2012/374/EU: Council Decision of 14 May 2012 on the conclusion of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Central African Republic on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber and derived products to the European Union (FLEGT)

The Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Central African Republic on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber and derived products to the European Union (FLEGT) (hereinafter ‘Agreement’) is approved on behalf of the Union. The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision.

The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate the person empowered on behalf of the European Union to make the notification provided for in Article 30 of the Agreement, in order to bind the Union.

The European Union shall be represented by representatives of the Commission in the Joint Agreement Implementation Committee set up in accordance with Article 19 of the Agreement. The Member States may participate in meetings of the Joint Agreement Implementation Committee as members of the European Union delegation.

For the purpose of amending the annexes to the Agreement in accordance with Article 26 thereof, the Commission is authorised, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community , to approve any such amendments on behalf of the European Union.

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

In accordance with the common commitment of the Parties to sustainably manage all types of forest, the objective of this Agreement is to provide a legal framework aimed at ensuring that all imports into the European Union from the CAR of the timber and derived products covered by this Agreement have been legally produced or acquired and, this being so, to promote the trade in said timber and derived products. This Agreement also provides a basis for dialogue and cooperation between the Parties aimed at facilitating and promoting its integral implementation and at strengthening the enforcement of forest regulations and governance.

For the purposes of this Agreement, the following definitions shall apply: (a)‘Import into the Union’the release for free circulation of timber and derived products into the Union within the meaning of Article 79 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code , and which cannot be qualified as ‘goods of a non-commercial nature’ as defined in point 6 of Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code ;(b)‘Export’the physical leaving or taking out of the territory of the CAR timber and derived products produced or acquired in the CAR, with the exception of timber and derived products in transit through the territory of the CAR under the control of the customs authorities of the CAR;(c)‘Timber and derived products’the products listed in Annex I;(d)‘HS code’a four- or six-digit code as set out in the nomenclature of the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System established by the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System of the World Customs Organisation, in conformity with the combined nomenclatures of the European Union and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC);(e)‘FLEGT licence’a licence that refers to the shipment of legally produced timber or derived products;(f)‘Licensing authority’the authority designated by the CAR to issue and validate FLEGT licences;(g)‘Competent authorities’the authorities designated by the Member States of the European Union to receive, accept and verify FLEGT licences;(h)‘Shipment’a quantity of timber and derived products covered by a FLEGT licence that is sent by a consignor and which is presented for release for free circulation at a customs office in the Union;(i)‘Timber that is legally produced or acquired’harvested or imported timber and derived products, produced in accordance with the legislation specified in Annex II.

1 A Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Licensing Scheme (hereinafter referred to as the ‘FLEGT licensing scheme’) is hereby established between the Parties to this Agreement. This scheme establishes a set of procedures and requirements aimed at verifying and attesting, by means of FLEGT licences, that timber and derived products shipped to the Union have been legally produced or acquired. In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005, the Union shall accept such shipments from the CAR for import into the Union only if they are covered by FLEGT licences.

2 The FLEGT licensing scheme shall apply to the timber and derived products listed in Annex I.

3 The Parties agree to take all measures necessary to implement the FLEGT licensing scheme, in accordance with Article 12 of this Agreement.

1 The CAR shall designate the FLEGT licensing authority and notify its contact details to the European Commission. Both Parties shall make this information available to the public.

2 The licensing authority shall verify that timber and derived products have been legally produced or acquired, in accordance with the legislation given in Annex II. It shall issue FLEGT licences covering shipments of timber and derived products that are legally produced or acquired in the CAR and destined for export to the Union and, where appropriate, the necessary documentation for timber and derived products in transit through the territory of the CAR under the control of the customs authorities of the CAR.

3 The licensing authority may not issue FLEGT licences for any timber and derived products that are composed of, or include, timber and derived products imported into the CAR from a third country in a form prohibited for export under the laws of the country concerned, or for which there is proof that this timber or these derived products have been produced or acquired in violation of the laws of the country where the trees were harvested.

