TNAG-0468-FCO40-533-Legislation-for-protection-of-wild-life-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 158

Mr Youde

Flag A

1.

CONFIDENTIAL

IMPORTATION OF WILD LIFE FROM CHINA INTO HONG KONG

We need to reply to the Governor's telegram no. 86 and

you agreed that we should do so before submitting the papers to

Mr Blaker.

Flag B

2.

The basic paper is the

Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. HMG have signed

but not yet ratified the Convention. Only the United States have

so far ratified. We ourselves expect to be in a position to ratify

shortly, but we are under an obligation to consult our EEC partners.

We hope to encourage them to ratify early, but it is unlikely that

all of them will be in a position to do so before the end of the

year, or that the Convention will enter into force before then. We

would probably extend the Convention to our dependent territories,

and would certainly be under pressure to do so for Hong Kong.

Neither the CPR nor Taiwan attended the Washington conference but

Taiwan subsequently signed the Convention. It is therefore improbable

that the CPR will accede to it. The present situation is therefore

that Hong Kong is not yet bound by the Convention, but is likely to

become so, and that China is unlikely to become a party.

3.

Under the Convention the onus is primarily on the State of

Export to provide the necessary certificate that the species concerned

is not endangered. But where the State of Export is not a party to

the Convention, the parties are required by Article X to get comparable

certificates from them.

CONFIDENTIAL

/440