Counterfeiting Currencies

Given that money counterfeiting jeopardises significant individual and super-individual interests, it has always been considered as an extremely serious offence and punished with the harshest available sanctions. After providing brief historical background on the spread of currency counterfeiting in the United States and Europe, this article analyses the evolution of supranational legislation to combat counterfeiting as a transnational crime. The focus is initially on the objectives and contents of the first international instrument on the subject, the Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency adopted in 1929 by the League of Nations. Next, the attention shifts to the sources of the European Union aimed at the harmonisation of national criminal laws that safeguard the authenticity of coins and banknotes.