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Checking euro banknotes and coins and currency recirculation by professional cash handlers
The monetary authorities that issue euro banknotes and coins are charged with preserving the public's confidence in the common currency by protecting the integrity and quality of currency in circulation.
Professional cash handlers - banks, Poste Italiane S.p.A. and other economic agents that engage in the sorting and distribution to the public of banknotes and coins - are required to check the authenticity and fitness to circulate of banknotes and coins, to detect suspect counterfeits promptly and to ascertain the good condition of banknotes and coins in circulation.
Euro banknotes and coins suspected of being counterfeit must be handed over, respectively, to the Bank of Italy and to the State Printing works and Mint, where the national analysis centres for counterfeits operate. Similar procedures have been established for banknotes and coins no longer fit to circulate.
Banknotes
The checking of banknotes is to be performed according to the procedures established by the ECB.
In particular, banknotes distributed to the public by means of automatic teller or other customer-operated machines must be checked previously for authenticity and quality using machines whose proper functioning has been tested by a Eurosystem national central bank and whose characteristics are published on the ECB's website. Banknotes distributed exclusively over the counter may also be checked manually for both authenticity and quality by trained bank or post office personnel.
The Bank of Italy has regulatory and supervisory powers, including that of inspection, in respect of cash handlers and the power to impose sanctions on them for non-compliance with the obligations laid down by regulations. Cash recirculation is monitored on the basis of the data and information periodically transmitted by cash handlers.
Coins
The checking of coins is to be performed according to the procedures established by the European Union.
The Ministry for the Economy and Finance has regulatory and supervisory powers in respect of cash handlers and the power to impose sanctions on them for non-compliance with the obligations laid down by regulations. Inspections are carried out by State Printing Works and Mint.
Reference regulations:
Guide to controls on Cash handlers 09-04-2013 - pdf 125 kB
Controls on cash handlers are performed using methods consistent with the criteria set out in the Guide. The Guide:
- governs the course of the main administrative procedures, including the procedure for the prohibition of banknote recirculation and the procedure for the imposition of administrative sanctions, in case of non-compliance with the obligations laid down by the legislation on recirculation;
- sets out a single operational framework ensuring uniform conduct on the part of staff responsible for off-site and on-site controls;
- promotes the effectiveness and efficiency of controls on banknote recirculation, in accordance with the principle of transparency”.
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 1338/2001 pdf 115 kB
Lays down measures necessary for the circulation of euro banknotes and coins in conditions such as to ensure their overall effective and consistent protection against counterfeiting; requires banks, Poste Italiane S.p.A. and other economic agents that engage in the sorting and distribution of banknotes and coins to the public as a professional activity to withdraw from circulation all euro notes and coins which they suspect of being counterfeit and to hand them over to the competent national authorities.
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 1339/2001 pdf 89 kB
Extends the effects of Regulation (EC) No. 1338/2001 to the member states of the European Union which have not adopted the euro as their single currency, since the fight against counterfeiting of the euro cannot be conducted solely within the euro area.
Bank of Italy Regulation of 4 May 2007 (Only in Italian)
Supervision › The legal framework for supervision › Bank of Italy regulations › Supervisory measures
Requires banks that outsource all or some of their cash handling to assess carefully the professional qualifications and organizational adequacy of the outsourcer and to verify that it uses machines compliant to the rules set by the European Central Bank. The relationship with the outsourcer must be formalized in a written contract.
Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2009
Amends Regulation (EC) 1339/2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting, by requiring professional cash handlers to check euro notes and coins which they have received and which they intend to put back into circulation for authenticity; for banknotes, this check must be carried out according to procedures defined by the European Central Bank.- Council Regulation (EC) No. 45/2009
Extends the effects of Regulation (EC) No. 44/2009 to the member countries of the European Union which have not adopted the euro as their single currency.
- Decision ECB/2010/14 of 16 September 2010
Lays down the procedures for testing banknote handling machines and the monitoring activities and corrective powers entrusted to the national central banks of the Eurosystem.
- Regulation (EU) No. 1210/2010 of 15 December 2010
Banknotes and coins › Coins › Damaged coins
Lays down the procedures for authentication of euro coins and handling of those unfit for circulation.
- Article 97 of Decree Law 1/2012 pdf 27 kB
Implements the provisions of Community law regarding the sorting and distribution to the public of banknotes and coins in euros; empowers the Bank of Italy to regulate, conduct inspections and impose sanctions on cash handlers as part of its responsibilities with regard to banknotes.
- Bank of Italy Regulation of 14 February 2012 pdf 963 kB
Lays down the rules for professional cash handlers to follow in the recirculation of banknotes, including the reports they must transmit the Bank of Italy.
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