Opinion of the European Central Bank of 21 February 2007 at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance on a draft law on occasional coins (CON/2007/5)
Date: 2007-02-21
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovenia, issuing of currency, money, national law

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 21 February 2007 

at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance on a draft law on occasional coins  

(CON/2007/5) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 11 January 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 

Finance for an opinion on a draft law on occasional coins (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 

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

European Community and 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 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 law 

1.1  The objective of the draft law is to align national legislative provisions concerning the issuance of 

commemorative  and  collector  euro  coins  with  relevant  EU  legislation,  namely  Council 
Regulation (EC)  No  974/98  of  3  May  1998  on  the  introduction  of  the  euro2,  Council  Regulation 

(EC)  No 975/98  of  3  May  1998  on  denominations  and  technical  specifications  of  euro  coins 
intended for circulation3, 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 and 

Commission Recommendation 2005/491/EC of 3 June 2005 on common guidelines for the national 
sides of euro circulation coins5. 

1.2  The  draft  law  introduces  the  distinction  between  collector  and  commemorative  coins,  whereby 

commemorative  coins  will  be  identical  to  normal  2-euro  circulation  coins  in  terms  of  dimension 

and physical and chemical characteristics, and collector coins will be made out of gold, silver or 

other  metals  as  determined  by  the  Slovenian  government.  Pursuant  to  the  draft  law, 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1647/2006 (OJ L 309, 9.11.2006, p. 2). 
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. 
OJ L 186, 18.7.2005, p. 1. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
commemorative  coins  will  have  the  status  of  legal  tender  in  the  euro  area  Member  States,  while 

collector coins will have the status of legal tender only in Slovenia. 

2. 

General observations  

2.1  The  ECB  welcomes  the  issue  of  collector  and  commemorative  coins  respecting  the  individual 
numismatic  traditions  and  practices  of  the  Member  States6.  The  draft  law  aims  at  establishing  a 

regime that is compatible with the relevant EU legislation, and in particular with the requirement 

that issuing coins is subject to the ECB’s prior approval of the volume of the issue. Accordingly, 

the  ECB  has  the  exclusive  right  to  approve  the  overall  volume  of  coins,  including  collector  and 

commemorative circulation coins.  

2.2  The  ECB  would  like  to  draw  attention  to  Decision  ECB/2006/19  of  24  November  2006  on  the 
approval of the volume of coin issuance in 20077 laying down the approved volume of euro coins 

to  be  issued  by  the  participating  Member  States  in  2007.  Article  1  of  this  Decision  specifies  the 

issuance  of  coins  intended  for  circulation  and  issuance  of  collector  coins  (not  intended  for 

circulation). Therefore, the ECB’s approval for the volume of commemorative coins to be issued 

by  Slovenia  should  be  sought  on  an  aggregate  basis  together  with  the  yearly  estimates  of  the 

volume of euro coins to be issued by Slovenia. 

3. 

Specific observations  

Commemorative coins 

3.1  Article 4 of the draft law specifies the main characteristics of commemorative coins. In addition to 

the  characteristics  already  set  out  in  this  Article,  for  reasons  of  legal  clarity,  the  ECB  advises 

rewording  the  second  sentence  of  Article  4(1)  to  include  the  requirement  that  the  national  side 
should bear 12 stars surrounding the design and the year mark8. 

3.2  Moreover, the ECB recommends that Article 4(4) concerning prior consultation with the Member 

States regarding the appearance of the national side also specifies that the European Commission 

should be informed about an intended issue of commemorative coins at least 6 months before the 

coins are issued. 

3.3  Article 4(5) provides that ‘[c]ommemorative coins shall be sold at a price that may be higher than 

their nominal value. The price of commemorative coins shall be determined by Banka Slovenije, 

subject to the consent of the Ministry in charge of finance’. The ECB understands that this Article 

refers exclusively to the sale of commemorative coins by Banka Slovenije, while such coins will be 

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See ECB Opinion CON/2002/12 of 23 April 2002 at the request of the Finnish Ministry of Finance on a draft proposal 
concerning the issue of commemorative coins in Finland and ECB Opinion CON/2006/22 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. 
OJ L 348, 11.12.2006, p. 52. 
See  Article  3(a)  of  the  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 coins (OJ L 264, 15.10.2003, p. 38). 

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issued at face value. This means, in particular, that commemorative coins are issued at their face 

value,  and  any  difference  in  price  between  the  face  value  and  the  selling  price  does  not  have  an 

impact on the volume (based on face value) of coins in circulation. 

Collector coins 

3.4  Article  5  of  the  draft  law  contains  provisions  regarding  collector  coins.  The  ECB  suggests  that 

decisions regarding the nominal value of such coins to be adopted by the Slovenian Government 

ensure  that  collector  coins  to  be  issued  fulfil  the  criteria  adopted  by  the  ECOFIN  Council  of 
23 November  1998  and  5  November  20029.  The  ECB  would  also  like  to  point  out  that  collector 

coins  have  different  visual  characteristics  than  normal  circulation  coins.  In  this  respect,  the  ECB 

suggests  amending  Article  5(4)  to  clarify  that  the  design  on  the  obverse  side  of  collector  coins 

should,  at  a  minimum,  differ  slightly  from  the  national  design  for  circulation  coins  and  that 

collector coins should differ significantly from circulation coins with regard to at least two of the 

following characteristics: colour, diameter and weight. In addition, the ECB would like to point out 

that while collector coins will have the status of legal tender only in Slovenia, the issuing Member 

State, the national central banks of the Eurosystem should be able to impose certain conditions and 

fees for possible arrangements through which owners of euro collector coins issued in other euro 

area Member States can receive the face values of those coins. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 February 2007. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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Available on the European Commission’s website at www.europa.eu.int.  

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