FAQ v. 0.4
Thomas M. Widmann
EUROPA.UNION.EURO
VERSION 0.4
Warning: This text is posted in UTF-8. Some words (including the euro
symbol) may look like gibberish unless your newsreader supports the
future standard Unicode and you have Greek and Cyrillic fonts.
Another (and more official) FAQ is made by the ECB:
<http://www.ecb.int/change/eurobnfaq_en.htm>
Table of Contents
A. The euro symbol (+IKw-)
B. The words 'euro' and 'cent'
C. The EMU
D. The coins
E. The notes
F. The money in general
A. THE EURO SYMBOL (+IKw-)
A1. Who designed the euro symbol?
To the best of our knowledge, there has never been an official
statement telling who designed the euro symbol. Some media claim it
was designed by Arthur Eisenmenger, former chief graphic designer for
the EEC, while others say it was created by a small group lead by
Alain Billiet.
A2. How can I use the euro symbol on my computer?
In Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2, if the appropriate updates have
been installed, the euro symbol is mapped as character code 128 in
supported code pages. The euro symbol can then be entered by typing
AltGr+E or AltGr+5.
The above is different from ISO-8859-15 (Latin-9) character set, where
the euro symbol replaces the general currency symbol (+AKQ-), character
code 164. For details, see
<http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/latin9.html>
When creating an HTML document, use the "€" entity to display the
euro symbol. An even better idea may be to use
<acronym title="EUR">€</acronym>.
If you are unable to use the symbol, you may use the ISO code ("EUR")
instead.
B. THE WORDS 'EURO' AND 'CENT'
B1. What is the plural for 'euro' and 'cent'?
Since the grammatical marks of plural differ among languages, the
words "euro" and "cent" are not inflected on coins and notes.
Everywhere else, they usually follow the common rules of each language
concerning currencies.
As for English, the Commission's Style Guide says: "Guidelines on the
use of the euro, issued via the Secretariat-General, state that the
plurals of both 'euro' and 'cent' are to be written without 's' in
English. Do this when amending or referring to legal texts that
themselves observe this rule. Elsewhere, and especially in documents
intended for the general public, use the natural plural with 's' for
both terms."
In French, "euro" and "cent/centime" observe the usual rules of plural
in that language by adding a "s": "des euros", "des "cents", "des
centimes". "Cent" is pronounced like the number 100 /sA~/, and not
like the "cent" /sEnt/ of other currencies.
B2. How should I pronounce euro and cent?
It is recommended to pronounce "euro" like the first two syllables of
the word for "Europe" in a given language (with stress adjustments in
some languages). In some languages, the word "cent" is replaced by an
indigenous word, such as "centime" (French), "sentti" (Finnish) or
"+A7sDtQPAA8QDzA- [lepto]" (Greek).
B3. Should I write +IKw-10 [EUR10] or 10 +IKw- [10 EUR]?
The former seems to be most common in English, while the latter is
more used in (e.g.) German and French. Both are correct.
C. THE EMU
C1. Which countries are using the euro?
First of all the 12 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
are using the euro: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and
Spain. Some areas outside Europe are considered part of their mother
country and therefore belong to this category: Martinique, Guadeloupe,
French Guyane and R+AOk-union (parts of France), Madeira and the Azores
(parts of Portugal) and the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (parts
of Spain). Except for the latter two, all these areas are explicitly
part of the EU by treaty.
Furthermore, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican are also using the
euro. They have a formal agreement with the EU and they issue coins
with their own national sides.
Andorra, Montenegro and Kosovo are also using the euro, but they have
no formal agreement and thus do not issue their own coins.
Some French territories (Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon) are
also using the euro because they were formerly using French francs.
Besides, several currencies are pegged to the euro, for instance the
Estonian kroon, the Lithuanian lev, the CFA franc and the Cap Verde
escudo (all at a fixed rate) and the Danish krone (which may vary
2.25% against the euro).
C2. Which EU countries are not using the euro, and will they join?
Denmark, Sweden and the UK are members of the EU but not of the EMU.
In all three countries it is debated whether they ought to join.
Denmark had a referendum in 2000 which resulted in a "no". Although
there is now a clear "yes" in the polls, there will probably not be a
new referendum very soon.
The Swedish prime minister has suggested to hold a referendum in 2003.
A "yes" could lead to Swedish membership of the EMU in 2005 and
replacement of the krona by the euro in 2006. Note that unlike
Denmark and the UK, Sweden has no formal right not to join the EMU,
but the fulfilment of the convergence critera has been avoided by not
linking the krona to the euro in the ERM-II exchange rate mechanism
(of which Denmark is the only member).
In the UK there is still a majority of "no" voters in the opinion
polls. However, the Treasury will produce its report on the "Five
Economic Tests" in the first half of 2003, and if it is positive, it
may be followed by a referendum.
