Decision (EU) 2020/637 of the European Central BankShow full title

Article 4 U.K. Ethical requirements

1. An accredited manufacturer or any of its controlling entities shall not have been the subject of a conviction by final judgment at the most five years prior to the date of its request for application for accreditation in relation to any of the following:

(a) participation in a criminal organisation;

(b) active and passive corruption;

(c) fraud;

(d) terrorist offences;

(e) money laundering;

(f) trafficking in human beings;

(g) any other illegal activity detrimental to the financial interests of the Union, the ECB or the NCBs.

2. For the purposes of accreditation, an accredited manufacturer or any of its controlling entities shall not:

(a) be in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which it is established or where the euro secure item activity or euro item activity is performed;

(b) be bankrupt or be the subject of insolvency or winding-up proceedings, have assets that are being administered by a liquidator or by the court, have an arrangement with creditors, have had its business activities suspended or face any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws and regulations;

(c) be guilty of grave professional misconduct, which renders its integrity questionable;

(d) enter into agreements with other manufacturers with the aim of distorting competition;

(e) be subject to a conflict of interest that cannot be remedied by less intrusive means; or

(f) engage in activities that may damage the integrity or the standing of euro banknotes as a means of payment.

3. An accredited manufacturer shall have in place a fully implemented and operational corporate compliance programme that contains proper and appropriate standards to be followed to prevent it and its controlling entity from being involved in any situations or participating in the activities listed in paragraphs 1 and 2. This corporate compliance programme shall abide by, as a minimum, the relevant principles, rules and procedures as described in any of the following:

(a) Article 10 of the International Chamber of Commerce Rules on Combating Corruption(1);

(b) the Banknote Ethics Initiative(2);

(c) the ISO 37001 standard;

(d) any other equivalent programmes.

(1)

Available on the International Chamber of Commerce’s website at www.iccwbo.org

(2)

Available on the Banknote Ethics Initiative’s website at www.bnei.com