Council Decision 2005/511/JHA of 12 July 2005 on protecting the euro against counterfeiting, by designating Europol as the Central Office for combating euro counterfeiting
Date: 2005-07-12
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Europol, economic offence, euro, fraud, paper money, powers of the institutions (EU)

16.7.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 185/35

(Acts adopted under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL DECISION 2005/511/JHA

of 12 July 2005

on protecting the euro against counterfeiting, by designating Europol as the Central Office for
combating euro counterfeiting

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Articles 30(1)(b) and 34(2)(c) thereof,

the Federal Republic of
Having regard to the initiative of
Germany,
the
the French Republic,
the Kingdom of Spain,
Italian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

penalties and other sanctions against counterfeiting in
connection with the introduction of
the
Council considers it appropriate for all Member States
to become contracting parties to the Geneva Convention
and to set up central offices within the meaning of
Article 12 of that Convention.

the euro (3),

(7)

The Council considers it appropriate to designate Europol
as the central office for combating euro counterfeiting
within the meaning of Article 12 of
the Geneva
Convention,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

As the legal currency of 12 Member States, the euro has
increasingly become a global currency and has therefore
become a high-priority target of international counter-
feiting organisations in the European Union and third
countries.

A further increase in the number of counterfeit euro,
which would jeopardise the free circulation of euro
banknotes and coins, is to be prevented.

Cooperation among the Member States themselves and
between the Member States and Europol needs to be
stepped up in order to strengthen the system for the
protection of
the euro outside the European Union
territory.

The International Convention for the Suppression of
Counterfeiting Currency agreed on 20 April 1929 in
the Geneva
referred
Geneva
Convention), should be applied more effectively under
the conditions of European integration.

(hereinafter

to

as

Third countries need a central contact for information on
counterfeit euro and all information on counterfeit euro
should be brought together at Europol for purposes of
analysis.

In view of Council Framework Decision 2000/383/JHA
of 29 May 2000 on increasing protection by criminal

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

1.
For the Member States which are Contracting Parties to
the Geneva Convention, Europol shall, in accordance with the
Declaration in the Annex (hereinafter
the
Declaration), act as the central office for combating euro coun-
terfeiting within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 12
of
the Geneva Convention. For counterfeiting of all other
currencies and for central office functions not delegated to
Europol pursuant to the Declaration, the existing competencies
of the national central offices shall remain in effect.

referred to as

The governments of

the Member States which are
2.
Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention shall
issue the
Declaration and commission the representative of the Federal
Republic of Germany to forward the Declarations
to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 2

This Decision shall take effect on the day of its publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 12 July 2005.

For the Council
The President

G. BROWN

(1) OJ C 317, 22.12.2004, p. 10.
(2) Opinion delivered on 12 April 2005 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(3) OJ L 140, 14.6.2000, p. 1. Framework Decision as amended by
Framework Decision 2001/888/JHA (OJ L 329, 14.12.2001, p. 3).

L 185/36

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.7.2005

ANNEX

Declaration of … to designate Europol as the central office for combating euro counterfeiting

…, a Member State of the European Union, has given the European Police Office (hereinafter referred to as Europol) a
mandate to combat euro counterfeiting.

In order for the Geneva Convention of 1929 to function more effectively,… shall in future fulfil its obligations as follows:

1. With regard to euro counterfeiting, Europol shall perform — in the framework of its objective according to the
Council Act of 26 July 1995 on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) (1) — the
following central office functions within the meaning of Articles 12 to 15 of the Geneva Convention of 1929.

1.1. Europol shall centralise and process, in accordance with the Europol Convention, all information of a nature to
facilitate the investigation, prevention and combating of euro counterfeiting and shall forward this information
without delay to the national central offices of the Member States.

1.2. In accordance with the Europol Convention, in particular in accordance with Article 18 thereof and the Council Act
of 12 March 1999 adopting the rules governing the transmission of personal data by Europol to third States and
third bodies (2), Europol shall correspond directly with the central offices of third countries to fulfil the tasks set
down in points 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 of this Declaration.

1.3. Europol shall, insofar as it considers it expedient, forward to the central offices of third countries a set of specimens

of actual euro.

1.4. Europol shall regularly notify the central offices of third countries, giving all necessary particulars, of new currency

issued and the withdrawal of currency from circulation.

1.5. Except in cases of purely local interest, Europol shall, insofar as it considers it expedient, notify the central offices of

third countries of:

— any discovery of counterfeit or falsified Euro currency. Notification of the counterfeit or falsification shall be
accompanied by a technical description of the counterfeit, to be provided solely by the institution whose notes
have been counterfeited. A photographic reproduction or, if possible, a specimen counterfeited note should be
transmitted. In urgent cases, a notification and a brief description made by the police authorities may be
discreetly communicated to the central offices interested, without prejudice to the notification and technical
description mentioned above;

— details of discoveries of counterfeiting, stating whether it has been possible to seize all the counterfeit currency

put into circulation.

1.6. As central office for the Member States, Europol shall participate in conferences dealing with euro counterfeiting

within the meaning of Article 15 of the Geneva Convention.

1.7. Where Europol is unable to carry out the tasks specified in points 1.1. to 1.6. in accordance with the Europol

Convention, the national central offices of the Member States shall retain competence.

2. With regard to the counterfeiting of all other currencies and for central office functions not delegated to Europol in

accordance with point 1, the existing competencies of the national central offices shall remain in effect.

Name of Representative…, this… day of…

(1) OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 88, 30.3.1999 p. 1. Council Act as amended by Council Act of 28 February 2002 (OJ C 76, 27.3.2002, p. 1).