§474A — Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code

Summary

Having or keeping certain imitation materials for U.S. obligations or securities is a federal crime punishable as a class B felony. If the Treasury Secretary adopts a special paper for U.S. obligations, you can be charged if you possess similar paper suited to making those obligations without the Secretary’s permission. If the Secretary publishes a special anti‑counterfeit feature in the Federal Register, possessing an essentially identical feature without permission is also a class B felony. Distinctive paper = any medium used to make currency (for example, wood pulp, rag, plastic, or other fibers). Distinctive counterfeit deterrent = inks, watermarks, seals, security threads, optically variable devices, or other features that the U.S. exclusively owns or that are not commercially available/public and that the Secretary says are needed to prevent counterfeiting.

Title 18, §474A

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever has in his control or possession, after a distinctive paper has been adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury for the obligations and other securities of the United States, any similar paper adapted to the making of any such obligation or other security, except under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, is guilty of a class B felony.

(b)Whoever has in his control or possession, after a distinctive counterfeit deterrent has been adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury for the obligations and other securities of the United States by publication in the Federal Register, any essentially identical feature or device adapted to the making of any such obligation or security, except under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, is guilty of a class B felony.

(c)As used in this section—

(1)the term “distinctive paper” includes any distinctive medium of which currency is made, whether of wood pulp, rag, plastic substrate, or other natural or artificial fibers or materials; and

(2)the term “distinctive counterfeit deterrent” includes any ink, watermark, seal, security thread, optically variable device, or other feature or device;

(A)in which the United States has an exclusive property interest; or

(B)which is not otherwise in commercial use or in the public domain and which the Secretary designates as being necessary in preventing the counterfeiting of obligations or other securities of the United States.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 104–208, §§ 101(f) [title VI, § 648(a)] and 2603(a), amended section identically, substituting “class B felony” for “class C felony”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–208 effective Sept. 30, 1996, and to remain in effect for each fiscal year following Sept. 30, 1996, see section 101(f) [title VI, § 648(c)] of Pub. L. 104–208, set out as a note under section 474 of this title.

§474A Deterrents to Counterfeiting of Obligations and Securities