Several of the future EU members are close to fulfilling the
convergence criteria and may join the EMU a couple of years after
joining the EU. Some of them have talked about introducing the euro
unilaterally, but the EU has warned strongly against this, partly
because of fear that they would not choose a suitable exchange rate.
C3. Will prices eventually become the same in the eurozone?
No. It can be expected that prices will converge to some extent, but
it will be a gradual process. Prices are also not the same in other
large currency areas such as the USA.
C4. Can euro stamps be used in all of the euro zone?
Unfortunately not. Every post company determines its own prices,
prints its own stamps and has no obligation to accept the stamps of
other companies. The same is true for cheques.
However, charges for withdrawals from cash machines and the use of
bank cards (up to +IKw-12,500) must be the same, when denominated in
euros, for both national and cross-border transactions, from 1 July
2002. Later, also money transfers will be harmonised.
D. THE COINS
D1. How many different euro coins are there?
There are eight denominations: 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent,
20 cent, 50 cent, 1 euro and 2 euro.
There are 15 national side series: 12 for the EMU members and 3 for
Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.
This means that there are 8 x 15 = 120 different coins.
Besides, there are some extra subtle differences, see section D6.
D2. Which year is shown on the coins?
In some countries, the coins minted before 2002 bear the actual year
(Belgium, France, Spain, Finland starting from 1998, Netherlands,
Monaco), while in others the text is 2002 (Germany, Greece, Italy,
Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, Finland in 1997, San Marino
and the Vatican).
D3. Where can I find pictures of all the national sides?
Go to <http://europa.eu.int/euro/> -- select language and click on
"Coins -- Notes" and then "Coins".
D4. What are the rim texts on the 2 euro coin?
Austria 2 EURO *** 2 EURO *** 2 EURO *** 2 EURO ***
Finland Suomi Finland * * * *
("Finland" in Finnish and Swedish, followed by four
lion heads)
Germany EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT *
(unity and justice and freedom, followed by an
eagle)
Greece +A5UDmwObA5cDnQOZA5oDlw- +A5QDlwOcA58DmgOhA5EDpAOZA5E- [ELLINIKI DIMOKRATIA]
(Republic of Greece)
Italy 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 *
Netherlands GOD * ZIJ * MET * ONS * (God be with us)
Portugal ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ # # # # # # # [5 shields and 7 castles]
San Marino LIBERTAS LIBERTAS (freedom freedom)
Vatican (unknown)
other countries 2 * * 2 * * 2 * * 2 * * 2 * * 2 * *
The 2's alternately face the national side and the European side,
i.e. half of them are upside down in whichever way you hold the coin.
This is also true for the Austrian coins.
D5. Commemorative euro coins
There will not be any common commemorative euro coins for a few years,
to avoid confusion while people are getting used to the regular coins.
Each member state, however, may issue its own commemorative euro
coins. These pieces have to have a nominal value that is different
from the ones used for the regular coins. The designs are "country
specific", i.e. the commemorative coins do not have a common European
side.
Unlike the standard euro and cent coins which are legal tender in all
of Euroland, these country specific commemorative coins are legal
tender in the issuing country only. Not a big problem since such
coins are hardly ever found in circulation anyway.
D6. What does the '4' on the common side mean?
This symbol which is found to the right consists of two superimposed
L's; this is the mint mark of the designer, Luc Luycx.
D7. What are the mint marks?
On the German national side, there are letters that show where the
coins were minted: A for Berlin, D for Munich, F for Stuttgart, G for
Karlsruhe, J for Hamburg.
On the French national side, there are two different mint marks: a
horn of plenty (the mint mark of the "Monnaie de Paris" since 1880) --
this is also used on the national sides of Monaco -- and a mark for
the mint directors: a bee for Pierre Rodier (1999-2001) and a
horseshoe for Gerard Buquoy (2001-present).
On the Finnish national side, there is a mint mark of the mint
director. Currently there is only one on euro coins: "M" for Raimo
Makkonen.
On the Spanish national side, the mint mark of the "F+AOE-brica Nacional
de Moneda y Timbre" is found: an "M" with a crown.
On the Italian national side (as well as on the national sides of San
Marino and the Vatican), there is an "R" for Rome where the coins were
minted.
On the Dutch national side, there are two mintmarks: the mark of the
mint, the "Mercurius staff with snakes", and the mintmaster's
mintmark: a bow and arrow for Chr. van Draanen (1999), a bow and arrow
with star for E. J. van Schouwenberg (2000, interim) and a
fruitbearing grapevine for Robert Bruens (2001).
The coins of Luxembourg were manufactured in the Netherlands and bear
the mint marks of the year 2000, although they are dated 2002.
On the Portuguese national side, there is only one mint mark: the
letters "INCM" for "Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda" in Lisbon.
On the Greek national side, there are one or two mintmarks. On all
coins, there is an unindentified mintmark, resembling a leaf with six
fingers. On the coins minted outside Greece, there is a letter inside
one of the stars: an "S" for Finland, an "F" for France or an "E" for
Spain.
