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, putting into circulation and marketing of coins (CON/2006/22)
Date: 2006-04-28
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Portugal, issuing of currency, money, national law

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, putting 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  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by 
national  authorities  regarding  draft  legislative  provisions1,  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, the 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, marketing and distribution of coins 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 December 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 coins2.  

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The ECB understands that the aim of the draft decree-law is to regulate those matters relating to the 

issue, minting, putting into circulation and marketing 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  the  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 Article 6(1) of that Regulation. However, this 

1  
2 

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. 1. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
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  outside  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 distinguish 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  characteristics  of  the  common  side,  the  face  value 

and technical specifications of such coins; the latter 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 issues 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 within 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  circulation3,  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 sole denomination for commemorative coin 

issues. Recital 7 to the draft decree-law refers to Recommendation 2003/734/EC, thus anticipating 

that the decree-law will comply with Recommendation 2003/734/EC, in particular with Article 2(b) 

thereof,  and  this  Recommendation  was  endorsed  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-law 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 
4 
5  

OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 6. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 423/1999 (OJ L 52, 27.2.1999, p. 2).  
OJ L 264, 15.10.2003, p. 38. 
Available on the European Commission’s website at www.europa.eu.int. 

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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  decree-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 are 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 ECB recalls that, pursuant to Article 6 of Council 

Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 specifying 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 facility 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. 

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