4 The licensing authority shall maintain and make publicly available its procedures for issuing FLEGT licences. It shall also retain the records of all shipments covered by FLEGT licences and, in accordance with national data protection legislation, shall provide these records for the purposes of an independent audit, whilst preserving the confidentiality of the information on exporters’ industrial patent rights.

1 The European Commission shall inform the CAR of the contact details of the competent authorities designated by the Member States of the Union and their respective territorial areas of competence.

2 The competent authorities shall verify that each shipment is the subject of a valid FLEGT licence prior to releasing that shipment for free circulation in the Union. This release for free circulation may be suspended and the shipment held if there is any doubt as to the validity of the FLEGT licence. The procedures governing the release for free circulation in the Union of shipments covered by a FLEGT licence are described in Annex III.

3 The competent authorities shall maintain and publish annually a record of FLEGT licences received.

4 According to national legislation on data protection, the competent authorities shall grant the persons or bodies designated by the CAR as independent auditors access to the relevant documents and data.

5 The Union’s competent authorities shall refrain from undertaking the action described in Article 5(2) with regard to timber and derived products from species listed in the Appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) insofar as these products are covered by the examination procedures laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein . The FLEGT licensing scheme nevertheless provides an assurance that the products in question have been legally harvested.

1 FLEGT licences shall be issued by the licensing authority as a means of attesting that timber and derived products have been legally produced or acquired.

2 FLEGT licences shall be provided on a form written in French.

3 The Parties may, by agreement, establish electronic systems for the issuing, transmission and receipt of FLEGT licences.

4 The procedure for issuing FLEGT licences and the technical specifications are laid out in Annex IV.

For the purposes of this Agreement, a definition of timber that is legally produced or acquired is given in Annex II. This Annex sets out the CAR’s national regulations that must be complied with for timber and derived products to be given a FLEGT licence. It also includes documentation containing the criteria, indicators and verifiers serving to prove compliance with the regulations, known as the ‘legality matrix’.

1 The CAR shall establish one or more systems for verifying that timber and derived products intended for shipment have been legally produced or acquired and that only shipments verified as such are exported to the Union. The system or systems for verifying legality shall include compliance checks in order to provide an assurance that the timber and derived products destined for export to the Union have been legally produced or acquired, and that FLEGT licences have not been issued for shipments of timber and derived products that have not been legally produced or acquired, or that are of unknown origin. The system or systems shall also include procedures to ensure that timber of illegal or unknown origin does not enter the supply chain.

2 The system or systems for verifying that shipments of timber and derived products have been legally produced or acquired is/are described in Annex V.

1 In the event of doubt about the validity of a FLEGT licence, the competent authority in question may ask the licensing authority for additional information.

2 If the licensing authority fails to reply within 21 calendar days of the date of receipt of the request, the competent authority shall proceed pursuant to the national legislation in force and shall not accept the licence. If it emerges from the additional information that the information appearing on the licence does not correspond to the shipment, the competent authority shall act pursuant to the national legislation in force and shall not accept the licence.

3 In the event of disagreement or persistent difficulties in consultations regarding FLEGT licences, the case may be submitted to the Joint Implementation Committee.

1 The CAR shall engage the services of an independent auditor, in consultation with the Union, for the purposes of the tasks listed in Annex VI.

2 The independent auditor shall be a body with no conflict of interest resulting from an organisational or commercial relationship with the Union or with the CAR’s forestry sector regulatory authorities, its licensing authority or any body given the responsibility of verifying the legality of timber production, or any operator exercising a commercial activity in its forestry sector.

3 The independent auditor shall operate in accordance with a documented management structure, and with published policies, methods and procedures that correspond to internationally accepted best practices.

