EU Wildlife Trade Regulation

Protecting species of wild fauna and flora by regulating the trade therein.
Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 (9 December 1996)

Contents Page

• Introduction

• The New European Union Wildlife Regulation
• Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97
• Commission Regulation (EC) No. 939/37
• Protected Species (Annexes A - D)
• Species listed in the Annexes

• European Union Wildlife Trade Reference Database
• Decisions and Opinions on the Import of Specimens of Species covered by Regulation 338/97
• Opinions of the Scientific Review Group (SRG)
• Community import restrictions
• Search the EU Wildlife Trade Reference Database

• Other WWW sites of interest
• Europa
• CITES

Introduction

This site has been developed by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) with a financial contribution from the European Commission. The overall objectives of the site are:

1. To support within the European Union the implementation of CITES and the EU Regulations on wildlife trade through the provision to national authorities of a comprehensive and up-to-date reference database covering all relevant species and EU decisions affecting their trade.
2. To make available to a wider audience via Internet services the information on species covered by CITES and the EU wildlife trade Regulations, including details of Community import suspensions and other matters relating to the implementation of CITES.

The European Union Wildlife Trade Regulation

Two Regulations, Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 939/37 came into effect on 1 June 1997. The aim of the EU Wildlife Regulation is to protect wild animals and plants currently or likely to become threatened by international trade. The new Regulations will continue to enforce CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as well as providing additional measures for the conservation of species in trade.

Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 deals with the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating the trade in these species. The former Regulation, which had been in effect since 1984 [Regulation (EEC) No 3626/82], needed to be replaced for three reasons:

• To take into account scientific knowledge acquired since its adoption

• To adequately reflect the current structure of trade

• To cope with the abolition of internal border controls which resulted from the Single Market. The abolition of internal borders has made necessary the adoption of stricter trade control measures at the Communitys external borders.

The text of the Regulation is available in all eleven languages of the European Community. Search the following document. The full text is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, L 61, Volume 40, 3 March 1997 (ISSN 0378-6978).

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 939/37 lays down detailed rules for Member States on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97, as described above. This Regulation is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, L 140, Volume 40, 30 May 1997 (ISSN 0378-6978)

Protected Species

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 338/37 covers species listed in its four Annexes:

Species listed in the Annexes

A list of species included in the Annexes is given in the full text of the Regulation.

Definition of CITES Appendices

For a definition of the CITES Appendices please select from the following languages: English, French, Spanish.

EU Wildlife Trade Reference Database

Decisions and Opinions on the Import of Specimens of Species covered by Regulation 338/97

CITES Management Authorities in each Member State will decide whether the requirements of Regulation 338/97 are met in the case of any particular permit application. In doing so, however, they and the CITES Scientific Authorities who assist them will follow any agreements made at the Community level. With respect to imports of specimens of species included in Annex B (which includes most of the regularly traded species) there are two factors of importance at the Community level:

Opinions of the Scientific Review Group (SRG)

These may exist in cases where the SRG has examined whether or not imports in particular circumstances would comply with the conservation requirements of Regulation 338/97. The SRG opinion may change rapidly if new information about the trade or conservation status of a species in a particular country of origin becomes available. The opinion of the SRG will normally be followed by individual Scientific Authorities but is only indicative and Scientific Authorities of Member States can give a different opinion to that of the SRG (e.g. if new information becomes available). Where there is no SRG opinion, the decision about whether or not the conservation requirements of Regulation 338/97 are met will be taken by the Scientific Authority of the Member State in question. Should they find that the conditions are not met, this information will be immediately relayed to the other Member States and a uniform position adopted by all Member States.

Community import restrictions

When the SRG has given a negative opinion about the acceptability of the imports of a certain species from a certain country of origin (or in the case of species suffering high mortality in transport, unlikely to survive in captivity, or proven to cause ecological threat to native species), the European Commission will consult with the country of origin concerned and may subsequently establish a binding import restriction, which will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Member States will respect these restrictions until such time as they are lifted.

Current Opinions and Restrictions

The EU Wildlife Trade Reference Database below shows the current SRG opinions and community import restrictions. It can be used as an INDICATION about whether or not an import permit might be issued in particular circumstances.

However it should be clearly understoodthat firstly all other conditions (valid export permit, suitable housing conditions for live animals etc.) for the issue of a permit must be met, and secondly that the conservation circumstances surrounding species can and do change and this may result in a different consequence than that implied by the entries in the EU Wildlife Trade Reference Database tables.

EU Wildlife Trade Reference Databasehttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/index.html?http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/eu/Taxonomy/index.cfm~main

• Other WWW sites of interest
• Europa http://europa.eu.int/
• CITES http://www.wcmc.org.uk/CITES/