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1. Without prejudice to Articles 11 to 25 and to paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, the competent authorities of each Member State shall prohibit the introduction of scheduled substances into the customs territory of the Union or their departure from it, where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that such substances are intended for the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.

2. The competent authorities shall detain or suspend release of the scheduled substances for the time necessary to verify the identification of the scheduled substances or compliance with the rules of this Regulation.

3. Each Member State shall adopt the measures necessary to enable the competent authorities, in particular:

(a) to obtain information on any orders for or operations involving scheduled substances;

(b) to enter operators’ business premises in order to obtain evidence of irregularities;

(c) to establish that a diversion or attempted diversion of scheduled substances has taken place.

3a. The competent authorities of each Member State shall prohibit the introduction of consignments of non-scheduled substances into the customs territory of the Union or their departure from it where there is sufficient evidence that those substances are intended for the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. The competent authority shall immediately inform the competent authorities of the other Member States and the Commission thereof, using the procedure referred to in Article 27. Those substances shall be considered as proposed for inclusion in the list of non-scheduled substances referred to in point (b) of Article 10(2).

3b. Each Member State may adopt the measures necessary to enable its competent authorities to control and monitor suspicious transactions involving non-scheduled substances, in particular:

(a) to obtain information on any orders for or operations involving non-scheduled substances;

(b) to enter business premises in order to obtain evidence of suspicious transactions involving non-scheduled substances.

4. For the purpose of preventing specific risks of diversion in free zones as well as in other sensitive areas such as customs warehouses, Member States shall ensure that effective controls are applied to operations carried out in these areas at every stage of these operations, and that the controls are no less stringent than those applied in the other parts of the customs territory.

5. The competent authorities may require the operators to pay a fee for the issuing of licences, registrations and authorisations. Such fees shall be levied in a non-discriminatory way and shall not exceed the approximate cost of processing the application.