D8. Doesn't Finland use 1 cent and 2 cent coins?
A law was passed in Finland which states that all cash transactions
must be rounded to the nearest 5 cent. There is thus no need for 1
and 2 cent coins in Finland.
However, a small number of 1 and 2 cent coins were minted, and they
were included in the Finnish starter packs. 1 and 2 cent coins remain
valid tender in Finland.
D9. Which materials are used for the coins?
The 1, 2 and 5 cent coins are made of a iron core electroplated with
copper.
The 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are made of an alloy called Nordic Gold
(Cu89 Al5 Zn5 Sn1).
The +IKw-1 coin has a silverish outer ring of Cu75 Ni 25 around a
brass-colored inner disc of Cu75 Zn20 Ni5 clad on a pure nickel
interior.
The +IKw-2 coin has a brass-colored outer ring of Cu75 Zn20 Ni5 around a
silverish inner disc of Cu75 Ni 25 clad on a pure nickel interior.
D10. Why are there so many German euro coins?
Before the euro, Germany had minted about 40% of the coins of the EMU
countries, primarily due to the prevalence of DM abroad. According to
its population share, Germany should only mint less than 25% of the
coins. However, because the ECB buys the coins at face value, Germany
would have lost a lot of money if she had only been allowed to produce
25% of the coins. So Germany got a quota of 34% of the coins, and
this will be gradually reduced to 30%.
D11. What is depicted on the coins?
Go to <http://europa.eu.int/euro/> -- select language and click on
"Coins -- Notes", then "Coins" and then "Essential reading". Now read
"The visual characteristics of the euro coins".
D12. Are there any rules specifying how many coins one may use?
Yes, Council Regulation 974/98 specifies that "no party shall be
obliged to accept more than 50 coins in any single payment".
E. THE NOTES
E1. Is there a way to find out where my note comes from?
Maybe. The issuing country is identified by the first letter in the
serial number (see section E2), while the printing house is shown by
the short code (see section E3).
As from 2002, the individual national central banks (NCBs) are responsible for the production of one or two specific banknote denominations and will thus select the printing works. This decentralised pooling scheme means that the NCBs have to exchange the denominations produced in different locations prior to issue.
E2. What is the meaning of the serial number?
A-I (not used yet)
J - UK (for future use)
K - Sweden (for future use)
L - Finland
M - Portugal
N - Austria
O - (not used)
P - Netherlands
Q - (not used)
R - Luxembourg (*)
S - Italy
T - Ireland
U - France
V - Spain
W - Denmark (for future use)
X - Germany
Y - Greece
Z - Belgium
(*) According to the ECB, the notes of Luxembourg currently use the
prefix belonging to the country where they were printed.
The rest of the serial except for the last digit is simply a unique
number. The last digit is a checksum.
To check the validity of the serial number, you may do as follows:
- Replace the initial letter by its position in the alphabet (that is L
is 12, M is 13, ..., Z is 26).
- Add up this number and every digit of the serial number (excluding the
last). For example:
U08217383936 is 21 + 0 + 8 + 2 + 1 + 7 + 3 + 8 + 3 + 9 + 3 = 65
- Add up all the digits of this new number, redo as many times as
necessary until you obtain a one-digit number. Now substract this
number from 8. The resulting number must be the same as the last
digit -- in the example above, 8 - 2 = 6.
E3. What is the meaning of the short code?
According to information posted by Gianni Lorenzoli in
rec.collecting.paper-money:
A Bank of England Printing Works, UK
B (not used)
C AB Tumba Bruk, Sweden
D Setec Oy, Finland
E F. C. Oberthur, France
F Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Austria
G John. Enschede Security Printing, Netherlands
H De La Rue, UK
I (not used)
J Banca d'Italia, Italy
K Central Bank of Ireland/Banc Ceannais na h+AMk-ireann, Ireland
L Banque de France, France
M F+AOE-brica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, Spain
N +A6QDwQOsA8ADtQO2A7E- +A8QDtwPC- +A5UDuwO7A6wDtAO/A8I- [Tr+AOE-peza tis Ell+AOE-dos], Greece
O (not used)
P Giesecke & Devrient, Germany
Q (not used)
R Bundesdruckerei, Germany
S Danmarks Nationalbank, Denmark
T Banque Nationale de Belgique/Nationale Bank van Belgi+AOs-, Belgium
U Valora, Portugal
V-Z (for future use)
Because Denmark, Sweden and the UK are not participating in the euro,
the codes 'A', 'C' and 'S' have probably never been used yet. If you
see a short code starting with one of these letters, please tell us
about it!
The rest of the short code probably identify the printing plate.
E4. Where can I find the short code?
