Opinion of the European Central Bank of 29 February 2012 on the protection of the euro against counterfeiting and on the authentication of euro coins (CON/2012/15)
Date: 2012-02-29
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Greece, counterfeiting, euro, fight against crime, money, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 29 February 2012 

on the protection of the euro against counterfeiting 

and on the authentication of euro coins 

(CON/2012/15) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 27 January 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Greek Ministry of 

Finance for an opinion on a draft law on measures for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting and 

on the authentication of euro coins. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning  of  the  European  Union  and  the  first,  second  and  third  indents  of  Article 2(1)  of  Council 

Decision 98/415/EC  of  29 June 1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  ECB  by  national  authorities  regarding 
draft legislative provisions1, as the draft law concerns currency matters, means of payment and the Bank 

of Greece. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, the 

Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft law 

1.1  The  draft  law  will  align  the  Greek  legal  framework  for  the  protection  of  the  euro  against 

counterfeiting  with  the  following  Union  legislation:    (i)  Article  6  of  Council  Regulation  (EC) 

No 1338/2001  of  28  June  2001  laying  down  measures  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  euro 
against  counterfeiting2;  and  (ii)  Chapters  II  and  IV  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1210/2010  of  the 

European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2010 concerning authentication of euro 
coins and handling of euro coins unfit for circulation3.  

1.2  More specifically: (i) under Article 1 of the draft law the addressees will have to ensure that euro 

coins that they have received and intend to put back into circulation are subject to an authentication 

procedure  in  accordance  with  Article  3(1)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1210/2010.  Following 

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2  
3  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
OJ L 181, 4.7.2001, p. 6.  
OJ L 339, 22.12.2010, p. 1. Decision No 2/2047/0025 of the Minister of Finance of 7 January 2011 (FEK Β 4, 7.1.2011) 
already aligned Greek legislation since Chapter III already applied from the date of entry into force of the Regulation, i.e. 
11 January 2011 in accordance with Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1210/2010. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
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authentication,  the  addressees4  will  hand  all  suspected  counterfeit  coins  over  to  the  designated 

police authority, who will further them to the Coin National Analysis Centre, and they will hand 

over euro coins unfit for circulation to the Bank of Greece; (ii) Article 2 of the draft law designates 

the  Bank  of  Greece  as  the  competent  authority  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  abovementioned 
provisions of Regulations (EC) No 1338/2001 and No 1210/20105; (iii) Article 3 of the draft law 

sets  out  the  relevant  reporting  obligations  of  the  Bank  of  Greece  and  its  powers  to  adopt  the 

necessary instruments to facilitate the addressees’ implementation of the draft law; (iv) Article 4 of 

the draft law sets out the fines that the Bank of Greece may impose in cases of non-compliance by 

the  addressees  with  the  abovementioned  provisions  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1338/2001  and 

No 1210/2010. Consequently, Article 5 of the draft law repeals Law No 2639/2010 of the Governor 

of the Bank of Greece imposing sanctions on credit institutions and bureaux de change failing to 
withdraw counterfeit euro coins from circulation6.  

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The draft law will lay down measures for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting and on 

the  authentication  of  euro  coins,  in  line  with  Article  6  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1338/2001  and 

Chapters II and IV of Regulation (EU) No 1210/2010. In this respect, the ECB welcomes the draft 

law as a means to further safeguard the integrity of euro coins as a means of payment and therefore 

maintain the general public’s confidence in euro coins.  

2.2  National  authorities  are  not  formally  obliged  to  consult  the  ECB  on  the  implementation  of  the 

Member States’ obligation to take the necessary measures to ensure that breaches of Article 6(1) of 

Regulation  (EC)  1338/2001  are  subject  to  effective,  proportionate  and  deterrent  sanctions. 

However,  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  euro  coins  as  means  of  payment,  the  ECB  considers  it 

beneficial  to  harmonise  throughout  the  Union  the  national  measures  implementing  the 

abovementioned obligation in relation to euro coin authentication to the extent possible, subject to 

national  peculiarities.  In  this  respect,  the  ECB  welcomes  the  draft  Greek  law,  which  lays  down 

effective, proportionate and deterrent sanctions. 

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5  

6  

According to Article 1 of the draft law, other economic agents, such as traders and casinos, will also be subject to this 
obligation  to  withdraw  from  circulation  suspected  counterfeit  euro  coins  and  hand  them  over  to  the  police  authority. 
However,  these  economic  agents  are  not  subject  to  authentication  requirements;  see  Article  2(d)  in  conjunction  with 
Article 3(1) of Regulation 1210/2010. 
In particular in terms of testing requirements for coin-processing machines provided for in Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation 
(EU) No 1210/2010. 
FEK  B  17,  14.1.2011.  The  ECB  was  consulted  on  the  relevant  draft  provisions  aimed  at  applying  the  withdrawal 
obligation  under  Article  6(1)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1338/2001  as  regards  euro  coins  only  to  credit  institutions  and 
bureaux de change, as in the field of euro coins the Bank of Greece has competence only as regards the institutions it 
supervises, including credit institutions and bureaux de change. In that respect, paragraph 2.3 of Opinion CON/2010/87 
referred to the imminent application of Regulation (EU) No 1210/2010 from 1 January 2012 to all institutions referred to 
in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001.  

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3. 

Specific observations 

Article 2 of the draft law designates the Bank of Greece as the competent authority to ensure compliance 

with Regulations (EC) No 1338/2001 and No 1210/2010. In view of the human and financial resources 

required  for  the  performance  of  these  tasks,  the  ECB  has  consistently  expressed  its  concern  that,  when 

allocating additional tasks to national central banks, it must be ensured that they have sufficient human 

and financial resources, both in terms of quantity and quality, for all their tasks, and in particular that their 
capacity to perform their European System of Central Banks or Eurosystem-related tasks is not affected7. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 February 2012. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

7  

See e.g. CON/2011/105. 

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