Banknotes and coins

The Eurosystem has established common test procedures, for all member countries, for the different types of machines for handling and authentication devices banknotes in Euros and coin processing machines.

On the one hand, it is a test system for banknote handling machines which evaluates, depending on the functionality of the machine, its capacity to:

• recognise authentic banknotes,
• separate them from fakes (“counterfeit test”),
• classify banknotes in Euros by their suitability for circulation (“fitness for use in circulation”),
• check the tracing system ("tracing system test").

On the other hand, a testing procedure has been established to evaluate the capacity of authentication devices to recognise authentic banknotes in Euros and detect the fakes.

Concerning the coins, the European Commission has defined, for all the countries in the Euro Area, a common procedure for the coin processing machines to evaluate the ability of the machines to authenticate euro coins.

Equipment manufacturers or their authorised agents - in the case where the manufacturer does not have a representative in the European Union - may request that the Banco de España carries out evaluation tests.