Emeric Prévost

The law applicable to legal tender of the digital euro: the end of the conundrum?

This article examines the conundrum of the law applicable to legal tender and its definition in the context of the European Commission’s 2023 proposals for regulations establishing the digital euro and clarifying the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins. The proposed regulations bring a welcome clarification of the concept of legal tender and define its scope of application for the digital euro. While the scope of application is not wholly without criticism, it is welcome as it stresses the core payment function of legal tender and enshrines the place of payment as the key connecting factor. It is thus argued that the place of payment rule may be read as a unilateral conflict-of-laws rule, which may also be applied universally as a multilateral conflict rule for better integration within the existing European conflict-of-laws system. A multilateral conflict rule would arguably bring greater legal certainty on matters of payment of monetary obligations.