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Banknote manufacturer accreditation

Ensuring euro banknotes conform to the highest standards

The ECB has a duty to ensure the integrity of the euro as a means of payment by applying the highest ethical, environmental, health and safety, security and quality standards throughout the research and development, design, production and supply phases of euro banknotes.

The production of euro banknotes must, therefore, comply with specific industrial standards, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, and meet strict ethical and security requirements.

Manufacturers of euro items must be accredited

The manufacturing of euro items and of euro secure items is also subject to an ECB accreditation procedure. Only accredited manufacturers may participate in procurements and enter into contracts for a euro item activity or a euro secure item activity.

The conditions of the accreditation procedures are laid down in Decision ECB/2020/24, which applies from 18 May 2021 and amended by Decision ECB/2022/35, which applies from 16 November 2022.

Fields of accredited manufacturers

The ECB may grant accreditation to manufacturers in the following fields:

  • Banknote printing
  • Manufacturing of banknote paper
  • Production of printing inks
  • Manufacturing of holographic foils
  • Manufacturing of banknote security thread
  • Manufacturing of other secure items

Further information on ECB accreditation procedures

For further information, please refer to our dedicated FAQ page.

If you are considering seeking accreditation

Send an email to QEHS.accreditation@ecb.europa.eu, in English, with a short description of the products you manufacture (maximum two A4 pages). We do our best to reply within one month.

We use PGP encryption for secure communication. Please download the PGP key of QEHS accreditation, to use when transmitting sensitive information.

Other opportunities for cooperation with the ECB

If you wish to propose new security features or technologies for banknote production and processing, please see our Banknote research and development page.

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