No. 711                                 Lausanne, 21 December 1992


CONCERNING:


                           NEW ZEALAND

                  Use of Forged CITES Documents


1.The  Management Authority of New Zealand has recently discovered
  a forged CITES export permit as a result of an attempt to export
  a  consignment  of  birds. Since then, another similarly  forged
  document has been discovered.

2.The forged permit form appears to be a modification of a genuine
  export  permit  issued by the Auckland office of the  Management
  Authority. A copy of the export permit is attached.

3.Major discrepancies from the genuine forms are:

     a)          A  space between the last letter and first  digit
     of the Permit No. is missing.

     b)          The date shown as 28th January 1993 is incorrect,
     this should be typed as 28 January 1993.

     c)          Names  and  addresses of Consignee and  Permittee
     should be typed single-space, not double-space.

     d)          In the pannel Special Conditions, the acronym DOC
     is  not  used by the Management Authority Ž should  be  fully
     typed as: Department of Conservation officer.

     e)          Consignment details are always entered  as  close
     as possible to the top of the relevant columns.

     f)           In  the  column  headed  Description,  the  word
     Livebirds  is always typed as two separate words and  in  the
     column  headed Schedule Appendix & Source, the  c  is  always
     upper, rather than lower case.

4.The Secretariat and the Management Authority of New Zealand urge
  Parties  to check any permits received from the Auckland  office
  of  that  Management Authority during this year, which have  not
  been  earlier  confirmed as authentic and  valid.  In  case  any
  forged  or possibly forged permit is discovered, the Secretariat
  and/or  the  Management  Authority  of  New  Zealand  should  be
  informed  immediately  with  full details  and  a  copy  of  the
  document should be sent.