Legal tender of euro cash regulation in negotiations

The legal tender regulation is a proposed EU law on euro banknotes and coins. The proposal (external site) defines legal tender as mandatory acceptance of cash at full face value, with the power to settle a payment obligation, and protects access to cash.

It addresses two linked problems: payees refusing cash, and fewer places to obtain it. In the words of the proposal, if people do not have access to cash, they cannot pay with it (EUR-Lex (external site)).

Under the proposal, the definition of legal tender moves into a regulation, which applies directly in every euro area country (EUR-Lex (external site)).

Under the proposal, a payee could refuse cash only in good faith, on legitimate grounds beyond its control and in a proportionate way, such as a lack of change. Surcharges for paying in cash would be prohibited (EUR-Lex (external site)).

As an example, a shop sign announcing card payments only is an advance, one-sided exclusion of cash. The proposal asks Member States to monitor such exclusions and report each year to the Commission and the ECB (EUR-Lex (external site)).

Distance payments, such as online purchases, are outside the rule. The Council position also exempts unmanned points of sale (Council (external site)).

On access, Member States would ensure sufficient and effective access to cash across their territory, monitor it with common indicators and set out remedial measures where it falls short (EUR-Lex (external site)).

The duties fall on payees, such as retailers and service providers, and on Member States (Council (external site)). Banks and payment institutions are concerned as providers of cash services and as payees themselves. The roles most directly concerned:

• Cash Management Product Manager: reviews cash deposit and collection services for merchants that keep accepting cash.
• Payments Operations Analyst: processes the cash lodgements of merchants alongside their electronic payments.
• Merchant Acquiring Sales Executive: presents card acceptance to merchants for whom cash remains a means of payment they cannot exclude in advance.

The Commission proposed the regulation on 28 June 2023 under the ordinary legislative procedure, as procedure 2023/0208(COD) (EUR-Lex (external site)). The Council agreed its position on 19 December 2025 (Council (external site)).

On 9 July 2026 the European Parliament decided to open negotiations on the regulation, which forms part of the single currency package with the digital euro (Banca d'Italia (external site)).

The stated objective for the package is to complete the legislative process by the end of 2026. That date is a target and is marked expected; application dates will follow from the final text (Banca d'Italia (external site)).

Before this proposal, the term legal tender was defined only in a 2010 Commission Recommendation, a non-binding act, and in case law of the Court of Justice (EUR-Lex (external site)).

The proposal was tabled on the same day as the digital euro proposal. Its text states that the digital euro would complement cash, not replace it (EUR-Lex (external site)).