DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 28 November 2003

on the approval of the volume of coin issuance in 2004

(ECB/2003/15)

(2003/860/EC)

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular to Article 106(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The European Central Bank (ECB) has the exclusive right from 1 January 1999 to approve the volume of coins issued by the Member States that have adopted the euro (the participating Member States).

(2) The participating Member States have submitted to the ECB for approval their estimates of the volume of euro coins to be issued in 2004, supplemented by explanatory notes on the forecasting methodology,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Approval of the volume of euro coins to be issued in 2004

The ECB hereby approves the volume of coins to be issued by the participating Member States in 2004 as described in the following table:

(EUR million)
Issuance of coins intended for circulation and issuance of collector coins (not intended for circulation) in 2004
Belgium	203,0
Germany	1 035,0
Greece	207,4
Spain	860,0
France	668,9
Ireland	151,0
Italy	170,8
Luxembourg	70,0
Netherlands	175,0
Austria	212,0
Portugal	230,0
Finland	60,0

Article 2

Final provision

This Decision is addressed to the participating Member States.

This Decision will be published in the

Official Journal of the European Union

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 November 2003.

The President of the ECB

Jean-Claude TRICHET