Euro banknotes - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Euro banknotes are the banknote

Banknote

A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

s of the euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

, the currency of the eurozone

Eurozone

The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...

(see European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

) and have been in circulation since 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the euro area or the European Central Bank

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...

(ECB). Denominations of notes range from €5 to €500 and, unlike euro coins

Euro coins

There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros . The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different...

, the design is identical across the whole of the eurozone, although they are issued and printed in various member states.

Denominations

There are seven different denominations of the euro banknotes, each having a distinctive colour and size. The design for each of them has a common theme of European architecture in various artistic eras. The obverse of the banknote features windows or gateways while the reverse bears different types of bridges. The architectural examples are stylised illustrations, not representations of existing monuments.

All the notes bear the EU Flag, the initials of the European Central Bank

European Central Bank

in five languages (BCE, ECB, EZB, ΕΚΤ, EKP), a map of Europe on the reverse, the name "euro" in both Latin and Greek script

Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...

(EURO / ΕΥΡΩ) and the signature of the first, or second president of the ECB. The 12 stars from the EU Flag are also incorporated into every note.

The euro banknote designs were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by The Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina

Robert Kalina

Robert Kalina from the National Bank of Austria created the T 382 design, which was the winning design of the 1996 competition for the art shown on the euro banknotes. Kalina's design was chosen by the EMI Council on 3 December 1996...

from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

The Oesterreichische Nationalbank is the central bank of the Republic of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks and the Eurozone. In the public interest, the OeNB contributes to monetary and economic policy decision-making in Austria and in the Euro area...

, was selected on 3 December 1996.

Specification

The paper used for euro banknotes is 100% pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as imparting a distinctive feel.

2002 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions (millimetres)	Main Colour		Design		Printer code position
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Dimensions (millimetres)	Main Colour		Architecture	Century	Printer code position
		€5 5 euro note The five euro note is the lowest value of the euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The five euro note is the smallest at with a grey colour scheme. The five euro note shows the Classical era...	120 × 62		Grey	Classical Classical architecture Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...	< 5th	left image edge
		€10 10 euro note The ten euro note is the second lowest value of the euro banknotes after the five euro note and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The ten euro note is the second smallest at 127x67mm with a red colour scheme. The ten euro note shows the Romanesque era...	127 × 67		Red	Romanesque Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...	11–12th	8 o'clock star
		€20 20 euro note The twenty euro note is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The twenty euro note is the third smallest at 133 x 72mm with a blue colour scheme. The twenty euro note shows the gothic era . It is consequently used daily by some...	133 × 72		Blue	Gothic Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....	13–14th	9 o'clock star
		€50 50 euro note The fifty euro note is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....	140 × 77		Orange	Renaissance Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...	15–16th	right image edge
		€100 100 euro note The one hundred euro note is one of the higher value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The hundred euro note is the third largest at 147 x 82mm with a green colour scheme. The architectural style depicted in the hundred euro note shows the Baroque and...	147 × 82		Green	Baroque Baroque The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music... & Rococo Rococo Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...	17–18th	right of 9 o'clock star
		€200 200 euro note The two hundred euro note is the second-highest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....	153 × 82		Yellow	Art Nouveau Art Nouveau Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...	19–20th	above 7 o'clock star
		€500 500 euro note The five hundred euro note is the highest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....	160 × 82		Purple	Modern 20th century Modern architecture Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...	20–21st	9 o'clock star

The following member overseas territories are shown: the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, French Guiana

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

, Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

, Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

, Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

. Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

and Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

are not shown, as they only joined the EU in 2004; also Malta is too small to be shown, with the minimum size for depiction being 400 km².

These designs use the Duisenberg signature, which has since been replaced by the signature of Jean-Claude Trichet, the subsequent president of the ECB.

