L 330/14 Official Journal of the European Union 15.12.2010 DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 25 November 2010 on the quality accreditation procedure for manufacturers of euro banknotes (ECB/2010/22) (2010/773(EU) THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 128(1) thereof, Having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’), and in particular Article 16 thereof, Whereas: (1)  Article 128(1) of the Treaty and Article 16 of the Statute of the ESCB provide that the European Central Bank (ECB) has the exclusive right to authorise the issue of euro banknotes within the Union. This right includes the competence to take measures to protect the integrity of euro banknotes as a means of payment. (2)  Producing euro banknotes and euro banknote raw materials according to identical quality standards is of paramount importance to guaranteeing their quality, wherever they are produced. (3) A quality accreditation procedure should therefore be put in place to ensure that only manufacturers conforming with minimum quality requirements are accredited to produce euro banknotes and euro banknote raw materials, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: SECTION 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 Definitions For the purposes of this Decision: (a) ‘quality accreditation’ means the status, the scope of which is set out in Articles 3 and 4, granted by the ECB to a manufacturer confirming that it is in conformity with the quality requirements; (b) ‘euro banknote production activity’ means the production of euro banknotes or of any euro banknote raw materials; (o) ‘manufacturer’ means any entity that is, or wishes to be, involved in a euro banknote production activity; (d) ‘manufacturing site’ means any premises that a manu- facturer uses, or wishes to use, for a euro banknote production activity; (e) ‘quality requirements’ means the substantive rules to be conformed with by a manufacturer seeking quality accredi- tation, as separately laid down by the ECB; (f) ‘quality arrangements’ means the measures taken by a manufacturer at a manufacturing site to conform with the quality requirements; (g) ‘certification authority’ means an independent certification authority ~ which  evaluates  manufacturers’  quality management systems and is entitled to certify that a manu- facturer fulfils the requirements of the ISO 9001 series of standards; (h) ‘euro banknote raw materials' means paper, ink, foil and thread used to produce euro banknotes; (i) ‘euro secure items and ‘euro secure activity' have the meaning given to them in Decision ECB/2008/3 of 15 May 2008 on security accreditation procedures for manufacturers of euro secure items for euro banknotes (1); () ‘ECB working day’ means a day from Monday to Friday, excluding ECB public holidays; (k) ‘NCB’ means the national central bank of a Member State whose currency is the euro; () ‘pre-audit questionnaire’ means a form used by the quality audit team to collect information from a manufacturer on the specificities of a manufacturing site and on any changes that have been made to the quality arrangements since the last quality audit. Atticle 2 General principles 1. A manufacturer shall apply for and receive quality accredi- tation from the ECB before starting or continuing its euro banknote production activity. 2. An accredited manufacturer may only carry out a euro banknote production activity at the manufacturing sites for which it has been granted quality accreditation under this Decision. () O] L 140, 30.5.2008, p. 26.