In Hungary, foreign banknotes and coins (currencies) are exchanged, bought and sold by credit institutions authorised to engage in currency change activities and money changers acting as agents of the former.
For foreign currencies, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank conducts the expert examination of supposedly counterfeit currencies only; it does not engage in the exchanging, buying or selling of such currencies.
Expert examinations by the MNB of supposedly counterfeit foreign banknotes and coins may be applied for
-
in person, at the MNB’s Retail Cash Office during office hours,
-
by post, at the following address:
MNB Cash Logistics
National Counterfeit Centre
Budapest
1850
Hungary
Information on euro banknotes and coins
Euro banknotes and coins currently in circulation
For detailed information on the euro banknotes and coins currently in circulation, including their visual representation, and the security features of the various banknotes and coins, see the ECB’s Hungarian homepage (link to ‘The Euro’ page (http://www.ecb.int/euro/html/index.hu.html).
The euro has so far replaced the following currencies: the German mark, Austrian schilling, Greek drachma, Spanish peseta, Italian lira, Dutch guilder, Belgian franc, French franc, Luxembourg franc, Portuguese escudo, Finnish mark, Irish pound, Slovenian tolar, Cyprian pound, Maltese lira, Slovakian crown and the Estonian crown.
Former national currencies (banknotes and coins) are converted into euro (link: ‘The Euro’ page (http://www.ecb.int/euro/html/index.hu.html) by the central banks, issuing the national currency in question, of the countries within the eurozone.
The protection of euro banknotes and coins against forgery
In the member states of the European Union, all credit institutions and all organisations involved in the distribution of euro cash are required to withdraw from circulation any euro banknotes and coins suspected of being counterfeit. All EU member states have set up national organisations to carry out the expert examination of supposedly counterfeit euro banknotes and coins and to forward the new kinds of forgeries and the related technical and statistical data to the Community organisations engaging in protection against counterfeiting.
In Hungary, these duties are carried out by the National Cash Expert Centre of the MNB.
On Community level, the expert activities related to euro banknotes and coins are carried out respectively by the Counterfeit Analysis Centre of the European Central Bank and the European Technical and Scientific Centre. The member states, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Europol coordinate their efforts against counterfeiting.
For further information, see the ECB’s website: (link: ‘The Euro’ page (http://www.ecb.int/euro/html/index.hu.html)
Reproductions of euro banknotes
The European Central Bank holds the copyright on the designs of the euro banknotes.
Any reproduction of euro banknotes can only be made in accordance with the regulations of the European Central Bank. The purpose of the regulation of the European Central Bank is to protect the integrity of euro banknotes as the legal tender and the copyright of the designs of euro banknotes. In accordance with the above, no reproductions are permitted unless they exclude the risk of confusion with a genuine banknote. Accordingly, reproductions made for advertising or illustrative purposes can be used without prior permission by the European Central Bank, provided that they are not likely to be confused with genuine banknotes and meet the parameters specified in Article 2(3) of ECB Decision 2003/4.
For detailed information, see: Article 2(3) of ECB Decision 2003/4, Article 1-3 of Guideline of the ECB 2003/5 and MNB Decree 2/2010 (I.28.).
Reproductions of euro coins
The European Community holds the copyright on the design of the common face of euro coins. By way of enforcing the copyright, the Commission and the member states within the eurozone act on behalf of the European Community.
Any reproductions of euro coins must comply with the conditions specified by the Commission of the European Union and the Council. Coin or token reproductions must not give rise to confusion with genuine euro coins.
For the regulations on reproductions of euro coins, including coins and tokens resembling euro coins, see Article 1-5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2182/2004, Annex II, Council Regulation 46/2009/EC amending Council Regulation 2182/2004/EC, Communication from the Commission COM/2001/0600, and the MNB Decree 3/2010 (I.28.).