The obligation of cash handlers to check euro banknotes for authenticity and fitness shall be carried out in line with procedures laid down in this Decision.

If two or more cash handlers are involved in the recirculation of the same euro banknotes, the cash handler responsible for the authenticity and fitness checking of these euro banknotes shall be designated in accordance with national regulations or, in the absence of such regulations, in contractual arrangements between the relevant cash handlers.

The authenticity and fitness checking shall be carried out either by a type of banknote handling machine successfully tested by an NCB, or manually by a trained staff member.

Euro banknotes may only be recirculated via customer-operated machines or cash dispensers if they have been checked for authenticity and fitness by a type of banknote handling machine successfully tested by an NCB and classified as genuine and fit. However, this requirement shall not apply to euro banknotes that have been delivered directly to a cash handler by an NCB or by another cash handler that has already checked the euro banknotes for authenticity and fitness in this manner.

Staff-operated machines, when used for the purpose of authenticity and fitness checking, and customer-operated machines may only be put into operation by cash handlers if they have been successfully tested by an NCB and listed on the ECB’s website as laid down in Article 9(2). The machines shall be used only for the denominations and series of euro banknotes listed on the ECB’s website for the corresponding machines, with the standard factory settings, including any updates thereof, that have been successfully tested unless stricter settings are agreed between the NCB and the cash handler.

Euro banknotes which have been checked for authenticity and fitness and classified as genuine and fit by trained staff members but not by a type of banknote handling machine successfully tested by an NCB may only be recirculated over the counter.

This Decision shall not apply to the authenticity and fitness checking of euro banknotes carried out by NCBs.