ANNEX IVSupplementary provisions
ANNEX IV CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE ISSUING OF AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR FLEGT LICENCES SECTION 1 FORMALITIES RELATING TO FLEGT LICENCE APPLICATIONS Article 1 Any timber company from the CAR that would like to export the products of its logging, processing or business activities to the Union is required to have a FLEGT licence for each shipment of timber products and for each destination in the Union. The FLEGT licence is a way of ensuring that timber and derived products have been legally produced. Article 2 A licence is issued following written request, in hard copy format, sent to the licensing authority. The licence application must enable all the information noted in Appendix I to this Annex to be complete. The licence application must be submitted on a standard template that will be circulated by the forest administration. Article 3 The licensing authority is a body appointed by the Minister for Forests and under his authority. The body is attached to the Minister’s office but is not a delegated function. It is a full structure in its own right. The composition and powers of this licensing authority shall be defined by an order from the Minister of Forests, to be issued during the Agreement implementation stage. Article 4 The application must state in its subject line ‘FLEGT licence application’. It must include the name of the concession, the number of the concession given on the forest register, the date of the application and the applicant’s signature. The applicant must expressly indicate if he wishes to receive the FLEGT licence in Douala. For logs, the applicant must also indicate the forest management unit (UFG). The application must clearly define the nature, origin, volume and destination of the product in question. This application must be supported by the following customs documentation: — specification document from the body responsible for securing export revenue (BIVAC); — commercial export declaration (DEC); — EUR.1 form; — customs clearance receipt (exit fees, minimum set tax, fee for equipment in financial computer tools). The FLEGT licence application form shall be defined during the development of the legality assurance system (LAS) and then communicated by the licensing authority to interested parties, in particular exporters, and published. Article 5 The application references shall be held in the files of the applicant company and must be the same as those submitted to the office of the licensing authority. Article 6 Applications submitted by companies shall be recorded by the licensing authority, which shall, in return, send acknowledgement of receipt. Article 7 Documents submitted by the applicant company (application form correctly filled in and customs documents referred to in Article 4 of this Annex) shall be passed on to the Central Inspectorate for Water and Forests (ICEF), which shall verify the legality of the shipment for which the licensing application has been made and issue an opinion with regard to its compliance. The verification procedures to be followed are described in Annex V. ICEF verification is compulsory. Article 8 With reference to the ICEF recommendation, the licensing authority then issues: — when the authorisation is sent to Douala, notification of prior acceptance within a reduced overall timeframe, around two working days from receipt of application, if the shipment in question is verified to be legal, according to the procedure described in Annex V; — when the authorisation is sent to Bangui, the licence within a reduced overall timeframe, around two working days from receipt of the application, if the shipment in question is verified to be legal, according to the procedure described in Annex V. The procedure followed in case of non-compliance is set out in Annex V. The verification results are communicated to the company and filed by the Forestry Data Centre (CDF) along with copies of the licences issued. A record is kept to this effect by the licensing authority. The formalities for FLEGT licence applications shall be scrutinised during the development of the LAS and then communicated by the licensing authority to interested parties, in particular potential exporters, and published. SECTION 2 REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO FLEGT LICENCES Article 9 A FLEGT licence may be in paper or electronic form. The licence shall provide the information specified in Appendix 1, in accordance with the notes for guidance set out in Appendix 2. Article 10 The FLEGT licence shall be valid from the day it is issued. The period of validity of the FLEGT licence shall be six months. The date of expiry shall be indicated on the licence. After its expiry, the FLEGT licence shall be considered as void. In the case of duly noted ‘ force majeure ’, a new application shall be made to the FLEGT licensing authority. In the event that the timber products in question have been destroyed, a FLEGT licence shall cease to be valid and shall be returned to the licensing authority. Article 11 Licences in paper form shall comply with the format set out in Appendix 1. Article 12 The paper to be used shall weigh 120 grams/m 2 . The paper size shall be 21/29 cm (A4). The colour of the paper used for the form shall be as follows: — white for Form No 1, the ‘original’; — yellow for Form No 2, the ‘copy for the Union customs authority’; — green for Form No 3, the ‘copy for the Central African Republic’s customs authority’; — blue for Form No 4, the ‘copy for the licensing authority’. Article 13 Licences shall be completed in typescript or by computerised means. They shall be signed by hand. The stamps of the licensing authority shall be applied by means of a metal stamp, preferably made of steel. However, an embossing press combined with letters or figures obtained by means of perforation may be substituted for the licensing authority stamp. The licensing authority shall use any tamper-proof method to record the quantity allocated in such a way as to make it impossible to insert figures or references. The form may not contain any deletions or alterations, unless they have been authenticated by the stamp and signature of the licensing authority. Licences shall be printed and completed in French. Article 14 The licence shall be drawn up in four copies, two of which shall be issued to the applicant. Once filled in, initialled, signed and dated by the licensing authority: — the first copy, marked ‘Original’, shall be given to the applicant for submission to the competent authorities of the Union’s Member State in which the shipment covered by that licence is declared for release for free circulation; — the second copy, marked ‘Copy for the Union customs authority’, shall be given to the applicant for submission to the customs authority of the Member State of the Union in which the shipment covered by the licence is declared for release for free circulation; — the third copy, marked ‘Copy for the CAR customs authority’, shall be given to the CAR customs authority; — the fourth copy, marked ‘Copy for the licensing authority’, shall be filed with the CDF by the licensing authority. SECTION 3 FLEGT LICENCE LOST, STOLEN OR DESTROYED Article 15 In the event of loss, theft or destruction of the ‘original’ and/or the ‘copy for the Union customs authority’, the licence holder or his authorised representative may apply to the licensing authority for a replacement on the basis of the document(s) in his possession or submitted during the FLEGT licence application. In the event of loss, theft or destruction of the ‘copy for the CAR customs authority’, the licence holder or his authorised representative may apply to the licensing authority for a replacement. The licensing authority shall issue the replacement(s) within 24 hours of receipt of the request from the licence holder. The replacements shall contain all the information and entries appearing on the licence they replace, including the licence number. The replacement document(s) shall bear the endorsement ‘duplicate’. If the replacement document is lost, stolen or destroyed, no further replacement documents can be issued. If the lost or stolen licence is retrieved, it shall be null and void and must be returned to the licensing authority. SECTION 4 DOUBTS REGARDING THE VALIDITY OF A FLEGT LICENCE Article 16 Where there is doubt regarding the validity of the licence or a replacement, the competent authorities may ask for additional information from the licensing authority. If considered necessary, the licensing authority may ask the competent authority to send a copy of the licence or the replacement in question. If the licensing authority considers it necessary, it shall withdraw the licence and issue a corrected copy bearing the endorsement ‘duplicate’, authenticated with its seal, and forward this to the competent authority. If the validity of the licence is confirmed, the licensing authority shall notify the competent authority forthwith, preferably by electronic means, and return the copies of the licence. The copies returned shall bear the endorsement ‘Validated on …’, validated/authenticated by stamp. In the event that the licence in question is not valid, the licensing authority shall notify the competent authority, preferably by electronic means.