TNAG-2131-FCO40-3046-Hong-Kong-and-the-ivory-trade-1990 — Page 142

C45AEY

RECEIVED I

DESK.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

3 MAR 1990

FA

PRY

CACHI

ful

158

Mr Scott Monier American Embassy

Grosvenor Square LONDON

W1A 1AE

Di

کات

M. Monier

Telephone 01-

270 2627

Your reference

Our reference

Date

30 January 1990

RECEIVER

ISSUE OF IVORY EXPORT LICENCES BY HONG KONG

INDEX

31 JAN1990

1. You asked the Department of the Environment recently about press reports that Hong Kong had issued export licences for shipments of ivory to countries which had banned ivory imports. I am writing to clarify the position.

The details of the issue of the licences are as follows:

(a) To Japan: One French-owned consignment of 1,039kg of raw ivory originally imported for sale to a Hong Kong trader in August 1989 - the sale did not go through leaving the French owner to find a purchaser elsewhere.

Both

(b) To FRG: Two locally-owned consignments of worked ivory (netsuke, bracelets, combs and toothpicks) totalling 5.6kg. licences were issued and subsequently returned for cancellation.

Both licences were issued before 18 January. The position of the authorities was that provided the ivory had been legally acquired and legally held in Hong Kong then they had a duty to examine the application on its own merits given that the African elephant was then still on Appendix II. With the coming into force of the Appendix I listing on 18 January, Hong Kong is not now issuing export licences to those countries which have implemented the CITES ban.

Yous siceely

Julian Furnis

J Evans

Maritime, Aviation and Environment Department