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In order to support manufacturers of counterfeit detection devices in their endeavours to develop and enhance their products, the national central banks of the Eurosystem (NCBs) offer manufacturers of counterfeit detection devices, or their appointed agents, the possibility of testing their devices with a wide range of topical euro counterfeits. The European Central Bank (ECB) publishes information on the tested devices to help banknote users in making a selection from among the available devices.
Each device is tested by an NCB according to a common Eurosystem procedure for testing its ability to
The purpose of the tests is not to determine whether a device is user-friendly, safe, durable, easily serviceable etc.
Counterfeit detection devices may help retailers and others in detecting counterfeit euro banknotes, but they cannot replace entirely the user’s own considered opinion based on the banknotes’ security features. See information on the security features of the euro banknotes
back to topThe types of devices eligible for tests are ‘auto-detection devices’. Auto-detection devices shall indicate, by means of a visible or audible signal, or a text display, whether the checked banknote is found to be genuine or not.
Verification aids, such as magnifying glasses, UV lamps, etc. which do not provide a result of an authenticity check, and thus require the user to decide whether the checked banknote is genuine or not, are not covered by these tests. Moreover, banknote handling machines do not fall within the scope of these tests. See test results of banknote handling machines
back to topThe counterfeit test is conducted with a standardised test deck, which is composed of representative counterfeit euro banknotes found in circulation and of artificially created documents imitating certain properties of euro banknotes.
If a device has not detected all counterfeits contained in the test deck, the test result on the website will read: ‘not all’.
If a device has detected all counterfeits in the test deck, the test result on the website will read: ‘100%’.
The recognition test is conducted with a test set of genuine used euro banknotes. In order to simulate real life conditions, 20% of the banknotes contained in the test deck are soiled, thus unfit for circulation. For each device, the percentage of banknotes which were correctly identified as genuine is indicated.
back to topThe test results are published on this website within one month of the date when the test has been completed. Due to the emergence of new counterfeit euro banknotes in circulation and the regular update of the counterfeit test deck, information about a tested device will be removed from the website after the expiry of 12 months from the month when the test was completed, unless the device has been re-tested. Any summary test reports that an NCB may provide to the manufacturer of the device, or to the manufacturer’s appointed agent, will only be valid in respect of the test conditions at the date of testing and as long as the test results are published on this website.
As new counterfeits exhibiting properties differing from those of the banknotes used in the test may emerge at any time, it is stressed that the counterfeit and recognition test results published on the website reflect merely the ability of the tested device to detect those counterfeits contained in the test deck and used for testing on the day of the test, as indicated in the test results. See test results of banknote authentication devices
back to topThe tests support manufacturers in their endeavours to develop and improve effective banknote authentication devices. Every manufacturer of a device, or its appointed agent, needs to contact an NCB to apply for free-of-charge (re-)testing. See the NCB contact list
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