PART V
CURRENCY
17. Central rate of the dollar
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(1) The monetary unit of the Participating Governments shall be the Eastern Caribbean Dollar divided into 100 cents, with such external value as may from time to time be declared in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Article.
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(2) The Bank shall on the recommendation of the Board approved by a decision of the Council, both such recommendation and decision having been adopted unanimously by all their members declare the external value for the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, having due regard to the obligations that any Participating Government has assumed in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund: Provided that any declaration made by the East Caribbean Currency Authority fixing the external value of the East Caribbean Dollar shall remain in full force and effect until altered by the Bank under this paragraph.
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(3) Provision shall be made by the Council to arrange for reasonable compensation to a Participating Government adversely affected by a change in external value of the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, in accordance with Annex II to the Agreement. Notice of any change in external value of the Eastern Caribbean Dollar shall be published in the Official Gazette of each of the Participating Governments and communicated to the public in such other manner as the Bank shall decide.
18. Issue of currency notes and coins
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(1) The Bank shall have the sole right to issue currency in the territories of the Participating Governments and no other person or authority shall issue currency or any document or token payable to a bearer on demand having the appearance of or purporting to be currency. (Substituted by S.I. 62/2021)
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(2) Currency issued or deemed by the Bank to have been issued by it shall in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of this Article, be legal tender in the territories of the Participating Governments for the discharge of all public and private obligations and shall include on the date that this Agreement takes effect, all currency issued by or deemed to have been issued by the Authority.
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Currency issued or deemed by the Bank to have been issued by it shall include—
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(i) currency issued by the East Caribbean Currency Authority as well as currency bearing its inscription that may be put into circulation by the Bank,
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(ii) currency issued by the Bank,
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(iii) such other currencies as the Board may by resolution indicate hereafter.
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(3) Currency notes, digital currency and commemorative coins issued or deemed to have been issued by the Bank shall be legal tender for the payment of any amount, and other coins issued or deemed to have been issued by the Bank shall be legal tender at their face value up to an amount not exceeding twenty dollars in the case of coins of a denomination not less than fifty cents, and not exceeding five dollars in the case of coins of a lower denomination. (Substituted by S.I. 62/2021)
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(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) of this Article, a note or coin issued or deemed to have been issued by the Bank shall not be legal tender—
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(a) if, in the case of a note, it has been altered in any material way;
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(b) if, in the case of a coin, it has been tampered with.
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(5)
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(a) A note shall be deemed to have been materially altered, if it has been mutilated or has been defaced.
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(b) A coin shall be deemed to have been tampered with if it has been impaired, diminished or lightened otherwise than by fair wear and tear or has been defaced.
19. The printing and security of currency
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(1) The Bank shall arrange for the printing of currency notes and the minting of coins and for all matters relating thereto, and for the security and safe keeping of unissued currency and for the custody and destruction, as necessary, of plates, dies and retired currency.
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(2) Currency issued by the Bank shall be in such denominations and of such composition, form and design as shall be approved by the Council on the recommendation of the Board.
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(3) The characteristics of currency to be issued by the Bank shall be published in the Official Gazette of each of the Participating Governments.
20. The withdrawal of currency from circulation
The Bank shall have the power to call in, for the purpose of withdrawing from circulation, any currency issued or deemed by the Bank to have been issued by it on payment of the face value thereof. Any currency so recalled shall, in accordance with the terms of a notice which shall be published in the Official Gazette of each of the Participating Governments and communicated to the public in such other manner as the Bank shall decide cease to be legal tender:
Provided that the holders of such currency shall be entitled, at any time within a period of not less than 5 years as may be specified in the notice and thereafter at the sole discretion of the Bank, to claim payment from the Bank in accordance with such regulation as it may issue.
21. Reissue of currency
The Bank shall issue, reissue, and exchange on demand currency issued or deemed by the Bank to have been issued by it:
Provided that in the event of the temporary unavailability of a requested issue or denomination, the bank may deliver currency of available issues and denominations that most nearly approximate those requested.
22. Damaged currency ETC.
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(1) No person shall be entitled to recover from the Bank the value of any lost or stolen currency, except as may be provided under the terms of a waiver expressly executed in respect of the assumption by the Bank of risks incident to shipments of currency.
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(2) The conditions under which mutilated or otherwise damaged currency may be exchanged or refunded at partial or face value shall be determined by regulations issued by the Bank.
23. Enforcement of laws
The Bank shall assist in the enforcement of any law related to the counterfeiting of currency in the territories of the Participating Governments and certification by a duly authorised officer of the Bank that an item in question is or is not genuine shall be prima facie evidence of the fact in any legal proceeding in those territories.