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

SECTION I U.K. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1 U.K. Definitions

For the purposes of this Decision:

(1)

‘origination’ means the transformation of the basic design of the euro banknotes into layouts, colour separation, line work and printing plates and the preparation of layouts and prototypes for components proposed in those basic designs;

(2)

‘manufacturer’ means a legal entity that may have the capability to perform a euro secure item activity or a euro item activity, with the exception of legal entities that are only involved in the transport or destruction of euro secure items;

(3)

‘euro secure item activity’ means any of the following: the origination, production, processing, destruction, storage, analysis, internal movement of euro secure items within a manufacturing site or the transport of euro secure items;

(4)

‘euro item activity’ means the production of euro items;

(5)

‘manufacturing site’ means premises that a manufacturer uses or may use for performing a euro secure item activity or a euro item activity;

(6)

‘euro secure item’ means any of the following: (a) a finished euro banknote; (b) a partly printed euro banknote; (c) finished euro banknote paper; (d) partly finished euro banknote paper; (e) a security ink used to produce euro banknotes or euro banknote paper; (f) thread and foil used to produce euro banknote paper; (g) a security pigment; (h) a security sensor; (i) a euro banknote that is being developed to replace euro banknotes in circulation or withdrawn from circulation; (j) any component or related information as separately laid down by the ECB; all of which require security protection because their loss, theft or unauthorised publication could damage the integrity of euro banknotes as a means of payment;

(7)

‘euro item’ means any of the following: (a) a finished euro banknote; (b) a partly printed euro banknote; (c) finished euro banknote paper; (d) partly finished euro banknote paper; (e) an ink used to produce euro banknotes or euro banknote paper; (f) thread and foil used to produce euro banknote paper;

(8)

‘accreditation’ means the permission, granted to a manufacturer by means of an ECB decision, to perform a euro secure item activity or a euro item activity at a specific manufacturing site;

(9)

‘accredited manufacturer’ means a manufacturer that has obtained accreditation under this Decision;

(10)

‘national central bank’ (NCB) means the national central bank of a Member State whose currency is the euro;

(11)

‘responsible national central bank (NCB)’ means an NCB that has placed an order for the production of euro banknotes.

(12)

‘accreditation requirement’ means any of the requirements relating to security, quality, environment, health and safety, any ethical or any location requirements and any other obligations, either set out in this Decision or in any other related legal instrument, that the ECB requires a manufacturer to comply with in order to perform a euro secure item activity or a euro item activity;

(13)

‘ECB confidential information’ means all accreditation requirements, any related record, irrespective of its storage medium or any information consisting of proprietary technical and/or business information and that is classified as ‘ECB-Confidential’;

(14)

‘accreditation procedure’ means a procedure under which manufacturers’ compliance with accreditation requirements, as set out in this Decision, is assessed, that takes place when the manufacturers request accreditation and while they are being accredited, and which may lead to sanctions, including financial penalties, in the event of non-compliance with these requirements;

(15)

‘ethical requirement’ means any obligation set out in Article 4 of this Decision;

(16)

‘location requirement’ means any obligation set out in Article 3(1)(c) of this Decision;

(17)

‘certification’ means a document issued by an independent certification entity accredited by a national accreditation authority, whose certifications are recognised in the Member State where the manufacturer is located;

(18)

‘management system’ means the framework of policies, processes and procedures that a manufacturer establishes to ensure that the manufacturer complies with all accreditation requirements;

(19)

‘measure’ means an action carried out by a manufacturer to comply with the accreditation requirements;

(20)

‘ECB banknotes extranet’ means an IT system set up and operated by the ECB to provide information related to the accreditation requirements, which is accessible to accredited manufacturers;

(21)

‘destruction’ means an action or process to make a euro secure item of no practical use for counterfeiters;

(22)

‘controlling entity’ means any of a manufacturer’s administrative, management or supervisory body or any legal person within the meaning of Article 5(4) of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA(1) that may represent, take decisions on behalf of, or exercise control over the manufacturer;

(23)

‘criminal organisation’ means a criminal organisation as defined in point (1) of Article 1 of Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

(24)

‘active and passive corruption’ has the same meaning as in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA(2);

(25)

‘fraud’ means: (a) the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, which has, as its effect, the misappropriation or wrongful retention of funds, non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation, with the same effect, the misapplication of such funds for purposes other than those for which they were originally granted; (b) in respect of revenue, any intentional act or omission relating to the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, which has as its effect the illegal diminution of resources, non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation, with the same effect, misapplication of a legally obtained benefit, with the same effect;

(26)

‘terrorist offence’ has the same meaning as under Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council(3);

(27)

‘money laundering’ has the same meaning as under Article 1(3) and (4) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council(4);

(28)

‘trafficking in human beings’ has the same meaning as under Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(5);

(29)

‘ink production’ means the preparation of ink which, by means of mixing and grinding of raw materials and/or base ink, are ready to be used in the printing of euro banknotes. This preparation does not include adding specific components to an ink by printers or euro banknote paper manufacturers, when it makes up less than 12 % in weight of the original ink and when the sole purpose of their addition is either to enable the ink’s curing according to a pre-defined formulation, to adapt its rheology or its shade or to improve its drying;

(30)

‘legal entity identifier (LEI)’ means an alphanumeric reference code in line with the ISO 17442 standard assigned to a legal entity;

(31)

‘independent auditor’ means either the relevant internal department of an NCB or a recognised entity competent to assess and declare that a manufacturer’s corporate compliance programme is in compliance with principles, rules and procedures on the ethical conduct of business, both independent from the accredited manufacturer;