On the window side of the notes. The precise position differs:
5 euro on the shaded background, to the left of the stars
10 euro within the south-western star
20 euro within the western star
50 euro to the right, above the hologram
100 euro the first word of the text between the window and the stars
200 euro to the right of the south-western star, written vertically
500 euro within the western star
E5. Why are the countries ordered like that (cf. sect. E2 and E3?)
They are alphabetised according to the countries' names in the
official language of each country, but reversed:
United Kingdom
Sverige
Suomi
Portugal
+ANY-sterreich [Oesterreich]
Nederland
Luxembourg
Italia
Ireland
France
Espa+APE-a [Espana]
+A5UDuwO7A6wDtAOx- [Ellada]
Deutschland
Danmark
Belgi+AOs- [Belgie]/Belgique
The positions of Denmark and Greece have been swapped in the list of
letters starting the serial numbers, presumably because 'Y' is a
letter of the Greek alphabet, while 'W' is not.
E6. What are those barcode-like watermarks?
Each euro banknote has a watermark barcode probably used for automatic
scanning in e.g. counting machines. When looking at the front of a
note the barcode is read from right to left (!) starting about 10mm
left from the security thread.
Each "space" is called a "0" and each "bar" a "1". For scanning
purposes the codes are compressed into so-called Manchester Codes
which means every "01" denotes a Manchester Code digit "1" and every
"10" a "0". The following list contains the actual barcodes and the
resulting Manchester Codes for each note:
Note Barcode Manchester Code
5 0110 10 100
10 0101 101 110
20 1010 1010 0000
50 0110 1010 1000
100 0101 1010 1100
200 0101 0110 1110
500 0101 0101 1111
E7. I have noticed pretty large alignment margins between notes.
Would it not be much more secure to have perfect alignment?
The notes have pretty large margins to accomodate for different
printers and printing facilities spread accross Europe. To compensate
for that there are more individual security marks which do not have to
be aligned but are themselves complex enough to make counterfeiting
very difficult. Having large margins speeds up production and is
cheaper which compensates for the expensive individual security
features.
E8. What are those islands at the bottom of the map?
On the coins: the three biggest Canary Islands (from west to east:
Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura), shifted to fit within the map.
On the notes: in the inset boxes, on the left, French Guyane (not an
island, of course), and on the right, the three other French overseas
departments (from top to bottom, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and R+AOk-union).
Further to the right are the (Spanish) Canary Islands shown in their
true position relative to Europe (from left to right: La Palma,
Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote). Above them are
the (Portuguese) Azores and Madeira.
E9. Which bridges and buildings are displayed on the bank notes?
The notes (which were designed by Robert Kalina) feature no existing
buildings, although some of them are very similar to existing ones.
Instead they are examples of architectural styles which represent
various periods in European history:
5 Classical
10 Romanesque
20 Gothic
50 Renaissance
100 Baroque and rococo
200 Iron and glass architecture
500 Modern 20th century architecture
E10. Are there any note tracking sites on the WWW?
Yes, for instance <http://www.myeuro.info> and
<http://www.eurobilltracker.com>.
E11. What are the secret security features?
The ECB has said there are more security features than the ones the
public have been told about. So far, we have only managed to find
one of these:
Each denomination has specific areas with magnetic ink. For example on
the 20 euro bill, the rightmost church window is magnetic, as well as
the large zero above it. The security thread is equally magnetic, but
of course that's no ink.
E12. Will Scottish banks be allowed to issue their own euro notes?
On 20th September it was reported by "The Herald" that Scottish banks
are campaining to win this right, and that the ECB said it would be
discussed "when it is topical" if the UK decided to enter the euro.
F. THE MONEY IN GENERAL
F1. What can I do with my left over German marks, French francs and
other obsolete currencies?
They retain their value for some time (see the following table). When
the money finally cannot be changed to euro anymore, you can use it to
play Monopoly with you grandchildren. :-)
Country End of le- Last date for Last date for
gal tender exchanging exchanging
for national national national
currencies currencies at currencies at
commercial national central
banks banks
Belgium 28/02/2002 31/12/2002 Coins: 31/12/2004
Banknotes: unlimited
Germany 31/12/2001 28/02/2002 Coins: unlimited
Banknotes: unlimited
Greece 28/02/2002 ??? Coins: 01/03/2004
Banknotes: 01/03/2012
Spain 28/02/2002 30/06/2002 Coins: unlimited
Banknotes: unlimited
France 17/02/2002 30/06/2002 Coins: 17/02/2005
Banknotes: 17/02/2012
Ireland 09/02/2002 30/06/2002 Coins: unlimited
Banknotes: unlimited
Italy 28/02/2002 ??? Coins and banknotes: 29/02/2012
Luxembourg 28/02/2002 30/06/2002 Coins: 31/12/2004
Banknotes: unlimited
Netherlands 28/01/2002 31/12/2002 Coins: until 01/01/2007
Banknotes: to 01/01/2032
Austria 28/02/2002 ??? Coins: unlimited
Banknotes: unlimited
Portugal 28/02/2002 30/03/2002 Coins: 31/12/2002
Banknotes: 28/02/2022
Finland 28/02/2002 To be decided Coins and banknotes: 29/02/2012
individually
by banks
F2. Will the designs change when new members join?
