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In December 2004 the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) approved the "Framework for the detection of counterfeits and fitness sorting of euro banknotes by credit institutions and other professional cash handlers" (hereinafter the "BRF"). According to the BRF, re-issuing of euro banknotes via cash dispensers and automated teller machines and other customer-operated devices is only permitted if the banknotes have been processed by banknote handling machines that have passed a test conducted by a national central bank of the Eurosystem (NCB).
back to topThe banknote handling machines that are to be tested can be classified as:
1. customer-operated machines, including:
2. staff-operated machines, including:
For both categories of staff-operated machines, a machine type which passes the test must allow the processing of packages of euro banknotes (multi-banknote feeding), classify the individual euro banknotes either as genuine or suspect (rejected notes) without the intervention of the machine operator, and physically sort and separate the banknotes suspected of being counterfeits (the ‘rejects’) from those classified as genuine euro banknotes.
back to topOnly those machines that have passed a test at an NCB are listed in the test results ("Successfully tested machines").
The following banknote handling equipment is not covered by this test procedure:
The Eurosystem has established a common test procedure for individual types of banknote handling machines (hereafter referred to as "machine types"). The tests assess a machine type's ability to recognise genuine banknotes (pre-test), distinguish between genuine euro banknotes and counterfeits (counterfeit detection test) and, if applicable, to sort banknotes according to their fitness for use in circulation (fitness test). In addition, for customer-operated machines, the proper functioning of the tracing system is verified (tracing system test).
The tests are conducted with a specific collection of genuine and counterfeit euro banknotes as set out below. 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 test results published on this website reflect merely the ability of the tested machine type 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.
The Eurosystem therefore urges manufacturers and entities using the machine types to follow developments in the field of counterfeiting and regularly update the machine types if necessary to ensure that newly occurring counterfeits can also be reliably detected. In addition to the initial test verifying the BRF-compliance of a machine type (verification tests), the Eurosystem’s common test procedure provides for regular testing of the machine type (annual tests) as well as additional testing upon invitation on an ad hoc basis (re-tests). Moreover, any update of a machine type which involves its tested functions requires its submission to a test according to the common test procedure. All tests follow the same procedures and are carried out with the machine manufacturers. Only the types of machine that have passed a test are listed on this web page.
In addition to a tested machine type, one or more further machine(s) of the same type of that manufacturer may be listed in brackets ("further machines") that are not tested by a Eurosystem NCB, but are published on this ECB webpage on the basis of a written guarantee by its manufacturer that they have the same hardware and software and thus the same performance with respect to the core functionalities defined in the BRF as the tested machine type. Such further machine(s) are published directly together with the tested machine type.
The pre-test is conducted with genuine and fit euro banknotes in order to check the machine type's general functioning. The banknotes are fed into the machine type in all orientations and feeding orientations claimed by the manufacturer to be supported by the machine type. The test is passed if at least 90 % of the banknotes tested are sorted as genuine and fit. For customer-operated machines, not more than one per cent of these banknotes shall be sorted as suspect counterfeits (category 2). Passing the pre-test is a pre-requisite for the continuation of the tests.
The counterfeit test is conducted with a standardised test deck, which is composed of counterfeits found in circulation and of artificially created documents that have been manufactured by the Eurosystem to imitate certain properties of euro banknotes.
Additionally, NCBs may use recent national counterfeits to adequately reflect the very latest counterfeit situation. The Eurosystem test procedure and procedure on updating the standardised test deck ensure that the use of recent national counterfeits would not lead to the existence of different national test standards.
Samples of counterfeits of all denominations which the manufacturer applying for the test affirms can be handled by the machine type are tested in all orientations that are claimed to be supported by the machine type. For staff-operated machines, the test is passed if all counterfeits and other documents contained in the test deck that are not genuine euro banknotes are detected and sorted out. Customer-operated machines pass the test if none of the counterfeits and other documents is accepted as a genuine banknote and additionally if not less than 90 % of the counterfeits of the test deck are retained either as category 2 banknotes (i.e. banknotes suspected to be counterfeits) or as category 3 banknotes (i.e. not clearly authenticated banknotes). The artificially created other documents imitating certain properties of euro banknotes included in the test deck would, however, not be taken into account for the retention rate. The Eurosystem will update the test deck approximately every two months to ensure that the (re-)tests are run with new counterfeits found recently to be in circulation.The fitness test is conducted with a test set of genuine euro banknotes exhibiting artificially created defects similar to those caused by use in circulation. The unfit test banknotes are fed into the machine type in all orientations that the manufacturer applying for the test claims to be supported by the machine type. The test is passed if not more than 5 % of the unfit test notes are sorted as fit.
The tracing system test, which is conducted only for customer-operated machines, is passed if the machine type stores data on the account holder for all category 2 banknotes (suspected counterfeits ) and category 3 banknotes (not clearly authenticated banknotes), and reliably links all counterfeits which have been sorted as ‘suspected counterfeits’ (category 2) and/or ‘not clearly authenticated banknotes’ (category 3) with the data of the account holder, thereby enabling an unequivocal identification of the user depositing the banknotes.
back to topManufacturers need to contact an NCB to apply for (re-)testing. See the NCB contact list
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