(32)

‘inspection’ means a procedure that assesses a manufacturer’s compliance with the accreditation requirements, taking the form of an on-site or off-site inspection, and ending with a report on the findings of this assessment;

(33)

‘on-site inspection’ means an inspection conducted by the ECB at a manufacturing site;

(34)

‘off-site inspection’ means an inspection conducted by the ECB by assessing documentation requested from a manufacturer that takes place away from the relevant manufacturing site;

(35)

‘business day’ means any day excluding Saturday and Sunday, and any ECB public holiday, as published on the ECB’s website;

(36)

‘major instance of non-compliance’ means either of the following:

(a)

an instance of non-compliance that had or had the potential to have, or has or has the potential to have, an immediate, serious and adverse impact on the accredited manufacturers’ fulfilment of the accreditation requirements for a euro item activity or euro secure item activity;

(b)

several instances of non-compliance that would not, on their own, be considered as major, but by occurring simultaneously or recurrently to a specific process, result or resulted in a immediate, serious and adverse impact.

Article 2 U.K. Accreditation principles

1. A manufacturer shall only perform a euro secure item activity or euro item activity at a manufacturing site for which the ECB has granted it an accreditation in accordance with Article 7.

2. An accredited manufacturer may only produce or supply euro secure items or euro items if authorised to do so by the ECB or for the purpose of meeting an order placed by one of the following:

(a) another accredited manufacturer that requires the euro secure items or the euro items for its own euro secure item activity or euro item activity;

(b) a responsible NCB;

(c) subject to a decision by the Governing Council, a future Eurosystem NCB;

(d) the ECB.

3. An accredited manufacturer may perform a euro secure item activity or euro item activity at another manufacturing site subject to the ECB’s prior assessment of the accredited manufacturer’s compliance with all accreditation requirements at the other manufacturing site and the ECB’s accreditation of the manufacturer for the requested euro secure item activity or euro item activity at the other manufacturing site.

4. When assessing requests for accreditation of manufacturers or when assessing the compliance of an accredited manufacturer with the accreditation requirements, the ECB shall respect the principles of equal treatment and transparency. In particular, the ECB’s assessment shall not lead to any preferential treatment or give a competitive advantage to any manufacturer.

5. The ECB shall inform accredited manufacturers via the ECB banknotes extranet of any updates to the accreditation requirements that concern the euro secure item activity or euro item activity for which they have been granted an accreditation.

6. Accredited manufacturers shall handle ECB confidential information in accordance with the ECB’s confidentiality regime, which is available on the ECB banknotes extranet.

7. The ECB may share with the NCBs any relevant information received from accredited manufacturers.

8. Only accredited manufacturers shall be eligible to participate in tenders for euro secure items or euro items.

9. Accredited manufacturers shall not, without the ECB’s prior written consent, transfer or assign their accreditation to any of their subsidiaries, an associated company or a third party.

10. All accreditation procedures shall be conducted in English unless there are exceptional circumstances relating to the procedure or the subject matter of the contract that require the use of a different language.

11. Manufacturers shall bear any costs and associated losses incurred in connection with the application of this Decision.

Article 3 U.K. Accreditation requirements

1. An accredited manufacturer shall comply with all of the following accreditation requirements:

(a) the requirements relating to security, quality, environment and health and safety, either set out in this Decision or in any other related legal instrument, that the ECB requires a manufacturer to comply with in order to perform a euro secure item activity or a euro item activity;

(b) the ethical requirements as laid down in Article 4;

(c) the following location requirements:

(i)

where the manufacturer is not a printing works, the manufacturing site shall be located in a Member State of the Union or in a Member State of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA); or

(ii)

where the manufacturer is a printing works, the manufacturing site shall be located in a Member State of the Union;

(d) possession of a certification stating that, at the relevant manufacturing site for the relevant euro secure item activity or euro item activity, its management systems meet the requirements of all the following standards:

(i)

the ISO 9001 standard;

(ii)

the ISO 14001 standard;

(iii)

either the ISO 45001 standard or Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 standard up to 11 March 2021, and only the ISO 45001 standard thereafter.

2. Manufacturers may adopt and implement stricter requirements with regard to the requirements in paragraph 1(a) and (b).

3. Where a manufacturer meets the location requirements of paragraph 1(c), but its business is controlled by a legal entity established outside a Member State of the Union or of EFTA, the ECB, when considering to reject the request for accreditation under Article 6 or to grant the ECB’s prior written consent under point (7)(b) of Article 9 to protect the integrity of euro banknotes, shall duly take into account all of the following:

(a) a decision or regulation of the Council of the European Union on economic sanctions in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy that already applies or that the Council intends to adopt;

(b) an obligation on the Member States and any provisions or measures or obligations deriving therefrom that is provided for in directly applicable Union legal acts to implement economic sanctions in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy;

(c) an international agreement and any provisions or measures or obligations following/deriving therefrom that has been approved by the legislative bodies of the Union or by all Member States whose currency is the euro.

4. The ECB may, where justified by the circumstances, grant an exemption from the requirements set out in paragraph 1(c).

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(6);

(b) the Banknote Ethics Initiative(7);

(c) the ISO 37001 standard;

(d) any other equivalent programmes.

(1)

Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008 on the fight against organised crime (OJ L 300, 11.11.2008, p. 42).

(2)

Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector (OJ L 192, 31.7.2003, p. 54).

(3)

Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA (OJ L 88, 31.3.2017, p. 6).

(4)

Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73).

(5)

Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1).

(6)

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

(7)

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