Design

Owing to the ubiquity of countless historic bridges, arches, and gateways throughout the continent, all the structures represented on the banknotes are entirely fictional syntheses of the relevant architectural styles, merely designed to evoke the landmarks within the EU, representing various European ages and styles. For example, the €5

5 euro note

The five euro note is the lowest value of the euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The five euro note is the smallest at with a grey colour scheme. The five euro note shows the Classical era...

banknote has a generic rendition of the Classical Period

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

, the €10

10 euro note

The ten euro note is the second lowest value of the euro banknotes after the five euro note and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The ten euro note is the second smallest at 127x67mm with a red colour scheme. The ten euro note shows the Romanesque era...

of Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

, the €20

20 euro note

The twenty euro note is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The twenty euro note is the third smallest at 133 x 72mm with a blue colour scheme. The twenty euro note shows the gothic era . It is consequently used daily by some...

of Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

, the €50

50 euro note

The fifty euro note is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....

of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, the €100

100 euro note

The one hundred euro note is one of the higher value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The hundred euro note is the third largest at 147 x 82mm with a green colour scheme. The architectural style depicted in the hundred euro note shows the Baroque and...

of Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

and Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

, €200

200 euro note

The two hundred euro note is the second-highest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....

of Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

and the €500

500 euro note

The five hundred euro note is the highest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002....

of Modern

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

style. However, in a survey conducted by the Dutch NCB (De Nederlandsche Bank), only 2% of the population was able to identify the theme of the €5, and 1% correctly identified the €50 theme. While the designs are supposed to be devoid of any identifiable characteristics, the initial designs by Robert Kalina

Robert Kalina

were of actual bridges, including the Rialto

Rialto

The Rialto is and has been for many centuries the financial and commercial centre of Venice. It is an area of the San Polo sestiere of Venice, Italy, also known for its markets and for the Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal....

bridge in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

and the Pont de Neuilly

Pont de Neuilly

Le pont de Neuilly is a road and rail bridge carrying Route nationale 13 and Paris Métro Line 1 which crosses the River Seine between the right bank of Neuilly-sur-Seine and Courbevoie and Puteaux on the left bank in the French department of Hauts-de-Seine...

in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and were subsequently rendered more generic; the final designs still bear very close similarities to their specific prototypes; thus they are not truly generic. The Dutch town of Spijkenisse

Spijkenisse

Spijkenisse is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 74,482 in 2006, and covers an area of 30.23 km²...

has started with a project where replicas of all the bridges will be built as pedestrian bridges.

Special features for people with impaired sight

The design of euro banknotes include several characteristics suggested in co-operation with organisations representing blind

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

people. These characteristics aid both people who are visually impaired

Visual impairment

Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...

(people who can see the banknotes, but cannot necessarily read the printing on them) and those who are entirely blind.

Euro banknotes increase in size with increasing denominations, which helps both the visually impaired and the blind. The predominant colouring of the notes alternates between “warm” and “cool” hues in adjacent denominations (see the chart above), making it still harder to confuse two similar denominations for those who can see the colour. The printing of the denominations is intaglio

Intaglio (printmaking)

Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...

printing, which allows the ink to be felt by sensitive fingers, allowing some people to distinguish the printed denominations by touch alone. Lower denominations (5, 10, 20) have smooth bands along one side of the note containing holograms; higher denominations have smooth, square patches with holograms. Finally, the €200 and €500 notes have distinctive tactile patterns along the edges of the notes: the €200 note has vertical lines running from the bottom centre to the right-hand corner, and the €500 note has diagonal lines running down the right-hand edge.

Security features

The ECB has described some of the more rudimentary security features of the euro note, allowing the general public to authenticate their currency at a glance. However, in the interest of security, the exhaustive list of these features is a closely guarded secret.

Still, between the official descriptions and independent discoveries made by observant users, it is thought that the euro notes include at least thirty different security features. These include:

Holograms

The €5, €10 and €20 notes carry a holographic band to the right of the front side. This band is imprinted with the note's denomination; e.g., "€5 €5 €5...." in the case of the €5 note.

In the case of the €50 notes and higher, the band is replaced with a holographic decal.

Variable colour ink

Appears on the lower right corner of back side of the €50 and higher. When observed from different angles, the colour varies between purple and green.

Checksum

Each note has a unique serial number. The remainder

Remainder

In arithmetic, the remainder is the amount "left over" after the division of two integers which cannot be expressed with an integer quotient....

from dividing the serial number by 9 gives checksum

Checksum

A checksum or hash sum is a fixed-size datum computed from an arbitrary block of digital data for the purpose of detecting accidental errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. The integrity of the data can be checked at any later time by recomputing the checksum and...

corresponding to the initial letter indicated below. Using a variation of the divisibility rule

Divisibility rule

A divisibility rule is a shorthand way of discovering whether a given number is divisible by a fixed divisor without performing the division, usually by examining its digits...

shortcut, the remainder from division by 9 can easily be found by adding the constituent digits and, if the sum still does not make the remainder obvious, adding the digits of the sum.

