PURPOSE: to recast Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Regulation (EU) No 729/2014 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation.

CONTENT: in the interests of clarity, the Regulation replaces Regulation (EC) No 975/98 which has been substantially amended several times since its adoption in 1998 and introduces further amendments.

The measures intend to harmonise the denominations and technical specifications of all coins intended for circulation to the extent necessary to permit their smooth circulation within the Union.

The series of euro coins shall include eight denominations in the range from 1 cent to 2 euro which shall meet the technical specifications set out in Annex I (diameter, thickness, weight, shape, colour, composition, edge).

The Regulation contains provisions are regards: i) circulation coins; (ii) regular coins (circulation coins excluding commemorative coins); (iii) commemorative coins.

Taking into account that euro coins circulate in the whole euro area, to avoid the use of inappropriate designs, the Regulation provides that issuing Member States should inform each other and the Commission about draft designs for the national side of euro coins in advance of the planned issue date. The Commission should verify the compliance of the designs with the technical requirements of this Regulation.

Furthermore, uniform conditions for the approval of the designs of the national sides of euro coins should be laid down to avoid the choice of designs which could be considered as inappropriate in some Member States.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 22.07.2014.

The European Parliament adopted by 627 votes to 10, with 42 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation (recast).

Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to the following amendments:

- the single coinage system of the Union should also help to prevent counterfeiting ;

- the proposal foresees that if the Commission considers that any designs for national circulation coins breach the technical requirements of the regulation, that it will send a complaint to the Council, within seven days of the submission of the design. Members took the view that the Commission should notify the European Parliament of any objections it raises in this context.

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted the report by Jean-Paul GAUZÈS (EPP, FR) on the proposal for a Council regulation on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation (recast).

According to the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the proposal in question does not include any substantive amendments other than those identified as such in the proposal.

The committee approved the Commission proposal with amendments. It considered that the single coinage system of the Union should help to prevent counterfeiting .

Opinion of the European Central Bank on a proposal for a Council Regulation on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation.

The ECB welcomes this Commission initiative to recast Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 as the proposed regulation takes into account and incorporates the earlier ECB recommendations in relation to the technical specifications of euro coins.

PURPOSE : to recast Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation.

PROPOSED ACT : Council Regulation (non-legislative act).

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT : Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.

BACKGROUND : Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation has been substantially amended several times. The codification of the Regulation was initiated by the Commission, and a relevant proposal has been submitted to the legislative authority. The new Regulation was to have superseded the various acts incorporated in it.

In the course of the legislative procedure, in its opinion regarding the codification proposal, the European Central Bank (ECB) recommended that certain changes be introduced with regard to the technical specifications set out in the table contained in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 975/98 as well as in Annex I to the draft codified text.

Since the proposed redrafting for that Annex would imply certain substantive amendments, and would therefore go beyond straightforward codification, it was considered necessary to transform the codification of Regulation (EC) No 975/98 into a recast in order to incorporate the necessary amendments.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT : no impact assessment was carried out.

LEGAL BASIS : Article 128(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT : in the interests of clarity, the Commission proposes to recast Regulation (EC) No 975/98. The amendment to be made to the table contained in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 975/98 takes account of the opinion of the ECB. It consists of a replacement of all existing values relating to the thickness of coins with new values. It is now considered appropriate that such indicative values be replaced by the real thickness values of euro coins, which are well known and used as reference value by the mints to produce the coins.

As a consequence of that change, recital 13 of Regulation (EC) No 975/98, which contains a statement regarding the indicative nature of the existing thickness values, should be deleted.