This has not been decided yet, but we assume so. The Commission has
hinted that it will propose a redesign of the common side of the coins
to ECOFIN who has the final say on this. On the other hand, the ECB
say in their FAQ that no redesign is needed.
The following show some features that we would expect to change:
- The map on the five most valuable coins show the 15 member countries
of the EU. This will probably change when new countries are
admitted.
- The map on the notes shows most of Europe, but Cyprus and most of
Turkey are missing. This will have to change if/when these
countries become members.
- The list of abbreviations of "European Central Bank" -- currently
BCE ECB EZB EKT EKP -- will have to be extended, e.g. by EKB
(Hungarian), +BBUEJgQR- (Bulgarian), ESB (Norwegian) or AMB (Turkish).
- The word EURO/+A5UDpQOhA6k- (Latin and Greek alphabets) will probably be
extended with +BBUEEgQgBB4- (Cyrillic) when Bulgaria joins. If Armenia ever
joins, we may expect to see +BTUFUgVQBUg- on the notes, too.
Furthermore, there are rumours that the ECB is planning to put
microchips on the notes at some point, so there will probably come a
redesign then.
F3. Is there any reason why +IKw-1 is approximately the same as $1?
The first European Unit of Account (EUA) was created around 1950 to
facilitate distribution of the Marshall Plan. Logically, it was given
the same weight of gold as the dollar and had therefore the same
value. This relationship was carried forward into its replacement,
the Unit of Account (UA). The UA was succeeded at parity in 1979 by
the ECU, which was itself succeeded at parity by the euro in 1999.
F4. Where can I buy/sell euro coins or notes from different countries?
Not in this group, please! Please use eBay or other commercial
services.
Thomas M. Widmann
> ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
> EUROPA.UNION.EURO
> VERSION 0.4
> [...]
I just noticed that Gnus posted it in UTF-7 instead of UTF-8 (although
UTF-8 was used for the diff). :-( Because I don't know what caused
this, I'm reluctant to post it again. However, if many of you will
have problems reading it, I'll try again.
As for the contents, I've tried to include everything that I could
find. Some valuable contributions might have been lost, and I would
appreciate if you all would check whether your suggestions have been
incorporated.
/Thomas
--
Thomas Widmann, MA member of the steering group for europa.*
Mavisbank Gardens, Glasgow, Scotland, EU
tho...@widmann.uklinux.net http://www.widmann.uklinux.net
Jim Riley
Widmann) wrote:
> ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
> EUROPA.UNION.EURO
> VERSION 0.4
>Another (and more official) FAQ is made by the ECB:
><http://www.ecb.int/change/eurobnfaq_en.htm>
For those doing translations of this FAQ, there are equivalent
versions of the ECB FAQ for the other EU languages.
>C1. Which countries are using the euro?
>
>First of all the 12 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
>are using the euro: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
>Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and
>Spain. Some areas outside Europe are considered part of their mother
>country and therefore belong to this category: Martinique, Guadeloupe,
>French Guyane and Réunion (parts of France), Madeira and the Azores
The English spelling is 'Guiana'
>(parts of Portugal) and the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (parts
>of Spain). Except for the latter two, all these areas are explicitly
>part of the EU by treaty.
>Some French territories (Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon) are
>also using the euro because they were formerly using French francs.
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
>Besides, several currencies are pegged to the euro, for instance the
>Estonian kroon, the Lithuanian lev, the CFA franc and the Cap Verde
>escudo (all at a fixed rate) and the Danish krone (which may vary
>2.25% against the euro).
Lithuanian litas
Cape Verdean escudo
This reads a bit as if, for example, 1 EEK = 1 EUR, as would be the
case under full euro-ization. Since the question is "which countries
are using the euro", which for purposes of this FAQ would really mean
"which countries use euro notes and coins", I'd be inclined to leave
the whole paragraph out since it pertains more to monetary policy.
>C2. Which EU countries are not using the euro, and will they join?
Might this not be a good time to introduce a separate question for the
prospective members? They, along with the 3 opt-outs, will likely be
the primary reason for interest in the FAQ's and will drive most
future changes.
>In the UK there is still a majority of "no" voters in the opinion
>polls. However, the Treasury will produce its report on the "Five
>Economic Tests" in the first half of 2003, and if it is positive, it
>may be followed by a referendum.
Is this true for current polls?
>Several of the future EU members are close to fulfilling the
>convergence criteria and may join the EMU a couple of years after
>joining the EU. Some of them have talked about introducing the euro
>unilaterally, but the EU has warned strongly against this, partly
>because of fear that they would not choose a suitable exchange rate.