Alternatively, substituting the letter with its ASCII value makes the resulting number exactly divisible by 9. Taking the same example, Z10708476264: the ASCII code for Z is 90, so the resulting number is 9010708476264. Dividing by 9 yields a remainder of 0. [Using the divisibility rule again, the result can be checked speedily since the addition of all digits gives 54; 5 + 4 = 9—so the number is divisible by 9, or 9010708476264 modulo

Modulo operation

In computing, the modulo operation finds the remainder of division of one number by another.Given two positive numbers, and , a modulo n can be thought of as the remainder, on division of a by n...

9 is 0].

EURion constellation

Euro banknotes contain a pattern known as the EURion constellation

EURion constellation

The EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols found on a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image. Such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using...

which can be used to detect their identity as banknotes to prevent copying. Some older photocopiers are programmed to reject images containing this pattern.

Standard watermark

Each denomination is printed on uniquely watermark

Watermark

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...

ed paper. This may be observed by holding the note up to the light.

Digital watermark

Like the EURion constellation, a Digimarc

Digimarc

Digimarc is a digital watermarking technology provider enabling the invisible embedding of information into many forms of content, including audio, video, imagery, and certain objects...

digital watermark is embedded in the banknotes' designs. Recent versions of image editors, such as Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...

or Paint Shop Pro refuse to process banknotes. This system is called Counterfeit Deterrence System (CDS) and was developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group

Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group

The mission of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group is to investigate emerging threats to the security of banknotes and to propose solutions for implementation by issuing authorities...

Infra-red and ultra-violet watermarks

When seen in the near infrared

Infrared

Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...

, the banknotes will show darker areas in different zones depending on the denomination. Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

light will make the EURion constellation show in sharper contrast, and also some fluorescent threads stand out.

Printing registration

The note value in the upper-left corner is printed incompletely

Printing registration

In color printing, registration is the method of correlating overlapping colors on one single image. There are many different styles and types of registration, many of which employ the alignment of specific marks.-Purpose:...

, as is the denomination in the upper-right corner of the back. When held up to the light, this denomination is visible in its entirety. Genuine notes will exhibit perfect alignment (or "registration") between the front and back. If the note has been printed incorrectly, i.e. by a counterfeiter, these numbers may appear poorly aligned.

Raised printing

Some areas of the notes have a different texture from others. The "BCE ECB EZB EKT EKP" characters are raised to the touch.

Bar code

When held up to the light, metallic bars can be seen to the right of the watermark. The number and width of these bars indicates the value of the note. When scanned, these bars are converted to Manchester code

Manchester code

In telecommunication and data storage, Manchester code is a line code in which the encoding of each data bit has at least one transition and occupies the same time...

**Manchester code**
Note	Barcode	Manchester
€5	0110 10	100
€10	0101 10	110
€20	1010 1010	0000
€50	0110 1010	1000
€100	0101 1010	1100
€200	0101 0110	1110
€500	0101 0101	1111

(looked at from the reverse, a dark bar is 1, a bright bar 0)

Security thread

A black magnetic thread in the middle of the note is seen only against a light source. It shows the denomination of the note, along with the word "euro".

Magnetic ink

Some areas feature magnetic ink. The rightmost church window on the €20 note is magnetic, as well as the large zero above it.

Micro-print

The texture lines to the bottom, e.g. those aligned to the right of ΕΥΡΩ mark on the €10 note, are actually made of the sequence "EURO ΕΥΡΩ" in very small print.

Matted surface

The euro sign and the denomination are printed on a vertical band which is only visible when lighted at an angle of 45°.
This only exists for banknotes €5, €10, and €20.

Counterfeiting

There has been a rapid growth in the counterfeit

Counterfeit

To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...

ing of euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002.

