Older versions of the 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč banknotes will cease to be valid

The Czech National Bank has decided to terminate the validity of the 1993 versions of the 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč banknotes. These contain fewer protective elements against counterfeiting than the banknotes of the same face values issued in 1996 and 1999. For the public, this means that starting 1 July 2001 it will no longer be possible to make payments using these older 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč banknotes. However, their acceptance and exchange for the newer versions will continue at commercial banks for a further three years. And even after that time - from 1 July 2004 - it will still be possible to exchange 1993 banknotes of both denominations, although only at branches of the Czech National Bank. This is expected to apply at least until 2010

The CNB is already gradually phasing out the older versions of the two banknotes from circulation and is replacing them with the newer ones. For example, it has been withdrawing the 1993 version of the 1,000 Kč note since 1998 and there are now hardly any of these notes in circulation. Owing to the low turnover of higher denomination banknotes, however, this natural process of exchanging old banknotes for new is very lengthy. The public holds a small proportion of these notes at home as a cash reserve.

This CNB decision is unrelated to the current increased incidence of counterfeits of some of the 1993 banknotes. However, the 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč notes issued in later years (1996 and 1999) do contain more protective elements and so enable the public easily to differentiate counterfeits from the genuine article.

The public should have no problem in telling apart the new versions from those being phased out, as there are several significant differences between them. The new versions have a shiny iridescent strip on the face side and a graphic symbol on the wide blank border on the reverse side. The front-to-back register, parts of which are visible in one of the upper corners of the banknote on both sides, has a different shape. The letters "CS" in the original register have been replaced with "ČR". On the new 1,000 Kč note (the 1996 version), the linden leaf at the centre of the face side is printed in optically variable ink.

There is still some time to go - ten months - before these notes cease to be valid. Even if members of public for whatever reason are unable to check their cash reserves within this time, they will not suffer any loss. The deadline for exchange at commercial banks will be sufficiently long, and no limit has been set for the subsequent deadline for exchange at the CNB.

To ensure smooth exchange of invalid banknotes, the CNB will repeatedly inform the public in detail about the differences between the valid and invalid versions and will give notification of important deadlines relating to the termination of validity and exchange of banknotes.

Milan Tománek
CNB spokesman