Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2009 of 18 December 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting
Date: 2008-12-18
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: economic offence, euro, fight against crime, fraud, industrial counterfeiting, money, paper money

22.1.2009

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 17/1

(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory)

I

REGULATIONS

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 44/2009

of 18 December 2008

amending Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the
euro against counterfeiting

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,
in
and
Article 123(4) thereof,

particular

establishing the European
of

sentence

third

the

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (1),

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

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

and any other

Council Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 (3) requires credit
institutions
to
withdraw from circulation all euro notes and coins
received by them which they know or have sufficient
reason to believe to be counterfeit and hand them over
to the competent national authorities.

related institutions

It is important to ensure that circulating euro notes and
coins are authentic. To that end, credit institutions, other
payment service providers and other economic agents
involved in the processing and distribution of notes
and coins should check the authenticity of
the euro
notes and coins they receive before they put them back
into circulation, except where they come from other
establishments or persons who are themselves under an

(1) OJ C 27, 31.1.2008, p. 1.
(2) Opinion of 17 December 2008 (not yet published in the Official
Journal). Opinion delivered following non-compulsory consultation.

(3) OJ L 181, 4.7.2001, p. 6.

obligation to check or where they have been obtained
from the authorities authorised to issue them. Other
economic agents, such as traders and casinos, should
also be subject to these obligations where they supply,
on a secondary basis, automated teller machines (cash
dispensers), but they may not be involved beyond these
secondary activities. In order to comply with the obli­
gation to check for authenticity, these economic agents
nevertheless need time to adapt
func­
tioning. As regards notes, the procedures laid down for
Member States which have adopted the euro as a single
currency may also cover the suitability of the checked
notes for circulation.

internal

their

(3)

(4)

the equipment

Appropriate adjustment of
is a prere­
quisite for checking the authenticity of euro notes and
In order to adjust the equipment used for the
coins.
checks for authenticity it is essential that the necessary
quantities of counterfeit notes and coins are available at
the places where testing is conducted.
It is, therefore,
appropriate to permit
the transporting of counterfeit
notes and coins between competent national authorities
as well as institutions and bodies of the European Union.

The European Technical and Scientific Centre (ETSC) is
now formally established within the Commission by
Council Decision 2003/861/EC (4)
and Commission
2005/37/EC (5).
provision
Decision
to the
stating that
Commission is no longer necessary.

the ETSC communicates data

Therefore,

the

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 should therefore be
amended accordingly,

(4) Council Decision 2003/861/EC of 8 December 2003 concerning
analysis and cooperation with regard to counterfeit euro coins (OJ
L 325, 12.12.2003, p. 44).

(5) Commission Decision 2005/37/EC of 29 October 2004 establishing
the European Technical and Scientific Centre (ETSC) and providing
for coordination of technical actions to protect euro coins against
counterfeiting (OJ L 19, 21.1.2005, p. 73).

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Official Journal of the European Union

22.1.2009

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

3. Article 5 shall be amended as follows:

Article 1

Amendments

Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 is hereby amended as follows:

(a)

the title shall be replaced by the following:

‘Obligation to transmit counterfeit coins’;

1. Article 2 shall be amended as follows:

(b) at the end of paragraph 2 the following sentences shall

be added:

(a) point (c) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(c) “credit institutions” shall mean the credit institutions
referred to in Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 2006/48/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of
14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit
of the business of credit institutions (*);

___________
(*) OJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1.’;

(b) the following point shall be added:

‘(g) “payment service providers” shall mean the payment
referred to in Article 1(1) of
service providers
Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament
and of
the Council of 13 November 2007 on
payment services in the internal market (*).