In 2003, 551,287 counterfeit euro notes and 26,191 fake euro coins were removed from EU circulation. In 2004, French police seized fake €10 and €20 notes with a total face value of around €1.8 million from two laboratories and estimated that 145,000 notes had already entered circulation. Each year between 2003 and 2007 between 500,000 and 600,000 counterfeit notes were removed from circulation, although this is a very small portion of the 12 billion notes in circulation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) said in July 2008, that the amount of fake euro banknotes was on the rise, with the amount seized jumping more than 15% in the first six months of 2008. It said most were bogus €50 and €20 notes; although high quality €200 and €500 notes are also being made.

Serial number

Unlike euro coins

Euro coins

, euro notes do not have a national side indicating which country issued them (which is not necessarily where they were printed). This information is instead encoded within the first character of each note's serial number.

The first character of the serial number is a letter which uniquely identifies the country that issues the note. The remaining 11 characters are numbers which, when calculated their digital root

Digital root

The digital root of a number is the value obtained by an iterative process of summing digits, on each iteration using the result from the previous iteration to compute a digit sum...

, give a checksum also particular to that country. Because of the arithmetic of the check-sum, consecutively issued banknotes are not numbered sequentially, but rather, "consecutive" banknotes are 9 digits apart.

The W, K and J codes have been reserved for the EU member states currently not participating in the euro, while the R prefix is reserved for a state within the Eurozone that, at present, does not issue euro banknotes.

Country codes are alphabetised according to the countries' names in the official language of each country, but reversed:

**National identification codes**
Code	Country		Checksum Checksum A checksum or hash sum is a fixed-size datum computed from an arbitrary block of digital data for the purpose of detecting accidental errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. The integrity of the data can be checked at any later time by recomputing the checksum and... ⁽¹⁾
Code	in English	in official language(s)
Z	Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...	België/Belgique/Belgien	9
Y	Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....	Ελλάδα [Ellada]	1
X	Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	Deutschland	2
(W)⁽²⁾	(Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... )	Danmark	(3)
V	Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	España	4
U	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	France	5
T	Ireland Republic of Ireland Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...	Éire/Ireland	6
S	Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...	Italia	7
(R)	(Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south... )	Luxembourg/Luxemburg/Lëtzebuerg	(8)
(Q)	Not used
P	Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...	Nederland	1
(O)	Not used
N	Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	Österreich	3
M	Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...	Portugal	4
L	Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...	Suomi/Finland	5
(K)⁽²⁾	(Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	Sverige	(6)
(J)⁽²⁾	(United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... )	United Kingdom	(7)
(I)	Not used
H	Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...	Slovenija	9
G	Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...	Κύπρος [Kypros]/Kıbrıs	1
F	Malta Malta Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...	Malta	2
E	Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...	Slovensko	3
D	Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...	Eesti	4
C
B
A

⁽¹⁾ checksum of the 11 digits without the letter

⁽²⁾ Denmark, the United Kingdom and Sweden presently do not use the Euro, but still have these serial number prefixes reserved.

The positions of Denmark and Greece have been swapped in the list of letters starting the serial numbers, presumably because Υ (upsilon
Upsilon
Upsilon is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw. The name of the letter is pronounced in Modern Greek, and in English , , or...

) is a letter of the Greek alphabet, while W is not.
Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

's first official language is Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

; however, in the above chart it is clear the order was based on the English Ireland rather than the Irish which is Éire.
In the case of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, which has two official languages that are also official EU languages (Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

), the order was based on the Finnish Suomi instead of the Swedish Finland, presumably because Finnish is the majority language in the country.
Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

has three official languages, all of which are official EU languages. Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

also has three official languages, with two being official EU languages. However, in these cases, the countries' positions in the list would be the same no matter which language was used.

The notes of Luxembourg currently use the prefix belonging to the country where they were printed.

Although the Slovenian letter had been reserved since the eurozone enlargement in January 2007, the country initially used previously issued banknotes issued from other member states. The first banknotes bearing the "H" letter, produced in France specifically on behalf of Slovenia, were witnessed no sooner than April 2008. The 'Cypriot

Cyprus

banknotes' (G) appeared in circulation in November 2009, whereas, those from Malta

Malta

(F) appeared 3 months later (February 2010). Slovakian notes (E) first appeared in October 2010.

