At its 13th meeting (Bangkok, 2004), the Conference of the Parties adopted Decision 13.70 on Electronic permitting, directing the Secretariat, subject to the provision of appropriate funding, to:
a) advise the Parties on the work done by UNEP-WCMC in the development of simple Internet-based software tools and provide recommendations based on experience and testing by Parties;
b) evaluate the experience of other permit-based agreements or conventions, such as CCAMLR, in using electronic permitting systems;
c) provide guidance to the Parties on the extent to which it may be practicable to make use of computerized systems to meet their obligations under CITES and on the extent to which this would be consistent with the obligations set out in the Convention and related Resolutions and Decisions of the Parties and subject to the direction of the Standing Committee; and
d) engage the World Customs Organization on data harmonization and how it relates to the implementation of CITES and report on their efforts at the 54th meeting of the Standing Committee.
In order to obtain information to implement this Decision, the Secretariat requests those Parties that have developed or are developing electronic permitting systems to advise it of the status of those systems no later than 1 December 2006.