CITES

Austrian CITES certificate for a Mediterranean turtle

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, better known as CITES for its acronym in English (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), is an international treaty drafted on the basis of a resolution adopted in 1973 by the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. of Nature, IUCN). Its purpose is to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild. The treaty offers various degrees of protection and covers more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.

Being voluntary, the treaty began with 80 signatories the year it entered into force (1975), having reached 183 countries today. In some languages it is known as the Washington Treaty, the city where it was written and signed.

The Covenant

CITES is considered the most important and extensive agreement on the protection of species, and serves as a framework agreement for the signatory parties (183 countries, between adherents and ratifiers). This means that the treaty does not come to replace the laws of each country, which may be stricter but not more permissive. The countries are, therefore, within their right to prohibit the commercialization or possession of species that CITES merely regulates at the level of control of their commercialization. In this regard, the European Union, for example, has agreed to implement a stricter classification, in which many species are included in categories (appendices) that offer more protection. On the other hand, species that are marketable in Europe, such as the Mediterranean tortoise (an increasingly threatened species), may be prohibited in other countries, as is the case in Israel (where the private possession of any species of land tortoise is not allowed.).

The treaty requires signatory countries to designate at least one administrative authority, one scientific authority, and enforcement and control centers, which are usually regulated by the corresponding ministries of each country. In the European Union, the agreement, in force since January 1, 1984, is applied through Regulation (EC) 338/97, of December 9, 1996, which regulates the protection of wild fauna and flora species through Control your trade. For its part, Regulation (EC) 865/2006, of May 4, 2006, establishes the provisions for the application of the previous regulation.

Since sometimes the species whose commercialization is prohibited or regulated are migratory species, CITES also benefits from the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, of 1979, because protecting specimens of such species pose particular challenges due to the fact that they cross borders.

CITES certificates

One of the tasks of the administrative authorities is the issuance of the pertinent permits and certificates. None of the species found on the list of protected species (LEPFFS) may be traded without the seller, and then the buyer, providing of the corresponding certificate. The certificates, which are often called DNI, are issued by the veterinary authorities according to the regulations of each country, normally on a date close to the birth or hatching of the specimen. A certificate for the sale of a protected animal within a country is not valid for its export or import, which require a different license and compliance with the regulations of the destination country. Within the European Union, a common CITES certificate allows multiple sales of a specimen within the country, and a single sale to another EU member state.

Being species whose communities are strictly controlled, permits are rarely issued (and when circumstances justify it) for recently captured animals (wild specimens).

Species

Some 5,800 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants are protected by CITES against over-exploitation through international trade. Species are grouped into appendices, according to the threat to which they are subjected:

• Appendix I: Includes endangered species. The trade of individuals of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
• Appendix II: Includes species threatened with populations that have been very small, although they are not in danger extinction, applying the necessary controls for their marketing.
• Appendix III: Includes species that are threatened at least in a country (and even at risk of extinction at the local level), and that have requested the parties of the treaty to help control trade in them.

The table below is an approximation as of January 2017 of the numbers of species included in the LEPFFS:

* spp species; sspp: subspecies; popn: population; var.: variety

European classification model

In the framework of the adaptation of CITES to European regulations, Appendices I and II were renamed Appendices A and B, using stricter protection measures for certain species and taking more into account the reservations expressed by the member states. Two additional appendices were added in March 2020, with the current European classification being as follows:

• Appendix A: All species included in appendix I (except reservations registered by a member state) and species in appendix II and III subject by the European authorities to stricter measures. In exceptional cases, species that are not listed in the LEPFFS in none of your assumptions.
• Appendix B: All species included in appendix II (except reservations registered by a member state) and species in appendix III and others not included in appendix II LEPFFSexcept those included in the previous appendix, which the EU considers worthy of this level of protection.
• Appendix C: All species included in appendix III (except reservations registered by a member state), except those included in the above appendices.
• Appendix D: All species on which reservations have been registered from a member state, and some species not listed in the LEPFFS which are included by consistency with European directives on habitat and on birds.

Interactive database

Status of Testudo Hermanni: CITES classification, EU classification and registered reserves.

As of 2019, the CITES website offers a complete online database with free access for the public, including a Spanish version, called Species+ / CITES Checklist API. It is an interactive tool that allows the user to dissect the statistics relevant to each species and make chronological and interspecies comparisons. The nomenclature used is in Latin (official terminology) together with its designation in English, Spanish and French. Timelines provide a visualization of the history of CITES listings, including indications of adding, deleting or changing the annotation of a taxon corresponding to its listing. certain countries, if they exist, and when they have been withdrawn. The exact date of the event can be seen at any time by hovering the mouse pointer over the corresponding symbols.

As of March 2020, the database includes, in addition to the CITES classification, also the European classification of the different species.

Assemblies

The Conference of the Parties (CoP) is the general assembly of CITES that currently meets every three years, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland. The next CoP (2022) will take place in San José, Costa Rica, a city that already hosted the second CoP, in 1979. Apart from the CoP, there are CITES expert committees that meet in Geneva in non-CoP years. the CoP, except for the Standing Committee which meets every year.

Cconference	City	Country	Dates
CoP 1	Bern	Switzerland	1976: 2-6 November
CoP 2	San José	Costa Rica	1979:19–30 March
CoP 3	New Delhi	India	1981: 25 February - 8 March
CoP 4	Gaborone	Botswana	1983: 19-30 April
CoP 5	Buenos Aires	Argentina	1985: 22 April – 3 May
CoP 6	Ottawa	Canada	1987: 12–24 July
CoP 7	Lausanne	Switzerland	1989; 9–20 October
CoP 8	Kyoto	Japan	1992: 2–13 March
CoP 9	Fort Lauderdale	United States	1994: 7-18 November
CoP 10	Harare	Zimbabwe	1997: 9-20 June
CoP 11	Nairobi	Kenya	2000: 10–20 April
CoP 12	Santiago de Chile	Chile	2002: 3–15 November
CoP 13	Bangkok	Thailand	2004: 2–14 October
CoP 14	The Hague	Netherlands	2007: 3-15 June
CoP 15	Doha	Qatar	2010: 13–25 March
CoP 16	Bangkok	Thailand	2013: 3–14 March
CoP 17	Johannesburg	South Africa	2016: September 24 – October 5
CoP 18	Geneva	Switzerland	2019: 17-28 August
CoP 19	Panama	Panama	2022: 14-25 November