Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, who is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council, announced that the local government has finished drafting a bill regulating Macau’s money issuance, which proposes that Macau’s legal tender will also cover digital currency, in addition to the current and traditional forms of currency, namely banknotes and coins.
According to Cheong, the bill proposes that digital patacas will have the same status as banknotes and coins.
Cheong also said that the government’s future possible issuance of Macau’s own digital currency will be regulated by specific pieces of legislation in the future.
Cheong made the announcement during a press conference at Government Headquarters on Friday. The bill will be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) in due course for debate, review and vote.
Cheong pointed out that the current decree law regulating Macau’s money issuance, which was promulgated in 1995, has been in force for over 27 years. Cheong said that with the aim of improving Macau’s legal system on currency issuance in a way that would enable it to be on a par with the respective legal systems in the mainland and Hong Kong and their economic environments, the Macau government had decided to draft new legislation on money issuance.
Commemorative notes
According to Cheong, the bill also proposes to formalise the issuance of commemorative banknotes, with the aim of “properly distinguishing between” banknotes intended to mark important events and banknotes issued for general circulation.
While the current decree law on money issuance lists commemorative coins and coins in general circulation, it does not stipulate the issuance of commemorative banknotes.
In addition, according to Cheong, the bill proposes to formalise the permission for the sale of commemorative banknotes and coins, as well as of general banknotes and coins in special packaging.
Moreover, Cheong said that with the continuous development of e-payment and changes in people’s consumption patterns here, the bill proposes to list certain special circumstances that will exempt businesses from their statutory obligation to accept cash.
According to Cheong, the bill also proposes to lower the official maximum number of coins that a business must accept in a transaction from the current 100 to 50.
The current decree law on money issuance stipulates that in any payment, businesses are not obliged to receive more than 100 coins, regardless of the face value of the coins concerned.
The bill, according to Cheong, also proposes to fine businesses who refuse to accept legal tender, i.e., patacas. The bill proposes that violators will be fined between 1,000 and 10,000 patacas.
While the current decree law stipulates the statutory obligation for businesses to accept legal tender, such violations do not carry a fine.
Studying digital currency issuance
During Friday’s press conference, Lei Ho Ian, a member of the Administrative Committee of the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM), said that the local government has commenced a study on the feasibility of the issuance of digital currency in Macau, but for the time being it does not have a timetable as to when the digital pataca would get off the ground.
Lei said that while the development of a digital economy is the dominant trend which “certainly involves the use of intangible currency”, for the time being it was still too early to say whether Macau would roll out digital currency.
Nevertheless, according to Lei, the local government has concluded that Macau would need a new legal system on money issuance that covers digital currency.
According to Wikipedia, the digital renminbi, or Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), is a central bank digital currency issued by the People’s Bank of China. It is the first digital currency to be issued by a major economy, currently undergoing public testing. The digital renminbi is legal tender and has equivalent value of other forms of the yuan, such as banknotes and coins.
While the pataca is Macau’s only legal tender, the Hong Kong dollar has been the city’s customary tender for decades.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (right) and Lei Ho Ian, a member of the Administrative Committee of the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM), address Friday’s Executive Council press conference at Government Headquarters. – Photo courtesy of TDM
