(8) Subject to applicable limitations of law, duly authorized Service officers at all reasonable times shall, upon notice, be afforded access to the place where the donation or loan is kept and an opportunity to inspect it;

(9) Any donation is subject to conditions specified in the transfer document, the violation of which causes the property to revert to the United States;

(10) Any loan is for an indefinite period of time unless a date on which the loan must be returned to the Service is stated on the transfer document; and

(11) Any loan remains the property of the United States, and the Director may demand its return at any time.

(c) Wildlife and plants may be donated to individual American Indians for the practice of traditional American Indian religions. Any donation of the parts of bald or golden eagles to American Indians may only be made to individuals authorized by permit issued in accordance with §22.22 of this title to possess such items.

(d) Edible wildlife, fit for human consumption, may be donated to a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization for use as food, but not for barter or sale.

(e) Wildlife and plants may be loaned to government agencies (including foreign agencies) for official use. Each transfer and the terms of the transfer must be documented.

§ 12.37 Sale.

(a) Wildlife and plants may be sold or offered for sale, except any species which at the time it is to be sold or offered for sale falls into one of the following categories:

(1) Listed in §10.13 of this title as a migratory bird protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703–712);

(2) Protected under the Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668d);

(3) Listed in § 23.33 of this title as "Appendix I" under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora;

(4) Listed in §17.11 of this title as "endangered" or "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533), unless the item or species may be lawfully traded in interstate commerce; and

(5) Protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 13611407), unless the item or species may be lawfully traded in interstate com

merce.

(b) Wildlife and plants must be sold in accordance with current Federal Property Management Regulations (41 CFR chapter 101) and Interior Property Management Regulations (41 CFR chapter 114) or U.S. Customs laws and regulations, except the Director may sell any wildlife or plant immediately for its fair market value if the Director determines that it is liable to perish, deteriorate, decay, waste, or greatly decrease in value by keeping, or that the expense of keeping it is disproportionate to its value.

(c) Wildlife or plants which may not be possessed lawfully by purchasers under the laws of the State where held may be moved to a State where possession is lawful and may be sold.

(d) Wildlife or plants purchased at sale are subject to the prohibitions, restrictions, conditions, or requirements which apply to a particular species of wildlife or plant imposed by the laws or regulations of the United States or any State, including any applicable conservation, health, quarantine, agricultural, or Customs laws or regulations, except as provided by §12.32 of this part.

(e) The Director may use the proceeds of sale to reimburse the Service for any costs which by law the Service is authorized to recover or to pay any rewards which by law may be paid from sums the Service receives.

Subpart E-Restoration of Proceeds and Recovery of Storage Costs

§ 12.41 Petition for restoration of proceeds.

(a) Any person claiming any property or interest therein which has been forfeited under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; Eagle Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 668 et seq.; Airborne Hunting Act, 16 U.S.C. 742j-1; or the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981, 16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq., and sold according to law, or any person claiming cargo or an interest therein, of a vessel or other conveyance employed in unlawful taking which has been forfeited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq., and sold according to law, may file with the Solicitor or, where forfeiture proceedings have been brought in U.S. District Court, the Attorney General, a petition for restoration of proceeds.

(b) A petition filed with the Solicitor need not be in any particular form, but it must be received within three months after the date of sale of the property and must contain the following:

(1) A description of the property;
(2) The time and place of seizure;

(3) Evidence of the petitioner's interest in the property, including contracts, bills of sale, invoices, security interests, certificates of title, and other satisfactory evidence;

(4) A request for restoration of the proceeds or such part thereof as is claimed by the petitioner; and

(5) A statement of all facts and circumstances relied upon by the petitioner to justify restoration of the proceeds, including proof that the petitioner did not know of the seizure before the declaration or order of forfeiture and was in such circumstances as prevented the petitioner from knowing of the same.

(c) The petition shall be signed by the petitioner or the petitioner's attorney at law. If the petitioner is a corporation, the petition must be signed by an authorized officer, supervisory employee, or attorney at law, and the corporate seal shall be properly affixed to the signature.

(d) A false statement in the petition may subject the petitioner to prosecution under title 18, U.S. Code, section 1001.

