Article 6 Obligations relating to credit institutions engaged in the processing and distribution to the public of notes and coinsF1

Credit institutions, and, within the limits of their payment activity, other payment service providers, and any other institutions engaged in the processing and distribution to the public of notes and coins, including:

• establishments whose activity consists in exchanging notes and coins of different currencies, such as bureaux de change,

• transporters of funds,

• other economic agents such as traders and casinos engaged on a secondary basis in the processing and distribution to the public of notes via automated teller machines (cash dispensers), within the limit of these secondary activities,

shall be obliged to ensure that euro notes and coins which they have received and which they intend to put back into circulation are checked for authenticity and that counterfeits are detected.

For euro notes, this check shall be carried out in line with procedures defined by the ECB ^f1 X1.

The institutions and economic agents referred to in the first subparagraph shall be obliged to withdraw from circulation all euro notes and coins received by them which they know or have sufficient reason to believe to be counterfeit. They shall immediately hand them over to the competent national authorities.

By way of derogation from the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, in Member States that do not have the euro as their single currency, checks on the authenticity of euro notes and coins shall be carried out:

• either by trained personnel,

• or by a machine for handling banknotes and coins that is on the list published by the European Central Bank, for banknotes ^f2 , or by the Commission, in the case of coins ^f3 .

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the establishments referred to in paragraph 1 which fail to discharge their obligations under the said paragraph are subject to effective, proportionate and deterrent sanctions.

Without prejudice to the dates fixed by the ECB for the implementation of the procedures it defines, Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions for applying the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article by 31 December 2011 at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission and the ECB thereof.