31999Y0320(01)

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK at the request of the Council of the European Union under Article 105a(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community on a proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation (1999/C 77/05)

1. On 26 October 1998 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Council of the European Union for an ECB opinion on a proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Council Regulation (EC) No 975/98 on denominations and technical specifications of euro coins intended for circulation.

2. In accordance with Article 1091(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty), the ECB has taken over the advisory functions of the European Monetary Institute (EMI), which went into liquidation upon the establishment of the ECB on 1 June 1998. The ECB's competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 105a(2) and 109f(8) of the Treaty. In accordance with Article 17(5), first sentence, of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, this ECB opinion has been adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB.

3. The objective of the proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) is to address, by amending the weight of the 50 cent coin and the definition of the edge of the 10 and 50 cent coins, the concerns expressed, on the one hand, by the vending machine industry and, on the other, by the European Blind Union. The ECB welcomes the proposed amendments, which will reduce the risk of fraud involving vending machines and the risk of confusion for blind and visually handicapped people.

4. This ECB opinion will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 16 November 1998.

The President of the ECB

Willem F. DUISENBERG