4 The independent auditor shall refer complaints arising from its work to the Joint Implementation Committee.

5 The independent auditor shall regularly produce the full and summary reports noted in Annex VI.

6 The Parties shall facilitate the work of the independent auditor, ensuring in particular that it has access to the territory of each Party to the information necessary for the performance of its functions. In accordance with their respective national legislation on data protection, the Parties may nonetheless refrain from disclosing information that they are not permitted to communicate.

The Parties shall inform each other of their suspicions or observations with regard to any circumvention of, or irregularity in, the FLEGT licensing scheme, in particular regarding: (a) a circumvention of trade, particularly via the redirection of trade from the CAR to the Union via a third country when there is reason to believe that this is done with the intention of avoiding licensing; (b) FLEGT licences being issued for timber and derived products that include imports of suspect sources from third countries; or (c) fraud in the obtaining or use of FLEGT licences.

1 The Parties shall notify each other through the Joint Implementation Committee when they feel they have made the necessary preparations for the FLEGT licensing scheme to become fully operational.

2 The Parties shall, through the Joint Implementation Committee, commission an independent evaluation of the FLEGT licensing scheme on the basis of the criteria set out in Annex VII. The evaluation shall determine whether the legality assurance system (LAS) underpinning the FLEGT licensing scheme as described in Annex V adequately fulfils its functions and whether the systems in place for receiving, verifying and accepting licences, as set out in Article 5 and Annex III, are in place in the Union.

3 On the basis of the recommendations of the Joint Implementation Committee, the two Parties shall agree on a date on which the FLEGT licensing scheme should commence full operations.

4 The two Parties shall consider the recommendation and notify each other in writing of their approval of the recommendation.

The CAR shall use the legality assurance system or systems described in Annex V for timber and derived products exported to markets outside of the Union.

1 The Parties agree to the implementation schedule set out in Annex VIII.

2 Through the Joint Implementation Committee, the Parties shall evaluate progress made in implementation with reference to the schedule set out in Annex VIII.

1 The Parties have identified the areas referred to in Annex IX as those in which there is a need for additional technical and financial resources in order to implement this Agreement.

2 The provision of such additional resources shall be subject to the normal procedures of the Union and its Member States for programming aid to the CAR and to the budgetary procedures of the CAR itself.

3 The Parties shall envisage the need for a joint arrangement whereby the financing and technical contributions of the European Commission and the Member States of the Union are coordinated to support these processes.

4 The CAR shall ensure that capacity building for the implementation of this Agreement is included in national planning instruments, such as the poverty reduction strategies.

5 The Parties shall ensure that activities associated with implementation of this Agreement are coordinated with the relevant development programmes and initiatives, current or future.

6 The provision of these resources shall be subject to the procedures governing Union aid, as set out in the Cotonou Agreement, and to those governing the bilateral aid given to the CAR by each of the Union’s Member States.

1 The CAR shall involve the stakeholders in implementation of this Agreement, in accordance with the guidelines of the Central Africa Forests Commission on the involvement of non-governmental organisations, local communities and indigenous peoples.

2 The Union shall hold regular consultations with the European stakeholders on the implementation of this Agreement, bearing in mind its obligations under the 1998 Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in the decision-making process and access to justice in environmental matters.

1 In order to minimise possible adverse impact, the Parties agree to develop a better understanding of the livelihoods of potentially affected local and indigenous communities, including those engaged in illegal logging.

2 The Parties shall monitor the impact of this Agreement on those communities, taking reasonable and appropriate steps to mitigate any adverse impact. The Parties may agree additional measures to counter any such adverse impact.

Bearing in mind its international obligations, the Union shall strive to promote favourable access to its market for the timber and derived products covered by this Agreement. Such efforts shall include: (a) the encouragement of public and private procurement policies that recognise efforts to ensure a supply of legally harvested forest products; and (b) the promotion of FLEGT-licensed timber and derived products on the Union’s market.

1 The Parties shall establish a Joint Implementation Committee to facilitate the monitoring and review of this Agreement.

