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The trade in wildlife species threatened with
extinction is regulated by the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES), which covers more than 33,000 species
of animals and plants. The EU has transposed the
provisions of CITES into Regulation (EC) No 338/97,
including requirements concerning the transport
and accommodation of live animals in order to
safeguard their welfare. Regulation (EC) No 865/2006
sets up the detailed rules for its implementation.
These rules only cover endangered species, and
no rules are in place to protect these species
which survival is not threatened.
In addition these rules are far from being correctly
enforced and unacceptable mortality rates are
suffered by many species in trade, including by
those traded in very large numbers but not listed
under the EU wildlife trade regulation, which
lack adequate protection.
Every few years, the member States of CITES meet at a Conference of the Parties (CoP) to review and vote on proposals to add or remove species from Appendices I and II, and to discuss the implementation of the Convention. CITES CoP15 will be held in Doha, Qatar in March 2010. A number of high profile species and controversial proposals will be considered including: African elephant, tiger, polar bear, blue fin tuna and eight shark species.
Eurogroup and Members are working with the Species Survival Network to prepare positions and briefings for the numerous proposals presented by Parties for CoP15. Collectively, we will ask EU Member States and European institutions to develop an EU position.
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