Counterfeiting is a criminal offence with social and financial consequences, which undermines the trust of the public (users) in the cash.
The Croatian National Bank pays full consideration to the protection against currency counterfeiting and uses a number of processes to prevent counterfeiting.
- Innovative security features that are easy to verify and hard to imitate are an important part of the design of kuna banknotes and kuna and lipa coins as well as euro banknotes and euro coins.
- The National Training Programme is carried out on a regular basis.
- The Croatian National Bank actively cooperates on a daily basis with the Police National Office for Combating Corruption and Organised Crime of the Ministry of the Interior and with the State's Attorney Office of the Republic of Croatia.
- There is an ongoing supply of new banknotes, with worn and damaged banknotes separated to facilitate authentication.
Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia
In accordance with Article 274, Counterfeiting Money, of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia:
- Whoever produces counterfeit money, alters genuine money or procures, possesses, imports, exports, receives or passes on such money with the aim of putting it into circulation as genuine, shall be punished by imprisonment from one to ten years.
- Whoever, upon finding out that the money he or she accepted in the belief it was genuine is counterfeit, puts counterfeit money into circulation shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three years.
- Whoever attempts to commit the criminal offence referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be punished.
- Counterfeit money shall be confiscated.
In accordance with Article 283, producing, procuring, possessing, selling or giving to another for use forgery tools, of the same Act:
- Whoever produces, receives, obtains, possesses, sells or gives to another for use instruments, articles, computer programmes and data, and any other means for the counterfeiting or altering of currency or of security features, such as holograms, watermarks or other components of currency which serve to protect against counterfeiting shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three years.
- The punishment referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be imposed on whoever produces, receives, obtains, possesses, sells or gives to another for use instruments, articles, computer programmes and data, and any other means for the making of fraudulent securities, fraudulent symbols of value issued pursuant to regulations, fraudulent symbols for the marking of goods, fraudulent measures and weights or for forging documents.
- The tools referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article shall be seized.
Educational materials on the security features of euro banknotes and euro coins are available here.