It seems from that further country codes are assigned in reverse order from the last assigned code "J" for the UK, according to the time a country joins the Eurozone

Eurozone

. When two or more countries join at the same time, the same rule is followed as with the initial assignments of country codes, i.e. the country codes are alphabetised according to the countries' names in the official language of each country, but reversed. "H" was assigned to Slovenia which joined the Eurozone

Eurozone

in 2007 following "J" which was the last letter assigned so far, to the UK. Then when Cyprus and Malta joined in 2008, "G" was assigned to Cyprus

Cyprus

(Κύπρος [Kypros] in Greek, Kıbrıs in Turkish, the island's two official languages both starting with the letter K), "F" was assigned to Malta and "E" was assigned for Slovakia. The latest eurozone member, Estonia, was assigned the letter "D". No banknote so far uses the Estonian identification code, since Estonia borrowed its banknotes from Finland and Germany.

It has been suggested that, should the prefixes change to two characters, the code should be the state's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...

code (e.g., EE for Estonia, DE for Germany, IT for Italy).

The initial design of the euro with the 2002 signature of Wim Duisenberg

Wim Duisenberg

Willem Frederik "Wim" Duisenberg was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party . He was the first President of the European Central Bank from 1 July 1998 until 31 October 2003. He was instrumental in the Introduction of the euro in the European Union in 2002. He was also credited for making numerous...

, has been issued in each of the 7 denominations by each of the NCBs of Finland, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Greece and Belgium, with the exception of the €200 and €500 banknotes from Portugal and the €200 banknote from Ireland. Thus, there are 74 country/denomination varieties of the banknotes with the Duisenberg signature.

After the initial introduction of the euro by these eleven NCBs, in 2002, each NCB was tasked with issuing only a subset of the denominations; for example, only 4 NCBs continued to issue the €50 note for several years thereafter. This decentralised pooling scheme means that the NCBs have to exchange the denominations issued in different countries prior to issue, and often source the banknotes they issue from multiple printers. This also means that some country/signature combinations are much scarcer than others; specifically the Duisenberg signatures of the €200 note from Finland, the €100 note from Portugal, €100 and €500 notes from Ireland and €200 and €500 notes from Greece. Also, the banknotes issued subsequent to 2003, carrying the signature of J.C. Trichet are not found in every denomination from every country. As of the end of 2007, only 30 of the 77 possible combinations of banknotes with the Trichet signature were known, but additional combinations continue to be released, along with incremental banknotes issued in 2008 by the NCB of Slovenia, carrying the serial prefix letter "H." And later also notes for Cyprus (G), Malta (F) and Slovakia (E) were issued.

Issuance and printing

The ECB has the exclusive right to authorise the issue of banknotes within the euro area, but most banknotes are actually issued by the national central banks (NCBs) of the euro area. , 8% of banknotes were issued by the ECB and 92% were issued by euro area national central banks. The issuing central bank can be seen from the serial number. Each NCB is now responsible for the production of certain denominations, as assigned by the ECB.

Printing works

On each of the seven denominations of the banknote, there is a small six-character printing code which uniquely identifies the printing information of each banknote.

These printing codes have an initial letter, followed by three digits, followed by a single letter, and ending in a digit, for example, "G013B6".

The initial letter identifies the printing facility, as described below. "G" for example would be Enschede & Sons, a printer in the Netherlands. The three digits identify sequential printing plates. "013", for example, would be the 13th printing plate created by the printer. The fifth character, a letter and sixth character, a number, represent the row and column, respectively, of the particular banknote on the particular plate. So "B" would be the second row and "6" would indicate the sixth column.

Banknotes are printed in sheets, with different printers using different sheet sizes, and sheets of higher denominations, which are larger in size, would have fewer banknotes printed per sheet. For example, the two German printers print €5 banknotes in sheets of 60 (10 rows, designated "A" through "J" and six columns), the sheets for €10 banknotes have 54 banknotes (nine rows, six columns), and for €20 banknotes have 45 banknotes (nine rows, five columns).

The printer code need not coincide with the country code, i.e. notes issued by a particular country may have been printed in another country. The printers include commercial printers as well as national printers, some of whom have been privatized, who previously produced national notes prior to the adoption of the euro. There is one former or current national printer in each of the note-issuing country, with the exception of Germany, where the former East German and West German printers now produce euro banknotes. There are also two printers identified in France, F. C. Oberthur, a private printer, and the Bank of France printing works, and also in the United Kingdom; Thomas De La Rue

De La Rue

De La Rue plc is a British security printing, papermaking and cash handling systems company headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It also has a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, and other facilities at Loughton, Essex and Bathford, Somerset...

