Commission Regulation (EU) No 791/2012 of 23 August 2012 amending, as regards certain provisions relating to the trade in species of wild fauna and flora, Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein (1), and in particular Article 19(2), (3) and (4) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In order to implement certain Resolutions adopted at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), hereinafter ‘the Convention’, certain provisions should be amended and further provisions should be added to Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 of 4 May 2006 laying down detailed rules concerning the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein (2).

(2) Experience gained in the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 has shown that some provisions therein should be amended in order to ensure that that Regulation is implemented in a harmonised and efficient manner within the Union.

(3) Therefore, provisions relating to the conditions applying to the identification and marking of specimens, the retrospective issue of certain documents, the conditions under which personal ownership certificates can be issued, the regime applying to personal and household effects within the Union as well to their re-export, the conditions under which ‘Annex A’ specimens can be subject to commercial activities within the Union, and the conditions applying to pre-issued certificates, should be changed.

(4) Articles 2 and 3 as well as Annexes I to VI to Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 should be deleted from that Regulation as they will become an integral part of a new Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012 (3), adopted under Article 19(1) of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 further to the entry into force of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (4).

(5) At the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the standard references for nomenclature, to be used to indicate scientific names of species in permits and certificates, were updated. Those changes should therefore be reflected in Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 865/2006.

(6) Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 is amended as follows:

(1) in the preamble, the sentence relating to the legal basis of Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 is replaced by the following: ‘Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein(1), and in particular Article 19(2), (3) and (4) thereof, (1) OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1.’;"

(4) in Article 5a, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘In case of plant specimens that cease to qualify for an exemption from the provisions of the Convention or Regulation (EC) No 338/97 in accordance with the “Notes on the interpretation of Annexes A, B, C and D” in the Annex thereto, under which they were legally exported and imported, the country to be indicated in box 15 of the forms in Annexes I and III provided for in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012, box 4 of the forms in Annex II provided for in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012 and box 10 of the forms in Annex V provided for in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012 may be the country in which the specimens ceased to qualify for the exemption.’;

(6) in Article 7, the following paragraph 5 is added: ‘5.   Export permits and re-export certificates shall be endorsed, with quantity, signature and stamp, by an official from the export or re-export country, in the export endorsement block of the document. If the export document has not been endorsed at the time of export, the management authority of the importing country should liaise with the exporting country's management authority, considering any extenuating circumstances or documents, to determine the acceptability of the document.’;

(7) in Article 8(1), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘1.   Documents shall be issued and used in accordance with the provisions and under the conditions laid down in this Regulation and in Regulation (EC) No 338/97, and in particular in Article 11(1) to (4) of the latter Regulation. Permits and certificates may be issued in paper format or in electronic format.’;

(8) in Article 11(3), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘3.   Certificates issued in accordance with Articles 48 and 63 shall be transaction-specific unless the specimens covered by such certificates are uniquely and permanently marked or, in the case of dead specimens which can not be marked, identified by other means.’;

(9) in Article 15, paragraph 3a is replaced by the following: ‘3a.   For personally owned live animals, which are legally acquired and held for personal non-commercial purposes, for which an import permit is issued pursuant to the second subparagraph of paragraph 2, commercial activities, as laid down in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, shall be prohibited for two years from the date of issuance of the permit and no exemptions for specimens of Annex A species, as provided for in Article 8(3) of that Regulation, shall be granted during that period. In the case of import permits issued pursuant to the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 for those personally owned live animals and for specimens of species listed in Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 338/97 and referred to in Article 4(5)(b) thereof, the stipulation “by way of derogation to Article 8(3) or (5) of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, commercial activities, as laid down in Article 8(1) of that Regulation, shall be prohibited for at least two years from the date of issuance of this permit” shall be included in box 23.’;

(10) in Article 30, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4.   In the case of specimens other than live animals, the management authority shall attach to the travelling exhibition certificate an inventory sheet displaying, in respect of each specimen, all the information required by boxes 8 to 18 of the model form set out in Annex III provided for in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012.’;

(11) in Article 37, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1.   Member States may issue personal ownership certificates to the legal owner of legally acquired live animals, held for personal non-commercial purposes.’;

(12) in Article 45(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘Management authorities receiving such documents shall without delay forward those issued by other Member States to the relevant management authorities, together with any supporting documents issued in accordance with the Convention. For reporting purposes, original import notifications shall also be forwarded to the management authorities of the country of import, when it is different from the country where the specimen was introduced into the Union.’;

(13) in Article 52, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1.   The labels referred to in Article 2(6) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012 shall be used only for the movement between duly registered scientists and scientific institutions of non-commercial loans, donations and exchanges of herbarium specimens, preserved, dried or embedded museum specimens and live plant material for scientific study.’;

(15) in Article 58, a new paragraph 3a is inserted: ‘3a.   The re-export, by a person which is not normally residing in the Union, of personal or household effects acquired outside his/her State of usual residence, including personal hunting trophies, that are specimens of species listed in Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 338/97, shall require the presentation to customs of a re-export certificate.’;

(17) in Article 59, the following paragraph 1a is inserted: ‘1a.   The exemption for specimens referred to in Article 8(3) of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 shall be granted only if the applicant has satisfied the competent management authority that the specimens concerned have been acquired in accordance with the legislation in force for the conservation of wild fauna and flora.’;

(19) in Article 63, the following paragraph 3 is added: ‘3.   Pre-issued certificates shall only be valid once they have been completed and a copy of the certificate is transmitted to the issuing management authority by the applicant.’;

(20) in Article 65(4), the following sentence is added: ‘This does not apply to specimens of species listed in Annex X to this Regulation unless an annotation in Annex X prescribes marking.’;

(21) in Article 66(4), the third subparagraph is replaced with the following: ‘Specimen-specific certificates, travelling exhibition certificates and personal ownership certificates shall not be issued in respect of live specimens covered by this paragraph.’;

(22) in Article 72, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: ‘3.   Member States may continue to issue import and export permits, re-export certificates, travelling exhibition and personal ownership certificates in the forms laid out in Annexes I, III and IV, import notifications in the form laid out in Annex II and EU certificates in the form laid out in Annex V to Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 for one year after the entry into force of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 792/2012.’;

(23) Annex VIII is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation;

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 27 September 2012.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 23 August 2012.

For the Commission The President José Manuel BARROSO

(1) OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 166, 19.6.2006, p. 1.

(3) See page 13 of this Official Journal.

(4) OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.