The CITES Secretariat is aware of several communications related to its media release of 5 May 2015 announcing a new initiative to support CITES Parties meet the Convention’s requirements for national legislation.
The 17 countries mentioned in the media release as requiring priority attention are the same 17 countries that were identified by the CITES Secretariat in its reports to the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in March 2013 (CoP16) and to the 65th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee in July 2014 (SC65).
The Secretariat’s reports to CoP16 and SC65 were posted on the CITES website in the three working languages of the Convention prior to each meeting and they were discussed in open sessions of both CoP16 and SC65. Representatives of Parties, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations participated in both meetings, with over 2,500 people attending CoP16 and over 400 people attending SC65.
In its report to CoP16 the Secretariat raised its concerns about the status of national CITES legislation, and in the Annex to its report it identified the status of legislation in each Party. CoP16 gave the Standing Committee and the Secretariat a strong mandate to make substantial progress with national legislation by the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to be held in 2016.
The CITES National Legislation Project (NLP) was established in 1992 to identify those Parties whose domestic measures did not provide them with the necessary authority against four requirements of the Convention.
The NLP addresses the adequacy of national legislation against these four requirements of the Convention and offers technical assistance to Parties in meeting these requirements.
The NLP does not address the implementation or the enforcement of national CITES legislation, which is dealt with through other processes under the Convention. The focus on legislation through this project is because legislation is an essential precursor to effective compliance with and enforcement of the Convention.
All information on the CITES NLP is available on the dedicated CITES Legislation webpage, which was created by the Secretariat to enable Parties and stakeholders to more easily access all relevant documents on the NLP. It also refers to the joint initiative of CITES and UNEP to assist priority Parties in meeting CITES legislative requirements.
The CITES Legislation webpage, which contains all relevant links, can be accessed here.