2 Each Party shall appoint its representatives to the Joint Implementation Committee. The Committee shall take its decisions by a consensus.

3 The Joint Implementation Committee shall facilitate dialogue and an effective and regular exchange of information between the Parties in order to optimise the functioning of this Agreement, and may consider any issues relating to its effective operation. The detailed functions of the Joint Implementation Committee are given in Annex X.

4 The Joint Implementation Committee: (a) shall meet at least once a year on a date agreed by the Parties; (b) shall produce the agenda and terms of reference for joint actions on a collegiate basis; (c) shall establish its own rules of procedure; (d) shall preside over its meetings either in turns, by representatives of each Party, or by a co-chair arrangement; (e) shall ensure that its work is as transparent as possible and that information concerning its work and its decisions is accessible to the public; (f) may establish working groups or other subsidiary bodies for areas of work requiring specific expertise.

5 The Joint Implementation Committee shall publish an annual report. Details regarding the content of this report can be found in Annex XI.

6 In the period between signing of this Agreement and its entry into force, a joint consultation and review mechanism shall be established in order to facilitate the implementation of this Agreement.

1 The representatives of the Parties responsible for official communications concerning implementation of this Agreement are: (a) for the CAR: the Minister for Water, Forests, Hunting and Fisheries; (b) for the European Union: the Head of the EU Delegation in the CAR.

2 The Parties shall provide each other with the necessary information to implement this Agreement.

1 Provision of information to the public is a key element in strengthening governance under this Agreement. Publishing information facilitates the implementation and monitoring of the system by making it more transparent. The provision of information also enables better accountability and greater responsibility on the part of the different actors involved. The information to be disclosed and made public is listed in Annex XI.

2 Each Party shall consider the most appropriate mechanisms (media, documents, Internet, workshops, annual reports) by which to disseminate the information to the public. In particular, the Parties shall endeavour to make reliable and relevant information available to the different stakeholders involved in the forestry sector in real time. These mechanisms are described in Annex XI.

1 Each Party undertakes, within the limits of its laws, not to disclose confidential information exchanged under this Agreement. Neither Party shall disclose to the public, nor permit its authorities to disclose, information exchanged under this Agreement that constitutes a trade secret or confidential commercial information.

2 Subject to paragraph 1, the following information shall not be considered confidential: (a) the number of FLEGT licences issued by the CAR and received by the Union and the volume of timber and derived products exported from the CAR and received by the Union; (b) the names and addresses of licence holders and importers.

This Agreement shall apply to the territory in which the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union is applied under the conditions laid down in that Treaty, on the one hand, and to the territory of the CAR, on the other.

1 The Parties shall endeavour to resolve any dispute concerning the application or interpretation of this Agreement by means of prompt consultations.

2 If a dispute has not been settled by consultation within three months from the date of the initial consultation request, each Party may submit the dispute to the Joint Implementation Committee, which shall endeavour to resolve it. The Committee shall obtain all information relevant to an in-depth examination of the situation with a view to finding an acceptable solution. To this end, it is required to examine all possible ways of maintaining the good functioning of this Agreement.

3 In the event that the Joint Implementation Committee cannot resolve the dispute, the Parties may: (a) jointly seek the good offices of, or request mediation by, a third Party; (b) go to arbitration. In the event that it is not possible to resolve the dispute in accordance with paragraph 3(a), either Party may notify the other of the appointment of an arbitrator; the other Party must then appoint a second arbitrator within 30 calendar days of the appointment of the first arbitrator. The Parties shall jointly appoint a third arbitrator within two months of the appointment of the second arbitrator. The arbitrators’ decisions shall be taken by a majority vote within six months of the appointment of the third arbitrator. The arbitrators’ decisions shall be binding on the Parties, and shall be without appeal.

4 The Joint Implementation Committee shall establish the methods of arbitration.

1 Either Party may suspend the application of this Agreement. The decision to suspend and the reasons for that decision shall be notified to the other Party in writing.

