In the context of their right to issue euro banknotes, the European Central Bank (ECB) and national central banks have the competence to take all necessary legal measures to protect the integrity of euro banknotes as a means of payment.
Euro banknote reproductions are images of the banknote similar to the original and are lawful insofar as they comply with the rules of reproduction.
Reproduction rules of euro banknotes
Rules for the reproduction of euro banknotes are necessary in order to ensure that the general public can distinguish genuine euro banknotes from their reproductions. The reproduction rules for euro banknotes also apply to euro banknotes that have been withdrawn or have lost their legal tender status.
‘Reproduction’ means any tangible or intangible image that uses all or part of a euro banknote or parts of its individual design elements, such as colour, dimensions and use of letters or symbols, which image may resemble or give the impression of a euro banknote.
Lawful reproductions
Reproductions complying with the following criteria are deemed lawful, since there is no risk that the general public might mistake them for genuine euro banknotes:
- one-sided reproductions of a euro banknote, provided that the size of the reproduction is at least 125% of both the length and width or at most 75% of both the length and the width of the respective euro banknote;
- two-sided reproductions of a euro banknote, provided that the size of the reproduction is at least 200% of both the length and width or at most 50% of both the length and width of the respective euro banknote;
- reproductions of individual design elements of a euro banknote, provided that such a design element is not depicted on a background resembling a banknote;
- one-sided reproductions depicting a part of the front side or reverse side of a euro banknote, provided that such a part is smaller than one third of the original front side or reverse side of the euro banknote;
- reproductions made of a material clearly different from paper, which looks distinctly different from the material used for banknotes;
- intangible reproductions made available electronically on websites, by wire or wireless means or by any other means that allow members of the public to access these intangible reproductions from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, provided that: the word SPECIMEN is printed diagonally across the reproduction in Arial font or a font similar to Arial font. The length of the word SPECIMEN is at least 75% of the length of the reproduction and the height of the word SPECIMEN is at least 15% of the width of the reproduction, and is displayed in a non-transparent (opaque) colour contrasting with the dominant colour of the respective euro banknote, and the resolution of the electronic reproduction in its original size does not exceed 72 dpi (dots per inch).