Euro Notes : Security Features

FRANKFURT, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's advertising blitz inviting people to get a "feel" for the euro to tell the real thing from a fake highlights only the simplest checks, with much more up the bank's sleeve to keep forgers at bay.

The ECB unveiled the final designs of the new euro notes on Thursday and kicked off an information campaign asking people to "feel, look and tilt" the paper currency as a quick check of features protecting the currency such as raised print, watermarks, security thread and holograms.

The notes will be among the most sophisticated in the world in frustrating counterfeiters, said Sirkka Hamalainen, an ECB board member whose home country, Finland, will have an hour's head start using euro cash because of its time zone.

"The notes combine the security features of the previous euro area banknotes and there are many new features as well," Hamalainen told Reuters on the margins of the event presenting new banknotes that will enter circulation on January 1, 2002.

"Only the features that the general public can easily see will be talked about in the ad campaign, there are many others as well," she added.

The ECB has sought to reassure the public that the banknotes are secure amid concerns that counterfeiters will use the people's unfamiliarity with the notes to flood the region with fakes.

None of the euro zone's 300 million citizens will have access to the notes until after midnight on December 31.

EXTRA SECURITY FEATURES

Antti Heinonen, Director of Banknotes at the ECB said the average person could learn four to five ways to conduct a standard authenticity check but the ECB could reveal further security features if needed.

"It was a conscious decision to limit the number of security features in the campaign," Heinonen told Reuters on Friday.

If we found very good professional counterfeits, we could inform the public of further features to expose them," he added.

Heinonen said four layers of security features figured in the euro notes, which are printed in a complex, multi-stage production process.

The general public will be aware of the basic features such as the feel of the paper and printing, size, colour and design of the notes as well as the watermarks, holograms, security threads, colour-shifting ink and iridescent stripes.

Then there are features of special relevance to professional cash handlers, such as micro printing and marks visible only with the help of ultraviolet or infra-red equipment.

Machine-readable features such as magnetic properties for cash dispensers are the third level of security, with a fourth level reserved for the sorting and checking procedures at the national central banks.

Also, the detailed final note designs revealed on Thursday, similar enough to the previous depictions for the public to recognise them, were different enough that any would-be counterfeiters trying to get a head start would have to go back to the drawing board.

Printing plants are running at full-tilt, producing just over one billion notes per month, to meet the January 1 deadline for having 14.5 billion notes ready to ensure there will be enough to go into circulation and to hold as reserves.

After that, the pace at the printers can slow somewhat but not altogether stop.

Banknote expert Heinonen said the ECB had estimated the life span of the five and ten euro notes at just four to six months, while 20 and 50 euro notes will last one to two years.

"The notes are made of strong paper but they are still paper," he said.