The European Commission have launched a public consultation to assess the impact on the use of one and two cent coins, with their possible discontinuation at the end of 2021 due to "criteria of cost and public acceptability".
"The assessment will last for 15 weeks, in order to involve a wide range of stakeholders, including other institutions, relevant national authorities, consumers and civil society ”, announces the institution in a press release.
At the end of this public consultation, Brussels will decide “whether a legislative proposal is justified on the introduction of uniform rounding rules for cash payments in the euro area and possibly on the discontinuation of one and two cent coins”, a representative at the European Commission said. "Any possible future proposals on the subject would be based on the result of this assessment", assures Brussels.
This final decision will be made by the end of 2021.
There are currently eight Euro/cent coins (one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 cents and one and two euros). Each coin has a common European side and a distinctive national side.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
