Old euros from a previous holiday

jmcd31

Hi there 

With everywhere seeming to issue new plastic notes, I'm a bit concerned the old paper euros we have from a few years ago might not be valid anymore. 

Does anyone know if paper euros are still in use?

Thanks 

Westin

They will be fine.

eDicky

Definitely no problem. Polymer euros don't exist yet, at least I've not seen any whilst living in the eurozone. If they are ever issued the paper notes will remain in circulation, only the Bank of England and a few third world countries ever withdraw validity of previous issues by a certain date.

TELLIT01

I'm not sure I would class Turkey as a 3rd world country but they have definitely withdrawn versions of paper currency in the past.  So has Canada, and they definitely aren't 3rd world.

Voyager2002

eDicky said:

Definitely no problem. Polymer euros don't exist yet, at least I've not seen any whilst living in the eurozone. If they are ever issued the paper notes will remain in circulation, only the Bank of England and a few third world countries ever withdraw validity of previous issues by a certain date.

Norway withdrew some notes at the end of 2019. I had one high-value note and had a lot of trouble exchanging it before the deadline.

eDicky

True, Canada withdrew paper notes from circulation, but ten years after issuing the new polymer notes. Probably a similar situation in Norway. Apart from the likes of India, Turkey etc, I think only the Bank of England withdraws use of previous issue notes a year or so after new notes issued (a bit longer this time with the pandemic), regardless of public inconvenience. It doesn't happen with Scottish notes, they remain in circulation as the banks gradually collect them.

TELLIT01

Some banks will accept old notes long after they go out of circulation.  When my brother died we found quite a large quantity of notes which hadn't been in circulation for several years.  Even if they had refused them, the Bank of England would have accepted them.

CKhalvashi

eDicky said:

Definitely no problem. Polymer euros don't exist yet, at least I've not seen any whilst living in the eurozone. If they are ever issued the paper notes will remain in circulation, only the Bank of England and a few third world countries ever withdraw validity of previous issues by a certain date.

I had paper ones in Paris in December (didn't take any cash but went out to dinner with colleagues and one paid me in cash while I paid with a card). Brought about €15 back with me and changed them in Georgia in January at an exchange office with no issue regarding their validity.

There will likely be a validity period of at least a few years when new notes come in, with banks accepting them afterwards.

JezR

Countries inside the eurozone had different policies regarding what if anything happened to older notes when superseded by new designs. Some made them completely non-exchangeable after a period of time such as France. Others let them just drop out of general use.

For the euro, the withdrawal of a euro banknote type or series is regulated by a decision of the Governing Council of the ECB published in the Official Journal of the European Union. There is no set legal policy. However, there has been a statement that it issues will in due course be phased out but it will possible to exchange them for new notes at Eurosystem central banks indefinitely. Pretty much the same policy as used by the Bank of England. No dates yet set.

Incidentally historically it wasn't legal for the Bank of England to demonetise its banknotes. It was made possible in the Second World War as a Defence Regulation and only became law permanently in 1954. The minimum notice period is only one month although in practice it has been much greater than this.