Opinion of the European Central Bank of 16 October 2008 at the request of the German Ministry of Finance on a draft order on the replacement of euro coins and German euro commemorative coins which are unfit for circulation and the charging of appropriate fees (CON/2008/49)
Date: 2008-10-16
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Germany, euro, issuing of currency, money, national law

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 16 October 2008  

at the request of the German Ministry of Finance 

on a draft order on the replacement of euro coins and German euro commemorative coins 

which are unfit for circulation and the charging of appropriate fees 

(CON/2008/49) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 25 August 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the German Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  order  on  the  replacement  of  euro  coins  and  German  euro 

commemorative coins which are unfit for circulation and the charging of appropriate fees (hereinafter the 

‘draft order’). 

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

European  Community  and  the  second  indent  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  order  relates  to  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 order 

The draft order is based on § 9a of the Law on coins2 which was subject to a separate ECB opinion earlier 
this year3. This provision forms the legal basis for charging a fee as well as for setting up requirements for 

the sorting, packaging and labelling of packaging in the framework of the replacement and the receipt of 

unfit euro coins and German euro commemorative coins by the Deutsche Bundesbank. 

The  draft  order  is  intended  to  implement  Commission  Recommendation  2005/504/EC  of  27 May  2005 
concerning authentication of euro coins and handling of euro coins unfit for circulation4, whose purpose 
is to create equal conditions for the replacement of coins unfit for circulations in the euro area. 

1  
2  
3  

4  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Bundesgesetzblatt I, p. 809, 813, 8.5.2008. 
ECB  Opinion  CON/2008/3  of  9  January  2008  at  the  request  of  the  German  Ministry  of  Finance  on  a  draft  law 
consolidating federal law within the field of competence of the Ministry of Finance and amending the Law on coins. 
OJ L 184, 15.7.2005, p. 60. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
2. 

General observations  

2.1  The draft order provides for a general fee to be charged for replacing unfit euro coins and German 

commemorative euro coins. In this context, the ECB notes that the use of the term ‘commemorative 

coin’ (‘Gedenkmünze’) in the draft order follows the definition of the term contained in the German 
Law on coins5, according to which commemorative coins are covered by the term ‘collector coin’, 
which is different from established EU practice in this regard6.  

Under  § 5  amounts  of  coins  falling  below  specified  levels  and  unfit  coins  resulting  from  the 

manufacture of coin rolls in foil packaging are exempted from a fee. No fee or a reduced fee may 

be charged ‘for reasons of fairness or in the public interest’. 

2.2  As coins have a long life-span of more than 25 years, the replacement of coins unfit for circulation 

can  be  considered  a  rather  minor  activity  in  the  range  of  cash  services  provided  by  euro  area 

national central banks (NCBs). Accordingly the ECB underlines that the principle of basic free-of-

charge  cash  services  as  part  of  the  public  tasks  to  be  provided  by  euro  area  NCBs  is  agreed 

Eurosystem  practice  and  remains  unaffected  by  the draft  order. According  to  the  Eurosystem  fee 

policy  and  common  approach  to  opening  hours  and  debiting/crediting  rules  for  cash  services  at 
NCB counters7 implemented from 1 March 2002, the different levels of services are:  

• 

• 

free-of-charge: these are the basic services provided by all NCBs, taking into account their 

unique role in providing the economy with cash; and 

fee-based: these are additional services that NCBs may provide. A fee must be paid for these 

optional services, taking into account the fact that they may also be provided by commercial 

third parties. 

It should be ensured that the main principle of basic free-of-charge cash services in the Eurosystem 

is not called into question by the draft order.  

5  

6  

7  

Section  2(1)  of  the  Law  on  coins  provides:  ‘The  Federal  Government  may  issue,  as  collector  coins…commemorative 
coins denominated in euro.’ According to Section 2(2) ‘the German euro commemorative coins shall be domestic legal 
tender in accordance with this Law’. 
At  EU  level,  the  terms  ‘commemorative  coins’  and  ‘collector  coins’  are  defined  in  Commission  Recommendation  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) and the Communication from the Commission on the recommendation of 29 September 
2003  concerning  a  common  practice  for  changes  to  the  design  of  national  obverse  sides  of  euro  circulation  coins 
(OJ C 247,  15.10.2003,  p.  5).  According  to  these  instruments,  commemorative coins  are  part  of  euro  circulation  coins. 
However, their national side differs in that it is usually destined to commemorate an event or a personality, and the two 
euro coin should be the sole denomination used for such issues. Collector coins must have a different face value and their 
legal tender status is restricted to the issuing Member State. 
ECB Annual Report 2002, p. 134. Available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

2 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 October 2008. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

3