2001/913/EC: Decision of the European Central Bank of 6 December 2001 on the issue of euro banknotes (ECB/2001/15)
Date: 2001-12-06
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: European Central Bank, central bank, euro, issue of securities, paper money, technical specification

L 337/52

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

20.12.2001

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 6 December 2001

on the issue of euro banknotes

(ECB/2001/15)

(2001/913/EC)

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL
BANK,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Treaty’), in particular
to Article 106(1) thereof, and to the Statute of the European
System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘Statute’), in particular to Article
16 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Under Article 106(1) of the Treaty and Article 16 of the
Statute, the Governing Council of the European Central
Bank (ECB) has the exclusive right to authorise the issue
of banknotes within the Community; under these provi-
sions, the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs)
may issue banknotes which are the only banknotes to
have the status of legal tender within the participating
Member States. Community law has foreseen a system
of a plurality of issuers of banknotes. The ECB and the
NCBs shall

issue euro banknotes.

Pursuant to Article 10 of Council Regulation (EC) No
974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the
euro (1), from 1 January 2002, the ECB and the NCBs
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘Eurosystem’) will put into
circulation banknotes denominated in euro. Euro bank-
notes are expressions of the same and single currency,
and subject to a single legal regime.

The issue of euro banknotes need not be subject to
quantitative or other limits, since putting banknotes into
circulation is a demand driven process.

Decision ECB/2001/7 of 30 August 2001 on the
denominations, specifications, reproduction, exchange
and withdrawal of euro banknotes (2), as amended by
Decision ECB/2001/14 (3), contains common rules on
euro banknotes. The ECB has established common tech-
nical
for euro banknotes and quality
control measures to ensure that the euro banknotes
comply with such specifications. As a consequence all
euro banknotes have the same physical appearance and
level of quality and no distinction is to be made between
banknotes of the same denomination.

specifications

(1) OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 233, 31.8.2001, p. 55.
(3) Not yet published in the Official Journal.

All euro banknotes should be subject to identical accep-
tance and processing requirements by the Eurosystem
members irrespective of which put them into circula-
tion. The current practice of repatriation of banknotes
denominated in national currency units to the issuing
central bank will therefore not apply to euro banknotes.
The regime for the issue of the euro banknotes is based
on the principle of non-repatriation of euro banknotes.

Pursuant to Article 29.1 of the Statute, each of the
members of the European System of Central Banks is
assigned a weighting in the key for subscription to the
ECB's capital, as laid down by Decision ECB/1998/13 of
1 December 1998 on the national central banks'
the
percentage shares in the key for the capital of
ECB (4); this weighting is based on the population and
gross domestic product of each Member State and
governs the contributions to the ECB's capital, the trans-
fers of the NCB's foreign reserve assets to the ECB, the
monetary income allocation of
the NCBs, and the
distribution of profits and sharing of losses of the ECB.

Euro banknotes are legal
tender in all participating
Member States, will freely circulate within the euro area,
be reissued by the members of the Eurosystem, and may
also be stored or used outside the euro zone. The liabili-
ties in respect of the issue of the total value of euro
banknotes in circulation should therefore be allocated to
the members of the Eurosystem in accordance with an
objective criterion. An appropriate criterion is the share
of each NCB in the paid-up capital of the ECB. This
share results from a proportional application of
the
capital key referred to in Article 29.1 of the Statute to
NCBs. This criterion not being applicable to the ECB, the
percentage share of euro banknotes to be issued by the
ECB is to be determined by the Governing Council.

Under Article 9.2 and Article 12.1 of the Statute, estab-
lishing the principle of decentralisation for Eurosystem
operations, the NCBs are to be entrusted with putting
into and withdrawing from circulation all euro bank-
notes including those issued by the ECB. Consistent with
this principle of decentralisation, the physical handling
of euro banknotes is also to be carried out by the NCBs.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(4) OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p. 33.

