SSR registry

[BrianH]

If you should be in Spain, the big day chain Leroy Merlin will always take a 500 euro note no matter how much you spend. Scanned and done. Impressed me.

The key here is "scanned" - not all retailers have a validation reader programmed with the security features of the €500 banknote due to its rarity*. Unlike the US $100, of which the world is awash with counterfeits, the €500 banknote has many security features. However, under many years of pressure from the world's anti-terrorist and drug-crime agencies, the ECB will soon stop printing the “Bin Laden” - so called because of its association with money-laundering and terror financing.

The Swiss central bank, that issues the world's highest value banknote, the Sfr 1000 (ca. £800) after the little-used Brunei $10,000 note (ca. £5,600), has no such pressure as the Swiss franc does not have such a volume and international usage as the euro. In addition, it has a world record in the number of security features - 18 independent ones.

Clearing into Croatia one year I entered a Bureau de Change to obtain enough kuna to pay my entry fees just as the assistant was handing back a banknote and telling someone that "No, we never accept $100 notes for exchange." I could quite understand that as despite recent series having reasonable security features, unlike most countries that no longer regard old series as valid tender outside of bank exchange, the Federal Reserve considers all USD banknotes since the mid-19th century as legal tender.

*Or more often many validators are simple infrared and ultraviolet light models that are far from infallible but detect most forgeries. While some institutions take the risk of missing the odd low denomination note they are not prepared to do so with such a high value as the €500 one.
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[KellysEye]

As said France wants an SSR. We had a Part 1 certificate and nobody asked to see it in Spain, Portugal, Canaries, the Caribbean island chain from Puerto Rico to Trinidad, Venezuela, Bonaire and Curacao.

 

[GrahamM376]

As said France wants an SSR. We had a Part 1 certificate and nobody asked to see it in Spain, Portugal, Canaries, the Caribbean island chain from Puerto Rico to Trinidad, Venezuela, Bonaire and Curacao.

5 years visiting France then 10 years in Portugal & Spain, all marinas and customs boats have asked for insurance, reg. document and passports.

 

[KellysEye]

>5 years visiting France then 10 years in Portugal & Spain, all marinas and customs boats have asked for insurance, reg. document and passports.

That's odd I can assure you we were never asked for our Part 1 or insurance in Portugal or Spain, we passed through those in 2004 and Portugal in 2010, all we have been asked for everywhere we visited was a crew list and passports. The only time we have been stopped by a customs boat was in the UK and they didn't ask for anything just looked inside the boat.

 

[macd]

My experience over the last ten years in the Med, Antilles and points between mirrors Graham's: although we don't use them a lot, marinas invariably want to see registration and insurance (the former, perhaps as much as anything else, to check boat dimensions). And, so far as insurance is concerned, a good thing, too.

Checks in much of Europe are otherwise few, although I've found Portugal more bureaucratic than most and spot-checks not uncommon. I suspect that Portugal is vying with Greece for the tallest structure composed entirely of obsolete ledgers.

 

[Sybarite]

Nah I would just start printing pounds,

Good idea. You can save paper too as the pound shrinks...

 

[Sybarite]

I remember a friend scanning his old SSR document and having the year altered to make it current before printing a copy. It served until his genuine replacement caught up with him in the mail at a marina somewhere in Spain. At least the document caught up with him before the law did.

He was lucky. In France it's called "faux et usage du faux" and they really don't like it.

 

[Mistroma]

He was lucky. In France it's called "faux et usage du faux" and they really don't like it.

Yes, he knew that but needed something in Spain just in case. I think that the replacement for his original had gone to his UK address (no surprise) and a relative was bringing it to the boat in a week or so. Not a big deal in Spain.

I thought that most people knew about the French requirement for the original. However, I ran into another couple in the same marina who'd had a problem using a copy in Morocco. They'd bought the boat new and the dealer had advised them not to keep the original documents on the boat. I told them I wasn't surprised about Morocco because of the connection with France and suspected they'd adopt some French ideas. They were very surprised and thought it was just a scam. I think it might have been seen as an opportunity and some cash did sort out the problem.