>D7. What are the mint marks?
>
>On the German national side, there are letters that show where the
>coins were minted: A for Berlin, D for Munich, F for Stuttgart, G for
>Karlsruhe, J for Hamburg.
Out of curiousity rather than anything to do with the FAQ do the coins
that show up in Austria tend to be more D and less J? Or did the
mints specialize in particular coins?
>E1. Is there a way to find out where my note comes from?
>As from 2002, the individual national central banks (NCBs) are
>responsible for the production of one or two specific banknote
>denominations and will thus select the printing works. This
>decentralised pooling scheme means that the NCBs have to exchange the
>denominations produced in different locations prior to issue.
This paragraph isn't word wrapped in the original.
It also doesn't really answer the FAQ question. Is it a tacit
understanding that the NCBs will choose printers in their own country?
For example, (given the table below) would it be expected that most
new 10 EUR notes will be produced in Germany? Will most 2002 10 EUR
thus have X serial numbers, with a few Y and T?
http://www.ecb.int/change/eurobnfaq_en.htm
has the following table for 2002 production of notes.
Denom. Quant. Value NCBs commissioning production
€5 1,131 5,655 FR, NL, AT, PT
€10 1,045 10,450 DE, GR, IE
€20 1,555 31,100 ES, FR, IT, FI
€50 742 37,100 BE, ES, NL
€100 307 30,700 IT, LU
TOTAL 4,780 115,005
>E2. What is the meaning of the serial number?
"The first letter in the serial number indicates the NCB that
commissioned the note."
>A-I (not used yet)
>E6. What are those barcode-like watermarks?
>
>Each euro banknote has a watermark barcode probably used for automatic
>scanning in e.g. counting machines. When looking at the front of a
>note the barcode is read from right to left (!) starting about 10mm
>left from the security thread.
>
>Each "space" is called a "0" and each "bar" a "1". For scanning
>purposes the codes are compressed into so-called Manchester Codes
>which means every "01" denotes a Manchester Code digit "1" and every
>"10" a "0". The following list contains the actual barcodes and the
>resulting Manchester Codes for each note:
>
>Note Barcode Manchester Code
> 5 0110 10 100
> 10 0101 101 110
Is there an extra 1 in the barcode?
> 20 1010 1010 0000
> 50 0110 1010 1000
>100 0101 1010 1100
>200 0101 0110 1110
>500 0101 0101 1111
>E12. Will Scottish banks be allowed to issue their own euro notes?
>
>On 20th September it was reported by "The Herald" that Scottish banks
>are campaining to win this right, and that the ECB said it would be
>discussed "when it is topical" if the UK decided to enter the euro.
Is this 2002?
>
>F. THE MONEY IN GENERAL
>
>F1. What can I do with my left over German marks, French francs and
> other obsolete currencies?
>
>They retain their value for some time (see the following table). When
>the money finally cannot be changed to euro anymore, you can use it to
>play Monopoly with you grandchildren. :-)
your grandchildren
>Country End of le- Last date for Last date for
> gal tender exchanging exchanging
> for national national national
> currencies currencies at currencies at
> commercial national central
> banks banks
At the end of the 2002, when the last date for exchange at commercial
banks expires, it might be better to omit the first two columns, the
first column could be omitted now. [Would I be correct to assume that
some commercial banks might be willing to exchange after that date,
especially for customers, but that is the last date they must do it.]
--
Jim Riley
Thomas M. Widmann
> On 19 Oct 2002 19:36:54 +0100, tho...@widmann.uklinux.net (Thomas M.
> Widmann) wrote:
>
> > ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
> > EUROPA.UNION.EURO
> > VERSION 0.4
>
> >Another (and more official) FAQ is made by the ECB:
> ><http://www.ecb.int/change/eurobnfaq_en.htm>
>
> For those doing translations of this FAQ, there are equivalent
> versions of the ECB FAQ for the other EU languages.
Yes.
BTW, I was thinking about removing those parts of our FAQ that are
covered by the ECB's FAQ (e.g., the expiry dates for legal tender
status for national currencies.)... Opinions?
> >C1. Which countries are using the euro?
> >
> >First of all the 12 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
> >are using the euro: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
> >Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and
> >Spain. Some areas outside Europe are considered part of their mother
> >country and therefore belong to this category: Martinique, Guadeloupe,
> >French Guyane and Réunion (parts of France), Madeira and the Azores
>
> The English spelling is 'Guiana'
Changed.
> >(parts of Portugal) and the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (parts
> >of Spain). Except for the latter two, all these areas are explicitly
> >part of the EU by treaty.
>
> >Some French territories (Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon) are
> >also using the euro because they were formerly using French francs.
>
> Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Changed.
> >Besides, several currencies are pegged to the euro, for instance the
> >Estonian kroon, the Lithuanian lev, the CFA franc and the Cap Verde
> >escudo (all at a fixed rate) and the Danish krone (which may vary
> >2.25% against the euro).