, a major private printer, and the Bank of England

Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

printing house, which currently does not produce euro banknotes.

**Printer identification codes**
Code	Printer	Location	Country	NCB(s) produced for
(A)	(Bank of England Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world... Printing Works)	(Loughton Loughton Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill... )	(United Kingdom)	—
(B)	Not Used	—	—	—
(C)	(Tumba Bruk Tumba Bruk Tumba Bruk is the printing company responsible for manufacturing of the Swedish krona banknotes. The company was founded by Sveriges Riksbank in 1755 to produce banknotes, but in 2002 the company was sold to the current owner, banknote paper supplier Crane & Co.. It is located in Tumba, close to... )	(Tumba Tumba, Sweden Tumba is a bimunicipal locality and the seat of Botkyrka Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden with 35,311 inhabitants in 2005. A part of its statistical urban area, called Rönninge, is in Salem Municipality. The population is 35,311 . The Swedish krona banknotes are printed by Crane AB at Tumba... )	(Sweden)	—
D	Setec Oy Setec Setec Oy is the former Bank of Finland's banknote printer. It was founded in 1885, and in 1991 it was publicized. Currently Setec is owned by the international smart card vendor Gemalto....	Vantaa Vantaa Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.Vantaa, with its population of , is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there...	Finland	L (Finland)
E	F. C. Oberthur	Chantepie Chantepie Chantepie is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.-Demographics:Inhabitants of Chantepie are called in French Cantepiens.-References:* ;* -External links:* *...	France	H (Slovenia), L (Finland), P (Netherlands), U (France)
F	Österreichische Banknoten und Sicherheitsdruck	Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...	Austria	N (Austria), P (Netherlands), S (Italy), T (Ireland), Y (Greece)
G	Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé Joh. Enschedé Royal Joh. Enschedé is a printer of security documents, stamps and banknotes based in Haarlem, Netherlands. Joh. Enschedé specialises in print, media & security. The company hosts the Museum Enschedé and has branches in Amsterdam, Brussels and Haarlem....	Haarlem Haarlem Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...	Netherlands	E (Slovakia), F (Malta), G (Cyprus), L (Finland), N (Austria), P (Netherlands), V (Spain), Y (Greece)
H	De La Rue De La Rue De La Rue plc is a British security printing, papermaking and cash handling systems company headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It also has a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, and other facilities at Loughton, Essex and Bathford, Somerset...	Gateshead Gateshead Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...	United Kingdom	L (Finland), M (Portugal), P (Netherlands), T (Ireland)
(I)	Not Used	—	—	—
J	Bank of Italy Bank of Italy Bank of Italy may refer to either :Banca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy.Bank of Italy was a bank established in San Francisco, California and the forerunner of Bank of America....	Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...	Italy	S (Italy)
K	Banc Ceannais na hÉireann / Central Bank of Ireland Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland is the financial services regulator of Ireland and historically the central bank. The bank was the issuer of Irish pound banknotes and coinage until the introduction of the euro currency, and now provides this service for the European Central Bank.The bank was founded...	Dublin	Ireland	T (Ireland)
L	Banque de France Banque de France The Banque de France is the central bank of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank . Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks...	Chamalières Chamalières Chamalières is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.Chamalières is the third-largest town in the department and lies about from Lyon.-History:...	France	U (France)
M	Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...	Spain	V (Spain)
N	Bank of Greece Bank of Greece The Bank of Greece is the nationalcentral bank of Greece, located in Athens on Panepistimiou Street, with several branches across the country. Founded in 1927...	Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...	Greece	Y (Greece)
(O)	Not Used	—	—	—
P	Giesecke & Devrient Giesecke & Devrient Giesecke & Devrient is a German company headquartered in Munich that provides banknote and securities printing, smart cards, and cash handling systems....	Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... & Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...	Germany	L (Finland), M (Portugal), P (Netherlands), U (France), V (Spain), X (Germany), Y (Greece)
(Q)	Not Used	—	—	—
R	Bundesdruckerei Bundesdruckerei The Bundesdruckerei is a German manufacturer for banknotes and stamps, identity cards, passports and visas, driving licences and vehicle registration certificates....	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...	Germany	P (Netherlands), X (Germany), Y (Greece)
(S)	(Danmarks Nationalbank Danmarks Nationalbank Danmarks Nationalbank is the central bank of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is a non-eurozone member of the European System of Central Banks . The bank issues the Danish currency, the krone.... )	(Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region... )	(Denmark)	—
T	National Bank of Belgium National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850...	Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...	Belgium	U (France), V (Spain), Z (Belgium)
U	Valora—Banco de Portugal Banco de Portugal The Banco de Portugal is the central bank of the Republic of Portugal. Established by a royal charter of 19 November 1846 to act as a commercial bank and issuing bank, it came about as the result of a merger of the Banco de Lisboa and the Companhia de Confiança Nacional, an investment company...	Carregado Carregado Carregado is a Portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Alenquer. It has a population of 9,066 inhabitants and a total area of 15.52 km². The town is a north-east exurb of Lisbon....	Portugal	M (Portugal)

