Opinion of the European Central Bank of 4 January 2008 at the request of the Cypriot Ministry of Commerce on a draft law amending the Laws on copyright and related rights (CON/2008/1)
Date: 2008-01-04
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Cyprus, counterfeiting, euro, money, national law

EN

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 4 January 2008

at the request of the Cypriot Ministry of Commerce on a draft law amending the Laws on 

copyright and related rights

(CON/2008/1)

Introduction and legal basis

On 22 November 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Cypriot Ministry of 

Commerce for an opinion on a draft law amending the Laws on copyright and related rights of 1976 to 

2006 (hereinafter the ‘draft law’).

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

The  main purposes of the  draft law are to (i) provide  for  the  exercise in Cyprus  of  the  right  to  protect

copyright  in  euro  banknotes  and  coins; (ii)  expressly  subject  the  reproduction  of  euro  banknotes,  in 

Cyprus,

to  the  reproduction  rules  laid  down  in  Decision  ECB/2003/4 of  20  March  2003  on  the 

denominations, specifications, reproduction, exchange and withdrawal of euro banknotes (hereinafter the 
‘ECB  Decision’)2,  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Central  Bank  of  Cyprus  (CBC); and  (iii) to  introduce 

sanctions, in the form of fines and/or imprisonment, for breaches of the reproduction rules laid down in 

the ECB Decision.

2.

General observations 

2.1

The  draft  law inter alia provides, in Section 3 thereof, that  the  exclusive right of enforcement  of 

copyright over euro banknote designs is to be exercised in Cyprus by the ECB, in which that right 

is vested, or by the CBC on behalf of the ECB. The ECB deems Section 3 of the draft law to be 

unobjectionable, considering that, pursuant to Article 1 of Guideline ECB/1999/3 of 7 July 1998 on 

1
2

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
OJ L 78, 25.3.2003, p. 16.

 
 
certain  provisions  regarding  euro  banknotes,  as  amended  on  26  August  19993, national  central 

banks (NCBs) are expected to take all necessary and feasible measures, under their national legal 

systems, to ensure that there is no breach of the copyright over euro banknote designs and that the 

ECB’s  copyright  over  banknote  designs  needs  to  be  applied  and  enforced  in  close  cooperation 

between the ECB and the NCBs. 

2.2

Section  4  of  the  draft law inter  alia provides that  the  reproduction,  in  whole  or  in  part, of  euro

banknotes  requires approval by the  CBC  and is  subject  to  the  reproduction  rules  laid  down  in 

Article  2  of  the ECB  Decision. The  ECB  understands  that  Section 4  of  the  draft  law  intends  to 

convert  the  ECB  reproduction  rules  into erga omnes obligations, applicable  to  those  reproducing 

euro banknotes as well as to the CBC - the national authority responsible, pursuant to Section 4, for 

the scrutiny of euro reproductions within Cyprus – and welcomes the inclusion of Section 4 in the 

draft law. 

2.3

Section 5 of the draft law provides for penalties, in the form of a fine and/or imprisonment, in the 

event  of,  inter  alia, unauthorised  reproductions of  euro  banknotes  in  Cyprus. Since the  ECB 

Decision  applies without  prejudice  to  the  application  of  criminal  law  in  the  territory of  its 

addressees, and Section 5 of the draft law is a necessary corollary of Section 4 thereof, the ECB has 

no comments on this aspect of the draft law.

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 4 January 2008.

[signed]

The President of the ECB

Jean-Claude TRICHET

3

OJ L 258, 5.10.1999, p. 32.

2