The official site of Italy's central bank

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Banknotes and coins

On 1 January 2002, the euro banknotes and coins entered into circulation in the twelve countries then participating in the euro area (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland), replacing the national currencies of those countries.

According to the legal framework governing the issuance of banknotes and coins by the Eurosystem, the ECB has the exclusive right to authorize the issuance of banknotes within the European Community, while both the ECB and the euro area NCBs have the right to issue euro banknotes. In practice, however, the banknotes are issued by the euro area NCBs, since the ECB does not have an office for cash operations. The banknotes are available in the following denominations: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euro.

The euro coins are issued by the euro area countries. The ECB acts as an independent assessor of the quality of the coins and contributes to the development and maintenance of a common system to ensure quality in all the euro area mints. The volume of coins to be issued is approved each year by the ECB, and the decision is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The coins are produced in the following denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent, and 1 and 2 euro. The Principality of Monaco, the Republic of San Marino and the Vatican City State are also allowed to issue euro coins in line with the relevant agreements.

The euro banknotes and coins are legal tender throughout the euro area. In order to ensure that the public has confidence in the single currency, the quality and integrity of the banknotes in circulation must be safeguarded. To this end, the ECB and the Eurosystem NCBs have defined a framework for the detection of counterfeits and the identification of banknotes no longer fit for circulation by banks and all categories of professional cash handler. The framework must be followed by credit institutions and other professional cash handlers. As part of the fight against the counterfeiting of euro banknotes, a communication system has been developed for the collection and monitoring of data on counterfeits.