___________
(*) OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1.’;

2. Article 4 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

the title shall be replaced by the following:

‘Obligation to transmit counterfeit notes’;

‘For the purpose of facilitating the checking for authen­
ticity of circulating euro coins, the transporting of coun­
terfeit coins between the competent national authorities
as well as the institutions and bodies of the European
Union shall be permitted. During transportation,
the
counterfeit notes shall be accompanied at all times by
transport orders received for that purpose from the
abovementioned authorities, institutions and bodies.’;

(c) at the end of paragraph 3 the following sentence shall be

added:

competent national

‘The
authorities may however
transmit to the CNAC, and, where appropriate, to the
ETSC, part of a batch of these coins for examination or
testing.’;

(d) paragraph 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘4.
The ETSC shall analyse and classify every new type
of counterfeit euro coin. To that end, the ETSC shall
have access to the technical and statistical data stored
at the ECB on counterfeit euro coins. The ETSC shall
communicate the relevant final results of its analysis to
the competent national authorities and, according to its
areas of responsibility, to the European Central Bank.
The European Central Bank shall communicate those
results to Europol,
in accordance with the agreement
referred to in Article 3(3).’;

(b) at the end of paragraph 2 the following sentences shall

4. Article 6 shall be amended as follows:

be added:

‘For the purpose of facilitating the checking for authen­
ticity of circulating euro notes, the transporting of coun­
terfeit notes between the competent national authorities
as well as the institutions and bodies of the European
Union shall be permitted. During transportation,
the
counterfeit notes shall be accompanied at all times by
transport orders received for that purpose from the
abovementioned authorities, institutions and bodies.’;

(c) at the end of paragraph 3 the following sentence shall be

added:

competent national

‘The
authorities may however
transmit to the NAC, and, where appropriate, to the
ECB, part of a batch of these notes for examination or
testing.’;

(a)

the title shall be replaced by the following:

‘Obligations relating to credit institutions engaged in the
processing and distribution to the public of notes and
coins’;

(b) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
Credit institutions, and, within the limits of their
payment activity, other payment service providers, and
any other institutions engaged in the processing and
distribution to the public of notes and coins, including:

— establishments whose activity consists in exchanging
notes and coins of different currencies, such as
bureaux de change,

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Official Journal of the European Union

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— transporters of funds,

— other economic agents such as traders and casinos
engaged on a secondary basis in the processing and
distribution to the public of notes via automated
teller machines (cash dispensers), within the limit of
these secondary activities,

shall be obliged to ensure that euro notes and coins
which they have received and which they intend to put
back into circulation are checked for authenticity and
that counterfeits are detected.

For euro notes, this check shall be carried out in line
with procedures defined by the ECB (*).

The institutions and economic agents referred to in the
first subparagraph shall be obliged to withdraw from
circulation all euro notes and coins received by them
which they know or have sufficient reason to believe
to be counterfeit. They shall
immediately hand them
over to the competent national authorities.
___________
(*) See the framework for the detection of counterfeits
and fitness sorting by credit institutions and other
professional cash handlers, available on the ECB
website at
the following address: http://www.ecb.
europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/recyclingeurobanknotes
2005.en.pdf’;

the euro as their single currency, checks on the authen­
ticity of euro notes and coins shall be carried out:

— either by trained personnel,

— or by a machine for handling banknotes and coins
that is on the list published by the European Central
Bank, for banknotes (**), or by the Commission, in
the case of coins (***).

___________
(**) The list published by the ECB is available at
address: http://www.ecb.int/euro/

the
cashhand/devices/results/html/index.fr.html

following

(***) The list published by the Commission is available at
http://ec.europa.eu/anti_

the
address:
fraud/pages_euro/euro-coins/machines.pdf’;

following

(d) paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

‘3. Without prejudice to the dates fixed by the ECB
the procedures it defines,
for the implementation of
Member States shall adopt
the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions for applying the first subpara­
graph of paragraph 1 of this Article by 31 December
2011 at
forthwith inform the
Commission and the ECB thereof.’.

the latest. They shall

(c)

the following paragraph shall be inserted:

Article 2

Entry into force

‘1a
By way of derogation from the second subpara­
graph of paragraph 1, in Member States that do not have

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States in
accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Done at Brussels, 18 December 2008.

For the Council
The President

M. BARNIER