Import and Export legislation - Ornamental Fish International

Legislation
o for specimens that are
destined for scientific
research;
o for animals or plants forming
part of a travelling collection
or exhibition, such as a
circus.
There are special rules in these
cases and a permit or certificate
will generally still be required.
Anyone planning to import or
export/re-export specimens of a
CITES species should contact
the national CITES Management
Authorities of the countries of
import and export/re-export for
information on the rules that
apply.
When a specimen of a CITES-listed
species is transferred between a
country that is a Party to CITES and a
country that is not, the country that is a
Party may accept documentation
equivalent to the permits and
certificates described above.
CITES Meetings
Every two to three years the parties of
CITES meet in a Conference of the
Parties (CoP). The next meeting will
be held in The Hague, Netherlands in
June 2007. To ensure that as many of
the parties as possible will attend the
meeting, delegations of development
countries are assisted by sponsor
contributions. OFI members
contributed to this fund for the last
meeting and for the meeting in The
Hague.
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Ornamental Fish International
Former OFI President Svein Fosså is OFI’s
representative at CITES meetings.
Photo courtesy: Svein Fosså
At these CoP's not only do the Parties
take part in the discussion, it is also
the platform for NGOs such as OFI
(usually in collaboration with PIJAC
(USA) and OATA (UK)) to lobby to
convince delegates of the views of the
trade with respect to the proposals
under discussion.
Many of the proposals on the agenda
of the CoP of CITES have already
been prepared in a CoP of the Animals
Committee. In 2006 such a meeting
took place in Lima, Peru and OFI
participated in this meeting, as in all of
the meetings in recent years.
Proposals are discussed in several
working groups of delegated,
specialists of the Parties and
specialists of the NGOs. Participants
are invited on the basis of their