Proposal to streamline wildlife trade regulation

Invitation to comment

The Australian Government is considering a proposal to streamline regulation of trade in wildlife listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Two areas have been identified as having potential for reform:

These proposals are part of the Australian Government’s ‘Simpler Regulation of Wildlife Product Trade’ measures included in the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia.

The Department is seeking your views on the proposals to:

  • identify creative and efficient options to streamline processes and requirements while maintaining protections for CITES-listed species
  • ensure that the intent and any implications of the proposals are understood
  • ensure that your views are considered in any decisions about changes to current requirements and processes
  • ensure that stakeholder needs and concerns are incorporated into the design of any proposed changes, where possible and appropriate.

General information about Australia’s current requirements for CITES-listed species is available on the Departments Wildlife Trade page.

To provide comment on the proposals, please refer to:

Options for streamlining the processing and issuing of CITES permits

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) requires permits for international commercial trade of items containing CITES-listed species. The Australian Government Department of the Environment issues these permits.

In the interests of reducing the regulatory burden on industry, the Australian Government is seeking views on the export, import and re-export of commercial shipments of CITES-listed specimens.

Views are sought from commercial businesses involved in international trade in CITES-listed species, and particularly the crocodile industry. Views from all other interested groups are also welcomed. Questions to consider are:

  • Do you have any suggestions on ways to improve wildlife trade permitting?
  • What are the key opportunities and/or risk areas for your business?
  • How much time does your business spend on each permit application and how many permit applications does your business make in a year?

To provide comment on the proposals, please refer to:

Personal and household effects

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) generally requires permits for the international movement of items containing CITES-listed species. CITES allows exemptions from these permit requirements when the items are exported as personal baggage or as part of a household move to another CITES member country that recognises the exemption. The exemption only applies to specimens that are not alive.

In Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 (EPBC Regulations) regulate the import and export of species listed under CITES. The current requirements for international movement of CITES-listed personal and household effects in the EPBC Act and Regulations are stricter than current CITES requirements and can be complex to apply.

The proposal to simplify and streamline the personal and household effects requirements involves examining the following options:

  • Broadening the personal and household effects exemptions to include more species listed on Appendix II of CITES to be more consistent with CITES requirements.
    • Under Australian law, these are currently limited to only a few species or if they are being exported from a limited number of countries.
  • A review of the list of species that always require an import permit.
  • Removal of personal baggage permits.

The proposals only relate to species listed on Appendix II of CITES (i.e. species that may become threatened by trade). There is no proposal to change any Australian requirements for species listed on Appendix I of CITES, which are species that are threatened by trade and require a high degree of protection. Australia does not recognise any exemptions from permitting requirements for species listed on Appendix I of CITES.

Further information on Australia’s current requirements for personal and household effects is available on the Travelling with plants and animal products as personal or household effects into or out of Australia page.

Broadening the personal and household effects exemption

Australia only partially implements the personal and household effects exemption for the import and export of CITES specimens. These exemptions only apply if the importing or exporting country also recognises the exemptions.

For export from Australia, the only specimens eligible for the exemption under Australian law are those with a quantitative limit. These are:

  • Sturgeon caviar (125g per person)
  • Cactus rainsticks (3 per person)
  • Crocodile products (4 per person)
  • Queen conch shell (3 per person)
  • Seahorses (4 per person)
  • Giant clam shells (3 per person).

For import to Australia, specimens that do not require a permit because they are eligible for the personal and household effects exemption are:

  • non-live Appendix II listed specimens carried in personal baggage that are within any quantitative limits as listed above

or

  • for household effects, those being imported from one of the countries listed in the EPBC Regulations.

The list of countries in the regulations was established some time ago and may be outdated.

The proposal is to broaden the personal and household effects exemptions for import and export to include most species listed on Appendix II of CITES, consistent with CITES requirements.

It is expected that there will be some species listed on Appendix II of CITES for which a permit will always be required. Currently, Australian law includes a list of taxa (species and groups of species) that always require an import permit. This list will be examined as part of the review process.

Personal baggage permits

To enable exports of personally-owned products that include species listed on Appendix II of CITES and carried in the personal accompanied baggage of the owner, the Australian Department of the Environment issues ‘personal baggage permits’. These permits cost the applicant $2 per permit and are intended for the export of products containing CITES-listed species that are not eligible for the exemption.

As part of the broadening of the personal and household effects exemption to most CITES Appendix II listed species, the Department of the Environment is examining the feasibility of phasing out personal baggage permits.

Currently, most personal baggage permits are issued for crocodile products. Personal baggage permits are also often issued for python products, coral and other kinds of reptile products. Under current Australian law, coral, python and other CITES listed reptile species do require personal baggage permits for export.

Up to four personally-owned crocodile products can be carried out of the country in a person’s accompanied baggage without any permits under current Australian law if the importing country also recognises the exemption. Given personal baggage permits are not a current requirement for crocodile products, the proposal to remove personal baggage permits would not provide any additional incentive or encouragement for illegal hunting of crocodiles.

Questions to consider

Views are sought from organisations, businesses, governments and individuals and others involved in wildlife trade and tourism and wildlife conservation. Questions to consider are:

  • What are the potential benefits and/or impacts of the removal of personal baggage permits?
  • What are the key risks or opportunities in the proposed changes to the personal and household effects exemptions?
  • Are there species or taxa carried in personal baggage or household effects that you think would/would not be appropriate to exempt from permit requirements?
  • What does your business use personal baggage permits for?
  • If the products you sell were exempt from personal baggage permit requirements, would you still want to provide permits to your customers? Why?
  • How much time does your business spend on each permit application and how many permits does your business apply for in one application?
  • How many applications does your business make in a year?
  • Do you have any other ideas on how Australia’s personal and household effects requirements could be streamlined?

To provide comment on the proposals, please refer to:

How to provide comments

The proposals may have implications for organisations, businesses, governments and individuals involved in wildlife trade and tourism and wildlife conservation. You are invited to submit information to support the development and consideration of these proposals.

The public consultation period has been extended. Please provide your written comments by Wednesday, 30 September 2015 AEST 5pm to:

The Director
Wildlife Trade Regulation
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601
wildlifetrade@environment.gov.au

How your comments will be handled

Information provided in submissions may be made publicly available. If you believe any information provided in your submission is confidential, including commercially sensitive information, ensure that you clearly identify such information and the reason for its confidentiality at the time of submission.

People making submissions should be aware that the Department is subject to certain legislative and administrative accountability and transparency requirements of the Australian Government, including disclosures to the Parliament and its Committees. While the Department will treat all information provided in submissions sensitively, any information contained in or relating to a submission, including information identified by the person who made the submission as confidential, may need to be disclosed by the Department:

  • to its employees
  • to the Minister and employees of the Minister’s Office
  • within the Department or other agencies where this serves the legitimate interest of the Australian Government
  • in response to a request by a House or Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
  • where information is authorised or permitted by law to be disclosed
  • where the information is in the public domain other than by the Department’s disclosure of that information.

The Department’s full privacy policy is available at http://www.environment.gov.au/privacy-policy.