The European Central Bank said today it was pressing for EU-wide rules that could prevent the use of personal computers to counterfeit banknotes.
The bank said that it and other major central banks had developed a system to prevent the reproduction of banknotes using standard personal computer hardware and software.
Now it wants EU rules to require manufacturers and importers of computer hardware and software to incorporate the system in their products.
Central bank governors from the Group of 10 developed countries announced in March they had developed a system to prevent computers and digital-imaging tools from capturing or reproducing images from protected banknotes.
The ECB, the central bank of the 12-nation euro zone, said about 307,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were removed from circulation in the first half of this year, down from 311,000 in the same period last year.
ECB researchers are developing new security features to pose "insurmountable difficulties" to counterfeiters when the second banknote series is introduced at the end of the decade.
"One example of an area of research is the field of nanotechnology where new material development/processing could give rise to new unique optical properties and/or behaviours that could be used in banknotes," the central bank said.