>
> Lithuanian litas
Oops, I don't know where I left my brain. :-(
> Cape Verdean escudo
OK.
> This reads a bit as if, for example, 1 EEK = 1 EUR, as would be the
> case under full euro-ization. Since the question is "which countries
> are using the euro", which for purposes of this FAQ would really mean
> "which countries use euro notes and coins", I'd be inclined to leave
> the whole paragraph out since it pertains more to monetary policy.
I think the information is important, but it might be better to give
it its own heading. But in that case I would like to list all of the
currencies pegged to the euro, not just a handful of them.
> >C2. Which EU countries are not using the euro, and will they join?
>
> Might this not be a good time to introduce a separate question for the
> prospective members? They, along with the 3 opt-outs, will likely be
> the primary reason for interest in the FAQ's and will drive most
> future changes.
Good idea! Contributions would be most welcome!
> >In the UK there is still a majority of "no" voters in the opinion
> >polls. However, the Treasury will produce its report on the "Five
> >Economic Tests" in the first half of 2003, and if it is positive, it
> >may be followed by a referendum.
>
> Is this true for current polls?
It was for the last one I saw, but I may have missed one or two.
> >D7. What are the mint marks?
> >
> >On the German national side, there are letters that show where the
> >coins were minted: A for Berlin, D for Munich, F for Stuttgart, G for
> >Karlsruhe, J for Hamburg.
>
> Out of curiousity rather than anything to do with the FAQ do the coins
> that show up in Austria tend to be more D and less J? Or did the
> mints specialize in particular coins?
I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I do remember
that all the coins in the starter kit I bought in Flensburg in
December were J.
> >E1. Is there a way to find out where my note comes from?
>
> >As from 2002, the individual national central banks (NCBs) are
> >responsible for the production of one or two specific banknote
> >denominations and will thus select the printing works. This
> >decentralised pooling scheme means that the NCBs have to exchange the
> >denominations produced in different locations prior to issue.
>
> This paragraph isn't word wrapped in the original.
>
> It also doesn't really answer the FAQ question.
Oops again. If you check carefully, this paragraph comes from the ECB
FAQ, and I put it there temporarily to rephrase the existing text, but
I then forgot to remove it. :-(
> Is it a tacit understanding that the NCBs will choose printers in
> their own country? For example, (given the table below) would it be
> expected that most new 10 EUR notes will be produced in Germany?
> Will most 2002 10 EUR thus have X serial numbers, with a few Y and
> T?
I guess so, but perhaps we should ask the ECB to make sure...?
> http://www.ecb.int/change/eurobnfaq_en.htm
> has the following table for 2002 production of notes.
>
> Denom. Quant. Value NCBs commissioning production
> �5 1,131 5,655 FR, NL, AT, PT
> �10 1,045 10,450 DE, GR, IE
> �20 1,555 31,100 ES, FR, IT, FI
> �50 742 37,100 BE, ES, NL
> �100 307 30,700 IT, LU
> TOTAL 4,780 115,005
>
> >E2. What is the meaning of the serial number?
>
> "The first letter in the serial number indicates the NCB that
> commissioned the note."
Incorporated.
> >A-I (not used yet)
>
> >E6. What are those barcode-like watermarks?
> >
> >Each euro banknote has a watermark barcode probably used for automatic
> >scanning in e.g. counting machines. When looking at the front of a
> >note the barcode is read from right to left (!) starting about 10mm
> >left from the security thread.
> >
> >Each "space" is called a "0" and each "bar" a "1". For scanning
> >purposes the codes are compressed into so-called Manchester Codes
> >which means every "01" denotes a Manchester Code digit "1" and every
> >"10" a "0". The following list contains the actual barcodes and the
> >resulting Manchester Codes for each note:
> >
> >Note Barcode Manchester Code
> > 5 0110 10 100
> > 10 0101 101 110
>
> Is there an extra 1 in the barcode?
Is the original author of this paragraph still around?
> > 20 1010 1010 0000
> > 50 0110 1010 1000
> >100 0101 1010 1100
> >200 0101 0110 1110
> >500 0101 0101 1111
>
> >E12. Will Scottish banks be allowed to issue their own euro notes?
> >
> >On 20th September it was reported by "The Herald" that Scottish banks
> >are campaining to win this right, and that the ECB said it would be
> >discussed "when it is topical" if the UK decided to enter the euro.
>
> Is this 2002?
Yes. Changed.
> >
> >F. THE MONEY IN GENERAL
> >
> >F1. What can I do with my left over German marks, French francs and
> > other obsolete currencies?
