrontloading

operations in Belgium by penalising the use of euro banknotes as a means of payment before

1 January 2002.  Banknotes  used  before  this  date  as  a  means  of  payment  may  moreover  be

confiscated.

15.  The  ECB  welcomes  Article  37(8)  of  the  Draft  Law  which  abrogates  Article  76  of  the

Programme Law of 2 January 2001 as this Article 76 might have allowed for credit facilities,

prohibited under Article 101 of the Treaty (see the opinion of the ECB of 27 February 2001).

16.  The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the publication of this opinion at the discretion of

the competent national authority.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 26 June 2001.

The President of the ECB

[signed]

Willem F. DUISENBERG

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