The A, C and S codes have been reserved for printers currently not printing euro banknotes.
Where a printer is listed as producing banknotes for a particular country, this may apply to a single denomination, or as many as all seven denominations. Some NCBs source different denominations from different printers (Greece sourcing from five different printers), and some source even a single denomination from multiple printers (the Netherlands has sourced the €5 note from five different printers up to March 2009). NCBs that issue banknotes are free to source from any authorized printers, and do so in varying quantities. As of June 2008, there are a total of 133 known printer/signature/country/denomination combinations of euro banknotes.

Design changes

Banknotes have to bear the ECB president's signature. New notes printed after November 2003 show Jean Claude Trichet's signature, replacing that of the first president, Wim Duisenberg

Wim Duisenberg

.

Current issues do not reflect the expansion of the EU to 27 member states (Cyprus

Cyprus

is not depicted on current notes as the map does not extend far enough East; Malta

Malta

is also missing as it does not meet the current series' minimum size for depiction). Since the ECB plans to redesign the notes every seven or eight years after each issue, a second series of banknotes is already in preparation. New production and anti-counterfeiting techniques will be employed on the new notes, but the design will be of the same theme and colours as the current series; bridges and arches. They would still be recognisable as a new series however.

Four more abbreviations of the European Central Bank name will have to be included on the banknotes: the Bulgarian (ЕЦБ), Hungarian (EKB), Maltese (BĊE) and Polish (EBC).

Only the Cyrillic rendering of the name "euro" (ЕВРO) will be added to the new series, since it is ECB policy that the name euro be used in all countries using Latin script. See the article Linguistic issues concerning the euro

Linguistic issues concerning the euro

Several linguistic issues have arisen in relation to the spelling of the words euro and cent in the many languages of the member states of the European Union, as well as in relation to grammar and the formation of plurals....

for more information on this discussion.

The first denomination from the new series will be issued in January 2013/4.http://wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3924&Alias=wzo&cob=516246&Page11914=4 The ECB will announce in time when banknotes from the first series lose legal tender status.

€1 and €2 notes

Italy, Greece, Austria and Slovenia have asked several times to introduce lower denominations of euro notes. The ECB has stated that "printing a €1 note is more expensive (and less durable) than minting a €1 coin". On 18 November 2004 the ECB decided definitively that there was insufficient demand across the Eurozone for very-low-denomination banknotes. On 25 October 2005, however, more than half of the MEPs

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

supported a motion calling on the European Commission and the European Central Bank to recognise the definite need for the introduction of €1 and €2 banknotes. However the European Central Bank is not directly answerable to the Parliament or the Commission, and has ignored the motion.

External links

Security features on euro banknotes
RFID technology on euro banknotes
Information on signatures, printer plate numbers and more
Euro banknote design exhibition—entries for the 1996 banknote design competition (24MB PDF)
"The euro banknotes that never were! (L’euro : les maquettes refusées! )" 44 euro banknote designs of the 1996 competition

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Denominations

Specification

Design

Special features for people with impaired sight

Security features

Holograms

Variable colour ink

Checksum

EURion constellation

Standard watermark

Digital watermark

Infra-red and ultra-violet watermarks

Printing registration

Raised printing

Bar code

Security thread

Magnetic ink

Micro-print

Matted surface

Counterfeiting

Serial number

Issuance and printing

Printing works

Design changes

€1 and €2 notes

See also

External links