Classification of machines
The coin processing machines which have to undergo the test established by the European Commission can be classified into the following categories:
- Staff-operated machines, including:
- Coin sorting machines, i.e. machines which authenticate, count and sort coins by denomination;
- Coin counting machines, i.e.. machines which authenticate and count coins;
- Customer-operated machines, including:
- Coin recycling machines, i.e. machines which authenticate and retain suspect coins. They allow customers to deposit and withdraw euro coins in and from their bank accounts, respectively. Deposited coins that are not accepted by the machine as genuine are retained by it.
Successfully tested coin processing machines
The tests to be carried out on coin processing machines must ensure that they are capable of rejecting the known types of counterfeit euro coins and, in the process, euro coins unfit for circulation and other euro coin-like objects that do not comply with the specifications of genuine euro coins. The test procedure is common throughout the euro area, which means that passing the tests at the designated national authority (in the case of Spain, the Banco de España) allows the machine to be used in any euro area country.
Coin processing machines excluded from the test procedure
Application procedure for testing coin processing machines
Machines which are not required to retain suspect coins and therefore do not recirculate euro coins (such as vending machines, parking meters, etc...)