Credit institutions and other professional cash handlers re-issue (“recycle”) euro banknotes to their customers only if these banknotes have been checked and counterfeits, suspect banknotes and unfit banknotes removed from circulation. This helps ensure that counterfeits are quickly withdrawn and that banknotes in circulation are of high quality.
In December 2004, the European Central Bank (ECB) approved a common reference framework for recycling banknotes. In essence, these terms of reference stipulate that banknotes can only be recycled over the counter by trained staff. Banknotes given out by cash dispensers must have been checked by machine for authenticity and quality beforehand. The machines carrying out these checks must have been tested and approved by a euro area national central bank.
These terms of reference have been applied in practice in Belgium since 2006. Manufacturers of banknote handling machines or detection devices can contact the department of Currency in Circulation and Provincial Branches of the NBB.
ECB Press Release:
Framework for the detection of counterfeits and fitness sorting of euro banknotes by credit institutions and professional cash handlers (6 January 2005)
ECB Publication:
Recycling of euro banknotes – Framework for the detection of counterfeits and fitness sorting by credit institutions and other professional cash handlers, December 2004 (pdf 70k)