A batch of 325m euro banknotes printed in Germany will not be put into circulation after the European Central Bank (ECB) discovered "a slight deviation in visual appearance" when compared to notes printed at other plants.
The 100-euro notes, with a total face value of around 21.2bn, were printed by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) in Munich. It shares the printing of euro notes in Germany with the Bundesdruckerei, the government-owned printing works. However, the 5-euro and 20-euro notes produced by G&D were not affected.
The deviation occurred on a security feature which should prevent the banknote from being successfully photocopied. However, an ECB spokesman stressed that, contrary to initial reports in the German press, the notes could not be counterfeited as the security feature was still present on the notes.
The spokesman said: "Our president decided to take the banknotes out of circulation. At the end of the day we are responsible.
"Only banknotes that do fully comply with the quality standards of the Eurosystem will be brought into circulation."
He added that he "didnt see any justification" for G&D to lose the order.
Printing of euro notes is carried out in 11 plants across the continent.