Guideline (EU) 2021/2322 of the European Central Bank of 17 December 2021 amending Guideline (EU) 2015/280 on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2021/56)

‘3 Tendering group NCBs shall state in tender documentation that in order to be eligible for any tender, public printing works must have implemented the arm's length principle prior to taking part in the tender. In order to ensure fair competition when public printing works are responding to a call for tenders, this eligibility criterion shall require that: (a) euro banknote printing activities are fully separated financially from the public printing works’ other activities; (b) no direct or indirect state aid is provided to the public printing works that is in any way incompatible with the Treaty; (c) the public printing works are responsible for implementing an appropriate organisational structure and cost accounting system that ensures clear cost allocation and full financial separation between euro banknote printing activities and other activities; (d) all costs for the production of euro banknotes, including costs incurred for administrative and organisational support for the production of euro banknotes are allocated to the public printing works; (e) the allocation of the costs incurred must be traceable and consistently applied and accompanied by supporting documentation of the cost allocation; and (f) the financial separation is checked and certified annually by an independent external auditor and reported to the tendering NCB, which must provide a copy of the auditor’s statement for each calendar year to the ECB.’;

‘3 Without prejudice to applicable Union and national legislation on public procurement, an NCB that closes its in-house printing works may decide to become part of the tendering group within the meaning of Article 3 or participate in horizontal cooperation on the basis of a cooperation agreement within the meaning of Article 8. For a transitional period of five years starting from the date the in-house group NCB is notified of the revocation of the accreditation of its in-house printing works, the NCB that closes its printing works can switch between participating in either the in-house group or the tendering group before making a final decision, provided that the respective legal requirements are fulfilled. The second subparagraph shall apply also in the case of an NCB that has already closed its printing works, provided that the NCB was notified of the revocation of the accreditation of its in-house printing works after 1 November 2019. The transitional period shall start retroactively from the date of this notification.’;

‘4 Without prejudice to applicable Union and national legislation on public procurement, an NCB from a Member State that will join the euro area in the future may choose between becoming part of the tendering group within the meaning of Article 3 or participating in horizontal cooperation on the basis of a cooperation agreement within the meaning of Article 8, provided that a cooperation agreement within the meaning of Article 8(2)(b) is in place as of the first euro banknote allocation.

5 Without prejudice to the applicable Union and national legislation on public procurement, the Governing Council may, in emergency situations and on a case-by-case basis, decide on deviations from the two-pillar model laid down in Article 6.’.

This Guideline shall take effect on the day of its notification to the national central banks of Member States whose currency is the euro.

This Guideline is addressed to all Eurosystem central banks.