Certificates of origin Form A must conform to the specimen shown in this annex. The use of English or French for the notes on the reverse of the certificate shall not be obligatory. Certificates shall be made out in English or French. If completed by hand, entries must be in ink and in capital letters.
2.
Each certificate shall measure 210 x 297 mm; a tolerance of up to plus 5 mm or minus 8 mm in the length may be allowed, the paper use shall be white writing paper, sized, not containing mechanical pulp and weighing not less than 25 g/m2. It shall have a printed green guilloche-pattern background making any falsification by mechanical or chemical means apparent to the eye.
If the certificates have several copies, only the top copy which is the original shall be printed with a printed green guilloche-pattern background.
3.
Each certificate shall bear a serial number, printed or otherwise, by which it can be identified.
4.
Certificates, a specimen of which is shown in this annex, shall be acceptable from 1st January 1996; however certificates made out in accordance with the previous specimen, dated 1992, may be presented until 31st December 1997.
