New national face of euro coins intended for circulation

(2008/C 89/04)

Euro coins intended for circulation have legal tender status throughout the euro area. For the purpose of informing the public and all parties involved who handle the coins, the Commission publishes a description of the designs of all new coins (1). In accordance with the Council conclusions of 8 December 2003 (2), euro-area Member States and those countries that have concluded a Monetary Agreement with the Community providing for the issuing of euro coins intended for circulation are allowed to issue certain quantities of commemorative euro coins for circulation, on condition that not more than one new coin design is issued per country per year and that only the 2-euro denomination is used. These coins have the technical features of normal euro coins intended for circulation, but bear a commemorative design on the national face.

Issuing country: Italian Republic

Subject of commemoration: 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights

Description of the design: The inner part of the coin depicts a man and a woman with an olive branch, an ear of corn, a cogwheel and some barbed wire, symbols representing the right to peace, food, work and freedom respectively, along with the links of a chain broken to form the figure ‘60o’. In the centre of the coin are the initials of the issuing country ‘RI’; to the left the year 2008; to the right the initials ‘MCC’ of the artist Maria Carmela Colaneri and the mint mark ‘R’; at the bottom, a cartouche with the inscription ‘DIRITTI UMANI’.

The outer ring of the coin depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.

Number of coins to be issued: 5 million

Approximate date of issue: April 2008

Edge lettering: 2 ★, repeated six times, alternately upright and inverted.

(1)  See OJ C 373, 28.12.2001, p. 1 for the national sides of all the coins issued in 2002.

(2)  See the conclusions of the Council (General Affairs) of 8 December 2003 on changes in the design of national sides of euro coins. See also the Commission Recommendation of 29 September 2003 on a common practice for changes to the design of national sides of euro circulation coins (OJ L 264, 15.10.2003, p. 38).