Book I: Money

When withdrawing euro banknotes received from the public from circulation and depositing them with the Banque de France, credit institutions, La Poste, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and service providers that process euro banknotes on their behalf and for their account as professionals, in particular cash-in-transit companies, shall comply with their obligations under Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down measures necessary for…

Before issuing euro banknotes received from the public at their counters or through their agents or the persons referred to in Article L. 525-8, credit institutions, La Poste, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change shall check them and withdraw from circulation those which they have sufficient reason to believe to be counterfeit.

For the purposes of Article R. 122-5, credit institutions, La Poste, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change shall implement the necessary procedures and resources to enable them to withdraw from circulation, prior to the delivery of any euro banknotes received from the public, any banknotes which they have sufficient reason to believe to be counterfeit. To this end, they draw up internal written rules, the implementation of…

When dispensing euro banknotes to the public through self-service machines, credit institutions, La Poste, electronic money institutions and payment institutions shall, subject to the provisions of Article R. 122-8, use banknotes drawn directly from the Banque de France or another central bank belonging to the Eurosystem.

Credit institutions and, within the limits of their payment activity or the issuing and management of electronic money, other payment service providers and issuers of electronic money, as well as any economic agent involved in the processing and delivery to the public of banknotes and carrying out some or all of their euro banknote processing operations by supplying an automated teller machine mentioned in Article R. 122-7 with euro banknotes…

Cash changers who use self-service exchange machines feed them with euro notes taken directly from a credit institution, La Poste, an electronic money institution or a payment institution. For this purpose, these institutions shall only issue them with euro notes that meet the requirements of Article R. 122-7 or Article R. 122-8.

Credit institutions, La Poste, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and bureaux de change shall not issue to the public, at their counters or through their agents or the persons mentioned in Article L. 525-8, any banknotes whose physical condition makes them unfit for circulation. The Banque de France publishes a document specifying the physical characteristics that render banknotes unfit for circulation. These characteristics shall comply with the common standards adopted…

The rules for recycling euro banknotes are set out in the Decision of the European Central Bank of 16 November 2010 on the authenticity and fitness checking and recirculation of euro banknotes (ECB/2010/14).