 

[BrianH]

I remember a friend scanning his old SSR document and having the year altered to make it current before printing a copy. It served until his genuine replacement caught up with him in the mail at a marina somewhere in Spain. At least the document caught up with him before the law did.
I don't remember it being laminated but it was about 3 years ago.

He was lucky. In France it's called "faux et usage du faux" and they really don't like it.

But could they tell? I have a copy of my MCA Part I Registration Certificate, which I consider indistinguishable from the original, no problem with a good quality scanner, colour printer and lamination equipment. I defy anyone, without a forensic destruction test, to identify between original and copy - in fact I have to be careful myself when storing to not mix them up.

Edit:
To counter thoughts from the descriptive "good quality" implies that any of the equipment is professional and thereby expensive, my Epson Perfection flatbed scanner is a somewhat old 300 dpi model while the Canon printer is a Pixma iP4700 inkjet (both equipment that a modern, inexpensive combination scanner/printer product would be equivalent to) and the laminator a domestic £25 Peach model. All very ordinary home office equipment.


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[Sybarite]

Yes, he knew that but needed something in Spain just in case. I think that the replacement for his original had gone to his UK address (no surprise) and a relative was bringing it to the boat in a week or so. Not a big deal in Spain.

I thought that most people knew about the French requirement for the original. However, I ran into another couple in the same marina who'd had a problem using a copy in Morocco. They'd bought the boat new and the dealer had advised them not to keep the original documents on the boat. I told them I wasn't surprised about Morocco because of the connection with France and suspected they'd adopt some French ideas. They were very surprised and thought it was just a scam. I think it might have been seen as an opportunity and some cash did sort out the problem.

The French do make a compromise for charter boats.

 

[jimbaerselman]

While it is not a requirement to register a boat if it stays in UK waters, it is a requirement to have evidence that the boat is a UK ship if it visits another state. The only acceptable evidence of this is an official certificate of registration.

Not quite. The only official evidence of registration is an actual registry entry. The certificate may well be incorrect - due to ownership change or forgery. But it is a means of telling 'whoever it may concern' how to contact the registry.

However, I'm not aware whether the SSR has any obvious means of dialling up a registry entry - unlike UK car registration numbers!

Of course, this was largely impractical before on-line communications became common, and is impractical for bank notes. Hence elaborate attempts to create machines which automatically check security features of banknotes.

 

[BrianH]

Not quite. The only official evidence of registration is an actual registry entry. The certificate may well be incorrect - due to ownership change or forgery. But it is a means of telling 'whoever it may concern' how to contact the registry.

However, I'm not aware whether the SSR has any obvious means of dialling up a registry entry - unlike UK car registration numbers!

Of course, this was largely impractical before on-line communications became common, and is impractical for bank notes. Hence elaborate attempts to create machines which automatically check security features of banknotes.

So Jim, joining in the pedantry game : "Hence elaborate attempts to create machines which automatically check security features of banknotes", rather implies less than successfully. As someone who once peddled all manner of large cash-handling equipment all over the world and integrated their connectivity software into financial institution client systems while working for some major financial services and security document companies, I feel I should refute that.

I do not include simple desk validators and counters, but self-service acceptors, open bank-branch teller recycling safes and back-office sorters, where a dud bill has a one in a many thousands chance of being accepted ... and there are some very good duds out there. It all depends how much the customer is willing to pay and how many worn/damaged, genuine banknote rejects can be tolerated.

 

[jimbaerselman]

You're quite right Barnac1e. I should have said "elaborate attempts to distribute machines . . ."

However, that implies criticism of the peddler's effectiveness at overcoming budget constraints. We can't have that, can we!

 

[BrianH]

You're quite right Barnac1e. I should have said "elaborate attempts to distribute machines . . ."

However, that implies criticism of the peddler's effectiveness at overcoming budget constraints. We can't have that, can we!

:encouragement:
Anyway, I was active in the field when the robber baron banks were flush and prepared to spend. I could also prove a very short-term ROI by virtue of instant on-line input to the bank's CAR (Capital Adequacy Ratio) totals, instead of the delays incumbent on banknote storage, transport and central office counting, which was then normal before the capital reserve totals were updated.