From 1 April 2005 it is prohibited to circulate banknotes and coins that have been tampered with or changed.
The background to the new prohibition is the occurrence of 'advertisement coins', i.e. coins issued by the Riksbank, onto which another party has applied an adhesive label with a marketing message. The Swedish Parliament has judged that the circulation of such coins should be prohibited for several reasons.
It is particularly important that banknotes and coins be difficult to counterfeit. It is also vital to ensure that their authenticity can be checked easily and that they do not lose the feature of being easily identifiable. Advertisement coins risk impairing these characteristics. Another reason in favour of prohibiting advertisements on banknotes and coins is the risk that the Riksbank will be associated with the marketing message. The general public may get the impression that the Bank has initiated or supports the message in question.
As a result of the new prohibition the Riksbank is entitled to impose a financial penalty on all parties that have essentially contributed to the circulation of such banknotes and coins.