(e) Upon receiving the petition, the Solicitor shall decide whether or not to grant relief. In making a decision, the Solicitor shall consider the information submitted by the petitioner, as well as any other available information relating to the matter.

(f) If the Solicitor finds the existence of such mitigating circumstances as to justify restoration of the proceeds or any part thereof and that the petitioner did not know of the seizure before the declaration or order of forfeiture and was in such circumstances as prevented the petitioner from knowing of the same, the Solicitor may order the proceeds or any part thereof restored to the petitioner, after deducting from such proceeds the costs of seizure, storage, forfeiture and disposition, the duties, if any, accruing on the seized property, and any sum due on a lien for freight, charges, or contribution in general average, notice of which has been filed with the Solicitor according to law.

(g) If the Solicitor decides that relief should not be granted, the Solicitor shall so notify the petitioner in writing, stating in the notification the reasons for denying relief. The petitioner may then file a supplemental petition, but no supplemental petition shall be considered unless it is received within 60 days from the date of the Solicitor's notification denying the original petition.

[45 FR 17864, Mar. 19, 1980, as amended at 47 FR 56861, Dec. 21, 1982]

§ 12.42 Recovery of certain storage costs.

If any wildlife, plant, or evidentiary item is seized and forfeited under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., any person whose act or omission was the basis for the seizure may be charged a reasonable fee for expenses to the United States connected with the transfer, board, handling, or storage of such property. If any fish, wildlife or plant is seized in connection with a violation of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981, 16 U.S.C. 3371, et seq., any person convicted thereof, or

assessed a civil penalty therefor, may be assessed a reasonable fee for expenses of the United States connected with the storage, care and maintenance of such property. Within a reasonable time after forfeiture, the Service shall send to such person by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, a bill for such fee. The bill shall contain an itemized statement of the applicable costs, together with instructions on the time and manner of payment. Payment shall be made in accordance with the bill. The recipient of any assessment of costs under this section who has an objection to the reasonableness of the costs described in the bill may, within 30 days of the date on which he received the bill, file written objections with the Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service for the Region in which the seizure occurred. Upon receipt of the written objections, the appropriate Regional Director will promptly review them and within 30 days mail his final decision to the party who filed objections. In all cases, the Regional Director's decision shall constitute final administrative action on the matter.

[47 FR 56861, Dec. 21, 1982]

Subpart F-Return of Property

§ 12.51 Return procedure.

If, at the conclusion of the appropriate proceedings, seized property is to be returned to the owner or consignee, the Solicitor or Service shall issue a letter or other document authorizing its return. This letter or other document shall be delivered personally or sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and shall identify the owner or consignee, the seized property, and, if appropriate, the bailee of the seized property. It shall also provide that upon presentation of the letter or other document and proper identification, and the signing of a receipt provided by the Service, the seized property is authorized to be released, provided it is properly marked in accordance with applicable State or Federal requirements.

which set forth the additional requirements for the specific permits desired. If the activity for which permission is sought is covered by the requirements of more than one part of this subchapter, the requirements of each part must be met. If the information required for each specific permitted activity is included, one application will be accepted for all permits required, and a single permit will be issued.

§ 13.2 Purpose of regulations.

The regulations contained in this part provide uniform rules, conditions, and procedures for the application for and the issuance, denial, suspension, revocation, and general administration of all permits issued pursuant to this subchapter B.

[54 FR 38147, Sept. 14, 1989]

§ 13.3 Scope of regulations.

The provisions in this part are in addition to, and are not in lieu of, other permit regulations of this subchapter and apply to all permits issued thereunder, including "Import and Marking" (part 14), "Feather Imports" (part 15), "Injurious Wildlife" (part 16), "Endangered Wildlife and Plants" (part 17), "Marine Mammals" (part 18), "Migratory Birds" (part 21), "Eagles" (part 22) and "Endangered Species Convention" (part 23). As used in this part 13, the term "permit” shall refer to either a license, permit, or certificate as the context may require.

[42 FR 10465, Feb. 22, 1977, as amended at 42 FR 32377, June 24, 1977; 45 FR 56673, Aug. 25, 1980]

§ 13.4 Emergency variation from requirements.

The Director may approve variations from the requirements of this part when he finds that an emergency exists and that the proposed variations will not hinder effective administration of this subchapter B, and will not be unlawful.

