Decision of the European Central Bank of 16 September 2010 on the authenticity and fitness checking and recirculation of euro banknotes (ECB/2010/14) (2010/597/EU)

ANNEX IIa CLASSIFICATION AND TREATMENT OF EURO BANKNOTES BY CUSTOMER-OPERATED MACHINES

Euro banknotes are classified into one of the following categories and are physically separated by category. Machines which do not check euro banknotes for fitness do not need to distinguish between categories 4a and 4b.

Table 1

Classification and treatment of euro banknotes by customer-operated machines in which cash is deposited with customer tracing

Category		Properties	Treatment
1	Objects not recognised as euro banknotes	Not recognised as euro banknotes because of any of the following: non-euro banknotes euro banknote-like objects wrong image or format large folded corner(s) or missing part(s) feeding or transportation error of the machine	Return by the machine to the customer
2	Suspect counterfeit euro banknotes	Image and format recognised, but one or more authentication feature checked by the machine not detected or clearly out of tolerance	Withdraw from circulation To be handed over for authentication, together with information related to the account holder, to the competent national authorities immediately, at the latest 20 working days after deposit in the machine. Do not credit to the account holder
3	Euro banknotes that are not clearly authenticated	Image and format recognised, but not all authentication features checked by the machine are recognised because of quality and/or tolerance deviations. In most cases unfit euro banknotes	Withdraw from circulation. The euro banknotes are processed separately and handed over for authentication to the competent national authorities immediately, at the latest 20 working days after deposit in the machine Information on the account holder is stored for eight weeks after the euro banknotes have been detected by the machine. This information is made available on request to the competent national authorities. Alternatively, in agreement with the competent national authorities, information allowing the traceability of the account holder can be handed over together with the euro banknotes to those authorities May be credited to the account holder
4a	Euro banknotes that are identified as genuine and fit	All authenticity and fitness checks carried out by the machine giving positive results	Can be used for recirculation Credited to the account holder
4b	Euro banknotes that are identified as genuine and unfit	All authenticity checks carried out by the machine giving positive results. At least one fitness criterion checked giving a negative result	Cannot be used for recirculation and are returned to the NCB Credited to the account holder

Categories 2 and 3 euro banknotes are not returned to the customer by a machine if the machine allows the cancellation of a deposit transaction. Retaining such euro banknotes when a transaction is cancelled can be done by storing them in a temporary storage area in the machine.

An NCB may agree with a cash handler that category 3 euro banknotes may not be physically separated from categories 4a and 4b euro banknotes, and that in such a case all three categories must be treated as category 3 euro banknotes.

Table 2

Classification and treatment of euro banknotes by other customer-operated machines

Category		Properties	Treatment
A	(i) Objects not recognised as euro banknotes; or (ii) suspect counterfeit euro banknotes; or (iii) euro banknotes that are not clearly authenticated	(i) Not recognised as euro banknotes because of any of the following: non-euro banknotes euro banknote-like objects wrong image or format large folded corner(s) or missing part(s) feeding or transportation error of the machine (ii) Identified as suspect counterfeit euro banknotes because image and format recognised, but one or more authentication feature checked by the machine not detected or clearly out of tolerance (iii) Euro banknotes that are not clearly authenticated because image and format recognised, but not all authentication features checked by the machine recognised because of quality and/or tolerance deviations. In most cases unfit euro banknotes	Withdraw from circulation To be handed over for authentication to the competent national authorities immediately, at the latest 20 working days after detection by the the machine
B1	Euro banknotes that are identified as genuine and fit	All authenticity and fitness checks carried out by the machine giving positive results	Can be dispensed to customers
B2	Euro banknotes that are identified as genuine and unfit	All authenticity checks carried out by the machine giving positive results. At least one fitness criterion checked giving a negative result	Cannot be dispensed to customers and are returned to the NCB