Article 12
1. The Community authority may issue a Community certificate to an exporter when it has established that: (a) the exporter has provided conclusive evidence that the rough diamonds for which a certificate is being requested were lawfully imported in accordance with the provisions of Article 3; (b) the other information requested on the certificate is correct; (c) the rough diamonds are effectively destined for arrival in the territory of a participant, and (d) the rough diamonds are to be transported in a tamper-resistant container. 2. A Community authority shall not validate a Community certificate until it has verified that the content of the container matches the particulars on the corresponding certificate and that the tamper-resistant container containing the rough diamonds has subsequently been sealed on the responsibility of that authority. 3. A Community authority shall opt for either of the following methods to verify that the content of a container matches the particulars thereon on the certificate: (a) it will verify the content of each container; or (b) it will identify the containers, the content of which shall be verified, on the basis of a risk analysis or equivalent system that gives due consideration to rough diamond shipments. 4. The Community authority shall provide the exporter with an authenticated forgery-resistant copy of the Community certificate it has validated. The exporter shall keep any copy accessible for at least three years. 5. The Community certificate shall be valid for export for no more than two months from the date of issue. If the rough diamonds are not exported within this period, the Community certificate shall be returned to the issuing Community authority.