2 The conditions of this Agreement shall cease to apply 30 calendar days after such notice is given.

3 Application of this Agreement shall resume 30 calendar days after the Party that has suspended it informs the other Party that the reasons for the suspension no longer apply.

1 Either Party wishing to amend this Agreement shall submit the proposal at least three months before the next meeting of the Joint Implementation Committee. The Committee shall discuss the proposal and, if consensus is reached, make a recommendation. Each Party shall consider the recommendation and, if it agrees, approve it in accordance with its own procedures.

2 Any amendment thus approved by both Parties shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which the Parties notify each other of the completion of the procedures necessary for this purpose.

3 The Joint Implementation Committee may adopt amendments to the Annexes to this Agreement.

4 Notification of any amendment shall be sent to the joint depositaries for this Agreement.

The Annexes shall form an integral part of this Agreement.

This Agreement shall remain in force for a period of six years and shall be extended for consecutive periods of six years unless a Party renounces the extension by notifying the other Party in writing at least one year prior to the expiry of this Agreement.

Notwithstanding Article 28, either Party may terminate this Agreement by notifying the other Party. This Agreement shall cease to apply 12 months after the date of the said notification.

1 This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following that in which the Parties notify each other in writing of the completion of the procedures necessary for this purpose.

2 Notification shall be sent to the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and to the Office of the CAR’s Prime Minister, who shall be the joint depositaries for this Agreement.

This Agreement shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, each of these texts being authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the French version shall prevail.

1 The FLEGT licence (hereinafter the ‘licence’) shall be submitted to the competent authority of the Member State in which the shipment covered by that licence is declared for release for free circulation .

2 Once a licence has been accepted, the competent authorities indicated in paragraph 1 shall inform the customs authorities, in accordance with current national procedures.

1 Paper-based licences shall conform to the format set out in Annex IV.

2 A licence submitted on a date past its expiry date shall be considered null and void.

3 The licence may not include any deletions or alterations, unless these have been validated by the licensing authority.

4 The extension of the validity of a licence shall not be accepted unless that extension has been validated by the licensing authority.

5 A duplicate or replacement licence shall not be accepted unless it has been issued and validated by the licensing authority.

1 In case of doubt concerning a FLEGT licence, a duplicate or replacement, the competent authority may request additional information from the licensing authority.

2 A copy of the licence, duplicate or replacement in question may be forwarded together with the request.

1 Checks shall be conducted by the competent authorities, as appropriate, to ensure that the shipment actually complies with the corresponding licence.

2 If the competent authorities consider it necessary to further verify the shipment, checks may be carried out to establish whether the shipment in question conforms to the information provided in the licence and to the records relating to the licence in question which are held by the licensing authority.

3 Where the volume or weight of the timber products contained in the shipment presented for release for free circulation does not deviate by more than 10 % from the volume or weight indicated in the corresponding licence, the shipment shall be considered as conforming to the information provided in the licence insofar as volume or weight is concerned.

4 The costs entailed in these checks shall be the responsibility of the importer, unless the national legislation of the Member States in question states otherwise.

A licence lodged prior to the arrival of the shipment it accompanies may be accepted if it satisfies all the requirements stated in Annex IV and if it is not considered necessary to undertake additional checks in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of this Annex.

1 Reference shall be made, in Box 44 of the Single Administrative Document on which the customs declaration for release for free circulation appears, to the number of the licence covering the timber and derived products subject to this declaration. Where the customs declaration is made via an electronic procedure, the reference shall be provided in the appropriate box.

2 The timber and derived products shall only be released for free circulation when the procedure described in this Annex has been completed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Applications submitted by companies shall be recorded by the licensing authority, which shall, in return, send acknowledgement of receipt.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Licences in paper form shall comply with the format set out in Appendix 1.

The paper to be used shall weigh 120 grams/m2. 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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.