20.12.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 337/53

(9)

The difference between the value of euro banknotes
allocated to each NCB in accordance with the banknote
allocation key and the value of the euro banknotes that
such NCB puts into circulation should give rise to intra-
Eurosystem balances. The ECB not putting euro bank-
notes into circulation, it should hold intra-Eurosystem
claims on NCBs for a value equivalent to the share of
euro banknotes that it issues. The remuneration of these
intra-Eurosystem balances has an effect on the income
positions of NCBs and is therefore the subject of
Decision ECB/2001/16 of 6 December 2001 on the
allocation of monetary income of the national central
banks of participating Member States from the financial
year 2002 (1), based on Article 32 of the Statute,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Decision:

(a) ‘NCBs’ shall mean the national central banks of the Member
States that have adopted the single currency in accordance
with the Treaty establishing the European Community;

(b) ‘euro banknotes’ shall mean those banknotes complying
with the requirements of Decision ECB/2001/7, and with
the technical specifications laid down by the Governing
Council;

(c) ‘subscribed capital key’ shall mean the percentages that
result from applying to the NCBs the weighting in the key
referred to in Article 29.1 of the Statute and as laid down
in Decision ECB/1998/13;

(d) ‘banknote allocation key’ shall mean the percentages that
result from taking into account the ECB's share in the total
euro banknote issue and applying the subscribed capital
key (rounded to the nearest multiple of 0,0005 percentage
point) to the NCBs' share in such total. The Annex to this
Decision specifies the banknote allocation key applying on
1 January 2002.

Article 2

Issue of euro banknotes

The ECB and the NCBs shall

issue euro banknotes.

Article 3

Obligations of issuers

NCBs shall accept all euro banknotes on the request of
2.
the holder for exchange against euro banknotes of the same
value or,
in the case of account holders, to be credited to
accounts held at the recipient NCB.

NCBs shall treat all euro banknotes accepted by them as

3.
liabilities and process them in an identical manner.

4.
NCBs shall not transfer euro banknotes accepted by them
to other NCBs and shall keep such euro banknotes available for
reissue. As an exception, and in accordance with any rules laid
down by the Governing Council of the ECB:

(a) mutilated, damaged, worn or withdrawn euro banknotes

may be destroyed by the recipient NCB;

(b) euro banknotes held by NCBs may, for logistical reasons,

be redistributed in bulk within the Eurosystem.

Article 4

Allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem

The total value of euro banknotes in circulation shall be
1.
allocated to the Eurosystem members by application of the
banknote allocation key.

2.
The difference between the value of euro banknotes allo-
cated to each NCB in accordance with the banknote allocation
key and the value of the euro banknotes that such NCB puts
into circulation shall give rise to intra-Eurosystem balances.
The ECB shall hold intra-Eurosystem claims on NCBs in
proportion to their shares in the subscribed capital key, for a
value equivalent to the value of euro banknotes that it issues.

Article 5

Final provisions

1.

This Decision shall enter into force on 1 January 2002.

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of

2.
the European Communities.

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 6 December 2001.

1.
NCBs shall put into and withdraw from circulation euro
banknotes, and perform any physical handling in relation to all
euro banknotes,

including those issued by the ECB.

On behalf of the Governing Council of the
ECB

Willem F. DUISENBERG

(1) See page 55 of this Official Journal.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

20.12.2001

ANNEX

BANKNOTE ALLOCATION KEY ON 1 JANUARY 2002

European Central Bank

Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique

Deutsche Bundesbank

Bank of Greece

Banco de España

Banque de France

Central Bank of Ireland

Banca d'Italia

Banque centrale du Luxembourg

De Nederlandsche Bank

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Banco de Portugal

Suomen Pankki

8 %

3,2550 %

27,8215 %

2,3360 %

10,1020 %

19,1210 %

0,9650 %

16,9190 %

0,1695 %

4,8595 %

2,6800 %

2,1845 %

1,5870 %

Total

100,000 %