> >
> >They retain their value for some time (see the following table). When
> >the money finally cannot be changed to euro anymore, you can use it to
> >play Monopoly with you grandchildren. :-)
>
> your grandchildren
>
> >Country End of le- Last date for Last date for
> > gal tender exchanging exchanging
> > for national national national
> > currencies currencies at currencies at
> > commercial national central
> > banks banks
>
> At the end of the 2002, when the last date for exchange at commercial
> banks expires, it might be better to omit the first two columns, the
> first column could be omitted now. [Would I be correct to assume that
> some commercial banks might be willing to exchange after that date,
> especially for customers, but that is the last date they must do it.]
As I wrote above, I'm thinking about removing the section altogether.
Christian Feldhaus
> > >C1. Which countries are using the euro?
(snip)
> > This reads a bit as if, for example, 1 EEK = 1 EUR, as would be the
> > case under full euro-ization. Since the question is "which countries
> > are using the euro", which for purposes of this FAQ would really mean
> > "which countries use euro notes and coins", I'd be inclined to leave
> > the whole paragraph out since it pertains more to monetary policy.
>
> I think the information is important, but it might be better to give
> it its own heading. But in that case I would like to list all of the
> currencies pegged to the euro, not just a handful of them.
I agree that the information about those countries should not be left
out. After all, quite a few of them are or will soon be EU members and
might also be part of Euroland in the not too distant future.
> > >F1. What can I do with my left over German marks, French francs and
> > > other obsolete currencies?
(snip)
> As I wrote above, I'm thinking about removing the section altogether.
Providing the link to the ECB FAQ is certainly helpful, but I don't know
if it would be a good idea to remove that list from (y)our FAQ. People
who are like me might prefer a list that answers many of their questions
over a mere link to another FAQ site :-)
Christian
Christian Feldhaus
> Out of curiousity rather than anything to do with the FAQ do the coins
> that show up in Austria tend to be more D and less J? Or did the
> mints specialize in particular coins?
Within Germany, coins tend to be somewhat "local", ie. near Hamburg you
will find more "J" coins than others, around Munich "D" is more
frequent, etc. Here in the West we get a fairly good mix since none of
the mints is really close. Don't know about Austria; my _guess_ is that
in the bordering areas "D" coins are more frequent than, say, "J" coins.
In cities which are not that close to Bavaria, that could be quite
different.
As for the second question, no, every German mint makes the "full range"
of eight coins. In general, Stuttgart/F produces 24%, Hamburg/J and
Munich/D make 21% each, Berlin/A makes 20% and Karlsruhe/G has a share
of 14%.
Christian
Jim Riley
Widmann) wrote:
>> Might this not be a good time to introduce a separate question for the
>> prospective members? They, along with the 3 opt-outs, will likely be
>> the primary reason for interest in the FAQ's and will drive most
>> future changes.
>
>Good idea! Contributions would be most welcome!
Drop the last paragraph in C2 and add:
C3. When will the new EU countries adopt the euro?
In October 2002, the European Commission announced that 10 countries:
Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, had made sufficient progress in
conforming their political, economic, and legal systems to European
Union standards (the Copenhagen criteria) that it was anticipated that
their accession negotiations could be concluded by the end of 2002.
Under this scenario, an Accession Treaty would be signed in spring
2003 with full membership occurring in 2004. It is projected that two
additional countries, Bulgaria and Romania might join the EU in 2007.
Membership in the EU does not automatically mean membership in the EMU
and use of the euro. However, unlike Denmark and the United Kingdom,
the new member countries will not have a right to opt out of eventual
membership in the EMU. During the accession negotiations some of the
applicant countries have suggested that they join the euro area at the
same time that they enter the EU. It is more likely that they will
first join the EU, and then after having met the Convergence Criteria,
enter the EMU. Adoption of euro in the new member states will likely
occur in the 2006 to 2010 time frame.
It is not known at this time whether this will occur at one time,
similar to the cash changeover in early 2002, or whether it will occur
piecemeal on a country by country basis. No official announcements
have been made about whether the design of the euro coins and notes
will change (see question F2).
++++++++++++
Then add last sentence of first paragraph, plus 2nd paragraph, which
separates the re-design from adoption of the euro.
F2. Will the designs change when new members join?
This has not been decided yet, but we assume so. The Commission has
hinted that it will propose a redesign of the common side of the coins
to ECOFIN who has the final say on this. On the other hand, the ECB
say in their FAQ that no redesign is needed. In any case, coins and
notes with the current design will continue to be legal tender.
It should be noted that the maps on the notes and coins show the
extend of the European Union rather than those areas adopting the
euro. It seems reasonable that these maps will be updated to
recognize the expansion of the EU in 2004, which is likely to occur
some years before the euro is adopted in the new countries (see
question C3)
--
Jim Riley
Thomas Rachel
> I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I do
> remember that all the coins in the starter kit I bought in
> Flensburg in December were J.
The initial distribution probably was done in a geographical way: here
in Saarland, the coins all came from Karlsruhe (G). Meanwhile, they all
are mixed, but although we are very close to the French border, most of
the coins are german.
Thoma$