The Deutsche Bundesbank and other Eurosystem central banks are gradually also issuing euro banknotes which bear the signature of Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) since 1 November 2011.

All other characteristics of these banknotes correspond to those bearing the signatures of previous ECB Presidents, Willem F. Duisenberg or Jean-Claude Trichet. Euro banknotes with these three signatures circulate in parallel and are legal tender.

In accordance with article 128 (1) sentence 3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), article 16 (1) sentence 3 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (ESCB Statute), and article 10 sentence 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro, euro banknotes are the only banknotes which have the unrestricted status of legal tender in all participating member states.

Therefore, by virtue of public law, everyone is required to accept payments in euro banknotes as proper fulfillment of a financial obligation to avoid legal detriment.

However, under German civil law, as a general rule, the principle of freedom of contract applies. This principle allows those involved in a legal transaction to freely determine contractual content. The parties to a transaction can accordingly also agree on or rule out a certain method of fulfillment. In this respect, the principle of freedom of contract supersedes the above-mentioned provisions in public law, which require any party to accept payments made with legal tender as proper fulfillment of a financial obligation.

Public law likewise recognises restrictions regarding payments in cash: as a general rule, it is no longer possible to settle tax liabilities by making a cash payment to the local collection office.

The Eurosystem has carried out wide-ranging studies to determine whether banknotes pose a risk of transmitting viruses. The results show that viruses may survive on banknotes for a short time as they do on other surfaces (eg door handles, newspapers or computer keyboards). There is, however, no evidence to suggest that viruses have ever been transmitted via banknotes.

The euro banknotes were printed in various countries. See the precise locations in the following table.

The euro banknotes were designed by the Austrian artist Robert Kalina. His design is based on the theme “ages and styles of Europe”. The euro banknotes depict the architectural styles of seven periods of European cultural history: the €5 banknote depicts the classical architectural style, the €10 note Romanesque architecture, the €20 note gothic architecture, the €50 note the renaissance style, the €100 note the baroque and rococo styles, the €200 note iron and glass architecture and the €500 note the modern architecture of the twentieth century. Windows and gateways form the main elements on the front of the notes, whilst bridges are the main feature on the reverse side. These images do not, however, depict a specific building but rather a stylised architectural example of the chosen epoch.

On the first series of euro banknotes, the name of the currency appears in both Latin (EURO) and Greek letters (EYPΩ), as well as in Cyrillic letters (EBPO) on the new “Europa” series of banknotes, as all three scripts are used in the European Union. In this regard, it is irrelevant whether the European country whose script is printed on the banknotes has actually adopted the euro as its national currency (the Cyrillic script for Bulgaria, for example).

The Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI, the predecessor of the European Central Bank) chose the design in 1996. The EMI held a design competition in February 1996; a total of 44 designs were submitted. They were passed on to a notary, who supplied each series with a number in order to ensure anonymity. In September 1996 a jury of 14 independent experts in marketing, advertising, design and art judged the designs. The jury drew up two shortlists: one with five design series on the theme 'ages and styles of Europe’ and another with five series of ‘modern/abstract’ designs. The public opinion polling firm Gallup Europe was then asked to conduct a survey on public reactions to the shortlisted designs. Approximately 2,000 people across Europe took part in this survey. Two groups of people – professional cash handlers and members of the public – viewed all ten design series and were asked to complete a detailed survey. In December 1996, based on the jury’s findings and the results of the public survey, the Council of the EMI selected the winning design series.

Each of the seven denominations has a different size. This makes it easy for blind and partially sighted people to distinguish between banknotes.

The following features of the various banknotes also aid visually impaired people:

• Each banknote has its own predominant colour (for example, blue in the case of the €20 banknote).
• Strongly contrasting colours have been chosen to distinguish between the successive denominations (for example, the €10 banknote is red while the €20 note is blue).
• The values of the banknotes are shown in large, highly legible figures.

No. Issuing banknotes with specific numbers, for example for collectors' purposes, is not possible for organisational reasons.

The euro banknotes of the first series bear the following signature letters to indicate which central bank authorised the printing of the banknotes:

Code letter

The country code printed on euro banknotes (eg X for Germany, see list above for all other countries) indicates the national central bank (NCB) on behalf of which the banknote in question was produced. Not every NCB produces all seven banknote denominations; instead, the production of all the banknotes required for the entire euro area is divided among the individual central banks, which generally focus on just a small number of denominations as part of a decentralised pooling procedure. This means that the NCB putting a banknote into circulation is not necessarily the same NCB that was responsible for the production of this banknote.

Euro banknotes are not issued by the member state whose country code is printed on the banknote. It is the national central banks of the participating member states, together with the European Central Bank who are responsible for issuing euro banknotes.

Irrespective of the county code, euro banknotes are legal tender in all euro-area countries. The rights that result from a banknote vis-à-vis the national central banks are stipulated in Article 3 of the Decision of the European Central Bank of 13 December 2010 on the issue of euro banknotes. In accordance with Article 3 (2) of this decision, the national central banks shall accept all euro banknotes, ie irrespective of their country code, for exchange against euro banknotes of the same value or, in the case of account holders, to be credited to accounts held at the recipient NCB.

The following islands and overseas departments appear on the back of the euro banknotes: Azores, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique and Réunion.

For information on the UV properties of the euro banknotes, see the guidelines on how to identify counterfeit euro banknotes.

You will find information on how to deal with counterfeit money in the “Counterfeit money” section on our website. Here you will also find a “Guide to recognising counterfeit money”.