
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 31USC5120]

 
                       TITLE 31--MONEY AND FINANCE
 
                           SUBTITLE IV--MONEY
 
                     CHAPTER 51--COINS AND CURRENCY
 
                    SUBCHAPTER II--GENERAL AUTHORITY
 
Sec. 5120. Obsolete, mutilated, and worn coins and currency

    (a)(1) The Secretary of the Treasury shall melt obsolete and worn 
United States coins withdrawn from circulation. The Secretary may use 
the metal from melting the coins for reminting or may sell the metal. 
The Secretary shall account for the following in the coinage metal fund 
under section 5111(b) of this title:
        (A) obsolete and worn coins and the metal from melting the 
    coins.
        (B) proceeds from the sale of the metal.
        (C) losses incurred in the sale of the metal.
        (D) losses incurred because of the difference between the face 
    value of the coins melted and the coins minted from the metal.

    (2) The Secretary shall reimburse the coinage metal fund for losses 
under paragraph (1)(C) and (D) of this subsection out of amounts in the 
coinage profit fund under section 5111(b) of this title.
    (b) The Secretary shall--
        (1) cancel and destroy (by a secure process) obsolete, 
    mutilated, and worn United States currency withdrawn from 
    circulation; and
        (2) dispose of the residue of the currency and notes.

    (c) The Comptroller General shall audit the cancellation and 
destruction of United States currency and the accounting of the 
cancellation and destruction. Records the Comptroller General considers 
necessary to make an effective audit easier shall be made available to 
the Comptroller General.

(Pub. L. 97-258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 986.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
           Revised Section                   Source (U.S. Code)                
Source (Statutes at Large)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
5120(a)..............................  31:317c.                        Dec. 18,
 1942, ch. 767, Sec.  3, 56 Stat.
                                                                        1065; J
uly 23, 1965, Pub. L. 89-81, Sec.
                                                                         203(a)
, 79 Stat. 256.
5120(b)..............................  31:421.                         R.S. Sec
.  3581.
                                       31:422.                         June 23,
 1874, ch. 455, Sec.  1(3d par.
                                                                        under h
eading ``National Currency''), 18
                                                                        Stat. 2
06.
5120(c)..............................  31:49a.                         May 20, 
1966, Pub. L. 89-427, Sec.  5, 80
                                                                        Stat. 1
61.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------

    In subsection (a)(1), before clause (A), the word ``obsolete'' is 
substituted for ``uncurrent'' as being more precise. The words 
``withdrawn from circulation'' are substituted for ``received in the 
Treasury'' for clarity. The words ``heretofore or hereafter issued'' are 
omitted as surplus. The words ``metal from melting the coins'' are 
substituted for ``the resulting metal'' because of the restatement. The 
word ``reminting'' is substituted for ``coinage'' for consistency in the 
revised title. The word ``material'' is omitted as being included in 
``metal''. The words ``The Secretary shall account'' are substituted for 
``shall be accounted for by entries'' because of the source provisions 
restated in section 321 of the revised title. In clause (D), the word 
``face'' is substituted for ``nominal or face'' to eliminate unnecessary 
words. The words ``coins minted from the metal'' are substituted for 
``the amount the same will produce in new coin'' for clarity.
    In subsection (a)(2), the words ``The Secretary shall reimburse'' 
are substituted for ``fund shall be reimbursed'' because of the source 
provisions restated in section 321 of the revised title. The text of 
31:317c(proviso) is omitted as obsolete because the statutory limit on 
the coinage metal fund was removed by the restatement of section 3528 of 
the Revised Statutes by section 206(a) of the Coinage Act of 1965 (Pub. 
L. 89-81, 79 Stat. 256).
    In subsection (b), before clause (1), the words ``The Secretary 
shall'' are substituted for ``shall be destroyed in such manner and 
under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe'' 
in 31:421 because of the source provisions restated in section 321 of 
the revised title. In clause (1), the words ``cancel and destroy'' are 
substituted for ``shall be destroyed'' to conform to subsection (c) and 
section 5118(c) and (e) of the revised title. The words ``(by a secure 
process)'' are substituted for ``may be destroyed by maceration instead 
of burning to ashes'' in 31:422 to eliminate unnecessary words and 
because of the source provisions restated in section 321 of the revised 
title. The words ``obsolete, mutilated, and worn . . . withdrawn from 
circulation'' are substituted for ``which by law are required to be 
taken up, and not reissued, when taken up'' in 31:421 for consistency 
with subsection (a) and 12:124. The words ``United States currency'' are 
substituted for ``all other notes'' in 31:421 and ``All national bank 
notes . . . and other obligations of the United States'' for consistency 
in the revised title. The words ``Mutilated United States notes, when 
replaced according to law'' are omitted as superseded by the source 
provisions restated in section 5119(b) of the revised title. The text of 
the 3d paragraph(words before the first semicolon and between the 2d and 
last semicolons) under the heading ``National Currency'' in section 1 of 
the Act of June 23, 1874 (ch. 455, 18 Stat. 206), is omitted as 
executed. In clause (2), the words ``dispose of the residue of the 
currency and notes'' are substituted for ``The pulp from such macerated 
issue shall be disposed of only under the direction of the Secretary of 
the Treasury'' in 31:422 to eliminate unnecessary words and for 
consistency in the revised title.
    In subsection (c), the word ``currency'' is substituted for 
``currency . . . unfit for circulation'' to eliminate unnecessary words. 
The words ``regardless of who is responsible for, and regardless of who 
performs, such cancellation, destruction, or accounting'' are omitted as 
unnecessary because of the restatement. The word ``record'' is 
substituted for ``books, documents, papers, and records'', and the words 
``make . . . easier'' are substituted for ``facilitate'', for 
consistency in the revised title and with other titles of the United 
States Code.


        Termination of Coinage Profit Fund and Coinage Metal Fund

    All assets and liabilities of Coinage Profit Fund and Coinage Metal 
Fund transferred to United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund and both 
coinage funds to cease to exist as separate funds as their activities 
and functions are subsumed under and subject to United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund, see section 5136 of this title.
