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The Introduction of the Euro Banknotes: Some Legal Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2017

Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña
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Extract

This paper addresses two legal issues regarding the euro banknotes, in circulation since zero hours 1 January 2002, the currency of some 300 million Europeans. These are the physical representation of the single currency introduced 1 January 1999. Following the introduction of such banknotes, monetary debts may be discharged in a territory that extends from Faro in Portugal to Rovaniemi in Finland, from the Aran Islands in the Atlantic to the island of Crete in the Aegean. No doubt a major and a historical event for Europe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies , Volume 5 , 2003 , pp. 59 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for European Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge 2003

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References

1 Art 15 of the Council Regulation refers to the maximum period of six months during which banknotes and coins denominated in euro and in the national currency units will jointly circulate in euro area Member States.

2 Stephen Silard, Senior Counsel, IMF, has suggested that such standardisation is in the interest of smooth uniform usage, similar to the laws establishing standards of weights and measures, in International Encyclopaedia of Comparative Law vol XVII, ch 20, ‘Money’ (Kluwer 1975).

3 Mann, FA, The Legal Aspect of Money 5th edn, (Oxford UP 1992) 42 Google Scholar and Cranston, R, Principles of Banking Law (Clarendon Press 1997) 116 Google Scholar.

4 See Carreau, D, ‘Le système monétaire international privé’, in (1998) Recueil des Cours Académie de Droit International, 274 § 36. Van Ommeslaghe, P, Droit des obligations (Bruylant 1985), vol 4, 971 Google Scholar.

5 Pretura Genova, 20 September 1981.

6 Silard above n 3 has written: ‘It appears clear from the historical record that legal tender laws that go beyond an effort to assure uniformity of the payment medium in actual circulation and seek to force the acceptance by creditors of an asset of dubious quality have a rather mixed record of success.’

7 It is recalled that Art 8(3)—which applies during the transitional period—of Council Regulation 974/98 holds that any amount denominated in either the euro unit or national currency units and payable within a euro area Member State by crediting an account of the creditor, can be paid by the debtor in either the euro unit or the national currency unit.

8 See eg Hijma, J, and Olthof, MM, Compendium Nederlands Vermogensrecht (Kluwer 1993) §344a Google Scholar.

9 HJ Hahn, Währungsrecht (Nomos 1990), 60 quotes § 293 BGB in this respect (‘Annahmeverzug’).

10 This is also the rationale of the provision of Art 11 of the Council Regulation No 974/98.

11 Hof Amsterdam, judgment 3 February 1994 in the case of Verenigde Bloemenvelingen Aalsmeer v Willing, 1994 NJ 1995/51.

12 In Germany citizens are de facto required to make payments via bank transfers to the competent authority. Also, to receive payments from public authorities, citizens are de facto obliged to have a bank account (see eg the Tax Code, the Act on Civil Servants’ Remuneration, the Act on the Promotion of Education and the Act on Civil Servants’ Pension. Only in exceptional Circumstances may citizens ask for cash payments.

13 This national currency amount and the others mentioned in this section will of course have to be replaced by euro amounts.

14 Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro contains rounding rules that apply to the conversion of monetary amounts denominated in national currency units in euro amounts, but this is conceptually different from legislative provisions that round amounts payable in euro cents off to a certain minimum.

15 The United Kingdom still retains the tradition of banknotes issued by non-central banks, such as the privilege given to some Scottish and Northern Irish banks to issue sterling pound banknotes. In Hong Kong, such privileged issuance has also been maintained in three local banks. In Luxembourg, two private commercial banks had been given issuance rights, but these were terminated upon the introduction of the euro and the creation in 1998 of the Banque Centrale du Luxembourg.

16 ECB 2001/15, OJ L 337, 20.12.2001.