Article 12
Places of introduction and export
1. Member States shall designate customs offices for carrying out the checks and formalities for the introduction into and export from the Community, in order to assign to them a customs-approved treatment or use, within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, of specimens of species covered by this Regulation and shall state which offices are specifically intended to deal with live specimens.
2. All offices designated in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be provided with sufficient and adequately trained staff. Member States shall ensure that accommodation is provided in accordance with relevant Community legislation as regards the transport and accommodation of live animals and that, where necessary, adequate steps are taken for live plants.
3. All offices designated in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be notified to the Commission which shall publish a list of them in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
4. In exceptional cases and in accordance with criteria defined under the procedure laid down in Article 18, a management authority may authorize the introduction into the Community or the export or re-export therefrom at a customs office other than one designated in accordance with paragraph 1.
5. Member States shall ensure that at border crossing-points the public are informed of the implementing provisions of this Regulation.

Article 13
Management and scientific authorities and other competent authorities
1. (a) Each Member State shall designate a management authority with primary responsibility for implementation of this Regulation and for communication with the Commission.
(b) Each Member State may also designate additional management authorities and other competent authorities to assist in implementation, in which case the primary management authority shall be responsible for providing the additional authorities with all the information required for correct application of this Regulation.
2. Each Member State shall designate one or more scientific authorities with appropriate qualifications whose duties shall be separate from those of any designated management authority.
3. (a) Not later than three months before the date of application of this Regulation, Member States shall forward the names and addresses of the designated management authorities, other authorities competent to issue permits or certificates and scientific authorities to the Commission, which shall publish this information in the Official Journal of the European Communities within a month.
(b) Each management authority referred to in paragraph 1 (a) shall, if so requested by the Commission, communicate to it within two months the names and specimen signatures of people authorized to sign permits or certificates, and impressions of the stamps, seals or other devices used to authenticate permits or certificates.
(c) Member States shall communicate to the Commission any changes in the information already provided, not later than two months after the implementation of such change.

Article 14
Monitoring of compliance and investigation of infringements
1. (a) The competent authorities of the Member States shall monitor compliance with the provisions of this Regulation.
(b) If, at any time, the competent authorities have reason to believe that these provisions are being infringed, they shall take the appropriate steps to ensure compliance or to instigate legal action.
(c) Member States shall inform the Commission and, in the case of species listed in the Appendices to the Convention, the Convention Secretariat of any steps taken by the competent authorities in relation to significant infringements of this Regulation, including seizures and confiscations.
2. The Commission shall draw the attention of the competent authorities of the Member States to matters whose investigation it considers necessary under this Regulation. Member States shall inform the Commission and, in the case of species listed in the Appendices to the Convention, the Convention Secretariat of the outcome of any subsequent investigation.
3. (a) An enforcement group shall be established consisting of the representatives of each Member State's authorities with responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the provisions of this Regulation. The group shall be chaired by the representative of the Commission.
(b) The enforcement group shall examine any technical question relating to the enforcement of this Regulation raised by the chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request of the members of the group or the committee.
(c) The Commission shall convey the opinions expressed in the enforcement group to the committee.

Article 15
Communication of information
1. The Member States and the Commission shall communicate to one another the information necessary for implementing this Regulation.
The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that the necessary steps are taken to make the public aware and inform it of the provisions regarding implementation of the Convention and of this Regulation and of the latter's implementing measures.
2. The Commission shall communicate with the Convention Secretariat so as to ensure that the Convention is effectively implemented throughout the territory to which this Regulation applies.
3. The Commission shall immediately communicate any advice from the Scientific Review Group to the management authorities of the Member States concerned.
4. (a) The management authorities of the Member States shall communicate to the Commission before 15 June each year all the information relating to the preceding year required for drawing up the reports referred to in Article VIII.7 (a) of the Convention and equivalent information on international trade in all specimens of species listed in Annexes A, B and C and on introduction into the Community of specimens of species listed in Annex D. The information to be communicated and the format for its presentation shall be specified by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 18.
(b) On the basis of the information referred to in (a), the Commission shall publish before 31 October each year a statistical report on the introduction into, and the export and re-export from, the Community of specimens of the species to which this Regulation applies and shall forward to the Convention Secretariat information on the species to which the Convention applies.
(c) Without prejudice to Article 20, the management authorities of the Member States shall, before 15 June of each second year, and for the first time in 1999, communicate to the Commission all the information relating to the preceding two years required for drawing up the reports referred to in Article VIII.7 (b) of the Convention and equivalent information on the provisions of this Regulation that fall outside the scope of the Convention. The information to be communicated and the format for its presentation shall be specified by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 18.
(d) On the basis of the information referred to in (c), the Commission shall, before 31 October of each second year, and for the first time in 1999, draw up a report on the implementation and enforcement of this Regulation.
5. With a view to the preparation of amendments to the Annexes, the competent authorities of the Member States shall forward all relevant information to the Commission. The Commission shall specify the information required, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 18.
6. In accordance with Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment (7), the Commission shall take appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality of information obtained in implementation of this Regulation.

Article 16
Sanctions
1. Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure the imposition of sanctions for at least the following infringements of this Regulation:
(a) introduction into, or export or re-export from, the Community of specimens without the appropriate permit or certificate or with a false, falsified or invalid permit or certificate or one altered without authorization by the issuing authority;
(b) failure to comply with the stipulations specified on a permit or certificate issued in accordance with this Regulation;
(c) making a false declaration or knowingly providing false information in order to obtain a permit or certificate;
(d) using a false, falsified or invalid permit or certificate or one altered without authorization as a basis for obtaining a Community permit or certificate or for any other official purpose in connection with this Regulation;
(e) making no import notification or a false import notification;
(f) shipment of live specimens not properly prepared so as to minimize the risk of injury, damage to health or cruel treatment;
(g) use of specimens of species listed in Annex A other than in accordance with the authorization given at the time of issuance of the import permit or subsequently;
(h) trade in artificially propagated plants contrary to the provisions laid down in accordance with Article 7(1)(b);
(i) shipment of specimens into or out of or in transit through the territory of the Community without the appropriate permit or certificate issued in accordance with this Regulation and, in the case of export or re-export from a third country party to the Convention, in accordance therewith, or without satisfactory proof of the existence of such permit or certificate;
(j) purchase, offer to purchase, acquisition for commercial purposes, use for commercial gain, display to the public for commercial purposes, sale, keeping for sale, offering for sale or transporting for sale of specimens in contravention of Article 8;
(k) use of a permit or certificate for any specimen other than one for which it was issued;
(l) falsification or alteration of any permit or certificate issued in accordance with this Regulation;
(m) failure to disclose rejection of an application for a Community import, export or re-export permit or certificate, in accordance with Article 6 (3).
2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be appropriate to the nature and gravity of the infringement and shall include provisions relating to the seizure and, where appropriate, confiscation of specimens.
3. Where a specimen is confiscated, it shall be entrusted to a competent authority of the Member State of confiscation which:
(a) following consultation with a scientific authority of that Member State, shall place or otherwise dispose of the specimen under conditions which it deems to be appropriate and consistent with the purposes and provisions of the Convention and this Regulation; and
(b) in the case of a live specimen which has been introduced into the Community, may, after consultation with the State of export, return the specimen to that State at the expense of the convicted person.

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