COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 13 January 1999 concerning collector coins, medals and tokens (notified under number SEC(1999) 24/2) (1999/63/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 155 thereof,

(1) Whereas the euro will become the currency of the participating Member States as from 1 January 1999; whereas during a transitional period lasting from 1 January 1999 until 31 December 2001, the euro will be introduced as from 1 January 2002; whereas the euro banknote and coin after their introduction in 2002 will circulate throughout the whole euro area;

(2) Whereas in order to facilitate the transition to the euro it is necessary to avoid confusion for the citizens; whereas during the three years transitional period people will not be familiar with the new euro coins and banknotes and therefore will more easily be misled or abused; whereas the same level of protection of the euro should exist in all Member States;

(3) Whereas in order to reduce the risk of confusion during the transitional period, it is desirable to ban from the territory of the European Union all collector coins in euro or medals and tokens which bear the words 'euro` or 'euro cent` or which show a design which is similar to the design which appears on the common side of the euro coin;

(4) Whereas in order to achieve it, during the transitional period, Member States should not issue any collector coin in euro and official minting institutions and private issuers in the Member States should not issue for the purpose of sale or for commercial purposes, medals and tokens of the kind described above; whereas in order to avoid that medals and tokens of the kind described above, issued by third countries, will circulate in the Community territory, the ban should not only concern the issue but also the sale, production, stock, import and distribution for the purpose of sale or for commercial purposes of collector coins and said medals and tokens;

(5) Whereas the ban on collector coins in euro during the transitional period has been supported by the Ecofin Council on 23 November; whereas in some Member States, legislation on medals and tokens exist or is being introduced which goes in the direction recommended herein;

(6) Whereas it would be desirable that third countries support the efforts made by the European Union to protect its citizens against confusion and fraud, and for that purpose avoid issuing collector coins, medals and tokens of the kind described above in particular during the transitional period,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purpose of this recommendation, the following definitions apply:

(a) 'collector coins` refer to commemorative and bullion coins which have legal tender but which are not produced with a view to their entry into circulation;

(b) 'medals and tokens` refer to those metallic objects of circular shape which look like a coin but which are neither legal means of payment nor legal tender or are not issued under national or foreign legislative provisions;

(c) 'euro` is the lawful currency of the participating Member States as defined in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro;

(d) 'transitional period` is the period beginning on 1 January 1999 and ending on 31 December 2001.

Article 2

Recommended practices

The following recommended practices should apply during the transitional period:

1. Member States should not issue collector coins denominated in euro. This restriction should equally apply to collector coins with a dual denomination in euro and in a national currency unit.

2. the sale and the production, issue, stock, import and distribution for the purpose of sale or for commercial purposes, of collector coins, medals and tokens which bear the words 'euro` or 'euro cent` or show a design which is similar to the design which appears on the common side of the euro coin or which has already been officially laid down for the minting of such coins in the future, should not take place.

Article 3

Implementation by Member States

Member States should take as soon as possible all measures deemed necessary including additional national legislation, to ensure the full implementation of the recommended practices during the transitional period.

Article 4

Addresses

This recommendation is addressed to the Member States and to all economic agents which may issue, produce, distribute, import or sell medals and tokens.

Done at Brussels, 13 January 1999.

For the Commission

Yves-Thibault DE SILGUY

Member of the Commission