§ 13.5 Information collection requirements.

(a) The information collection requirements contained within this part 13 have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under 44

U.S.C. 3507 and assigned Clearance Number 1018-0022. This information is being collected to provide information necessary to evaluate permit applications. This information will be used to review permit applications and make decisions, according to criteria established in various Federal wildlife conservation statutes and regulations, on the issuance, suspension, revocation or denial of permits. The obligation to respond is required to obtain or retain a permit.

(b) The public reporting burden for these reporting requirements is estimated to vary from 15 minutes to 4 hours per response, with an average of 0.803 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the forms. Comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of these reporting requirements should be directed to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, MS-224 ARLSQ, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC 20240, or the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (1018-0022), Washington, DC 20503.

[47 FR 30785, July 15, 1982, as amended at 54 FR 38147, Sept. 14, 1989]

Subpart B-Application for Permits

§ 13.11 Application procedures.

The Service may not issue a permit for any activity authorized by this subchapter B unless the applicant has filed an application in accordance with the following procedures. Applicants do not have to submit a separate application for each permit unless otherwise required by this subchapter.

(a) Forms. Applications must be submitted in writing on a Federal Fish and Wildlife License/Permit Application (Form 3-200) or as otherwise specifically directed by the Service.

(b) Forwarding instructions. Applications for permits in the following categories should be forwarded to the issuing office indicated below.

(1) Migratory bird banding permits (50 CFR 21.22)-Bird Banding Laboratory, Office of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, Maryland 20708. (Special application forms must be used for bird

banding permits. They may be obtained by writing to the Bird Banding Laboratory).

(2) Exception to designated port (50 CFR part 14), import/export license (50 CFR 14.93), migratory bird permit, other than banding (50 CFR part 21) and Bald or Golden eagle permits (50 CFR part 22)—Assistant Regional Director for Law Enforcement of District in which the applicant resides (see 50 CFR 10.22 for addresses and boundaries of the Law Enforcement Districts).

(3) Feather quota (50 CFR part 15), injurious wildlife (50 CFR part 16), endangered and threatened species (50 CFR part 17), marine mammal (50 CFR part 18) and permits and certificates for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (50 CFR part 23)-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Wildlife Permit Office, P.O. Box 3654, Arlington, Virginia 22203.

(c) Time notice. The Service will process all applications as quickly as possible. However, it cannot guarantee final action within the time limits the applicant requests. Applicants for endangered species and marine mammal permits should submit applications to the Office of Management Authority which are postmarked at least 90 calendar days prior to the requested effective date. Applicants for all other permits should submit applications to the issuing office which are postmarked at least 60 days prior to the requested effective date.

(d) Fees. (1) Unless otherwise exempted by this paragraph, applicants for issuance or renewal of permits must pay the required permit processing fee at the time of application. Applicants should pay fees by check or money order made payable to "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." The Service will not refund any application fee under any circumstances if the Service has processed the application. However, the Service may return the application fee if the applicant withdraws the application before the Service has significantly processed it.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (d)(4) of this section the fee for processing any application is $25.00. If regulations in this subchapter require more than one type of permit for an activity, and the permits are issued by the same

(e) Abandoned or incomplete applications. Upon receipt of an incomplete or improperly executed application, or if the applicant does not submit the proper fees, the issuing office will notify the applicant of the deficiency. If the applicant fails to supply the correct information to complete the application or to pay the required fees within 45 calendar days of the date of notification, the Service will consider the application abandoned. The Service will not refund any fees for an abandoned application.

[47 FR 30785, July 15, 1982, as amended at 50 FR 52889, Dec. 26, 1985; 54 FR 4031, Jan. 27, 1989; 54 FR 38147, Sept. 14, 1989; 61 FR 31868, June 21, 1996]

§ 13.12 General information requirements on applications for permits. (a) General information required for all applications. All applications must contain the following information:

(1) Applicant's full name, mailing address, telephone number(s), and,

(i) If the applicant is an individual, the date of birth, height, weight, hair color, eye color, sex, and any business or institutional affiliation of the applicant related to the requested permitted activity; or

(ii) If the applicant is a corporation, firm, partnership, association, institution, or public or private agency, the name and address of the president or principal officer and of the registered agent for the service of process;