Council Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting

CHAPTER 1

PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Purpose

For the purpose of applying this Regulation, ‘counterfeiting’ shall mean the following activities:

(a) any fraudulent making or altering of euro notes or euro coins, whatever means are employed;

(b) the fraudulent uttering of counterfeit euro notes or counterfeit euro coins;

(c) the import, export, transport, receiving or obtaining of counterfeit euro notes or counterfeit euro coins with a view to uttering the same and with knowledge that they are counterfeit;

(d) the fraudulent making, receiving, obtaining or possession of: — instruments, articles, computer programs and any other means peculiarly adapted for the fraudulent making or altering of euro notes or coins, or — holograms or other components which serve to protect euro notes and coins against fraudulent making or alteration.

Article 2

Definitions

Within the meaning of this Regulation:

(a) ‘counterfeit notes’ and ‘counterfeit coins’ shall mean notes and coins denominated in euro or which have the appearance of euro notes or coins and which have been fraudulently made or altered;

(b) ‘competent national authorities’ shall mean the authorities designated by the Member States for: — identifying counterfeit notes and coins; — gathering and analysing technical and statistical data relating to counterfeit notes, in particular national central banks or other empowered bodies; — gathering and analysing technical and statistical data relating to counterfeit coins, in particular national mints, national central banks or other empowered bodies; — gathering data relating to counterfeiting of the euro and submitting them to analysis, in particular the national central offices referred to in Article 12 of the Geneva Convention;

(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 (⁹);

(d) ‘technical and statistical data’ shall mean data by means of which counterfeit notes or counterfeit coins may be identified (technical description of type of counterfeit) and data on the number of counterfeit notes and counterfeit coins by their origin, in particular geographical;

(e) ‘Geneva Convention’ shall mean the International Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency, signed at Geneva on 20 April 1929 (¹⁰);

(f) ‘Europol Convention’ shall mean the Convention of 26 July 1995 on the establishment of Europol (¹¹);

(g) ‘payment service providers’ shall mean the payment service providers referred to in Article 1(1) of Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market (¹²).

CHAPTER 2

TECHNICAL AND STATISTICAL DATA

Article 3

Gathering and access

Article 4

Obligation to transmit counterfeit notes

Article 5

Obligation to transmit counterfeit coins

CHAPTER 3

OBLIGATIONS AND SANCTIONS

Article 6

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

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,

— 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  (¹³).

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.

By way of derogation from the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, in Member States that do not have the euro as their single currency, checks on the authenticity 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 (¹⁴) , or by the Commission, in the case of coins (¹⁵).

CHAPTER 4

COOPERATION AND MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

Article 7

Cooperation to protect the euro against counterfeiting

In particular, the competent national authorities, the Commission and the European Central Bank, in the performance of their respective tasks, shall cooperate in:

— exchanging information on preventing counterfeiting and combating the uttering of counterfeit notes and counterfeit coins;

— providing regular information on the impact of counterfeiting for the purposes of strategic analysis;

— ensuring mutual assistance in preventing counterfeiting and combating the uttering of counterfeit notes and counterfeit coins, which shall include, inter alia, scientific support and training with the logistical support of the Member States.

Article 8

Centralisation of information at national level

Article 9

External relations

CHAPTER 5

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 10

Competent national authorities

Article 11

Unauthorised notes

As far as possible the provisions laid down in Articles 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 shall apply to notes denominated in euro which have been produced with the use of lawful facilities or equipment in violation of the provisions in accordance with which the competent authorities may issue currency, or uttered in violation of the conditions in accordance with which the competent authorities may utter currency and without the consent of those authorities.

Article 12

Applicability

Articles 1 to 11 shall have effect in those Member States which have adopted the euro as their single currency.

Article 13

Entry into force

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2002. However, it shall apply from the date of its publication to notes and coins which have not yet been issued but which it is intended to issue.

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