Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

Security stamps

1. In Notification to the Parties No. 2001/062 of 10 August 2001, the Secretariat advised the Parties of the introduction of a new standard security stamp for use with CITES permits and certificates. Stamps have been supplied to the following countries:

Argentina, Bahamas, Benin, Bermuda, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam and Zambia.

2. To assist in the harmonization of the use of security stamps and to facilitate the identification of falsified documents, the Secretariat recommends that, from 1 January 2004, Parties refuse to accept any permit or certificate that bears an old-style security stamp.

3. However, any Party that still has stocks of the old-style security stamps and expects to use these after 1 January 2004 is requested to advise the Secretariat of this by 31 October 2003, so that the Parties can be advised accordingly.