PJ MAPB
CITES parties recognised the increasing threat to the African
elephant, and the United Kingdom was instrumental in introducing
stricter controls on trade in ivory. These included a quota system
and the establishment of the Ivory Trade Monitoring Unit, which is
based in Lausanne at the CITES secretariat and to which the United
Kingdom annually contributes £5,000. Under the system, most
producer countries set quotas agreed by CITES for the export of raw ivory. The ivory is appropriately marked, and exports beyond the
quota or of unmarked raw ivory have to be checked with the
Secretariat in Lausanne to ensure that the export is within the
agreed quota and that the documentation is in order.
11.
The UK has also been active in pressing for the tightening of
controls within the EC. The EC regulations which apply CITES within
the Community already set a higher standard of protection than that
of the Convention for many species, including the African elephant.
For example, the Convention requires import permits only in the case
of Appendix I species, whereby under the EC regulations, import
documents are required for all species covered by the CITES Appendices. The EC regulations also prohibit several commercial
activities, such as sale, in respect of the most endangered species. For the African elephant and certain other species, import permits may only be issued when the import will not have a harmful effect on
the conservation of the species or on the population of the species
in the country of origin. Additionally, in May 1988, the Community
agreed to ban the commercial import of ivory from 18 African
countries and it has recently increased it to 19.