CITES: Managing Wildlife Trade through Permits

On 3 March 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, opened for signature in Washington, translating wildlife-conservation requirements into a system of cross-border trade permits. It concerned not only whole live organisms but also dead specimens and the parts and derivatives covered by its rules. Once skins, timber or horticultural plants crossed a border, conservation measures in the exporting country required cooperation from the importer; restrictions on hunting or collection in one country could not cover the entire trading chain.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature advanced the initiative in 1963, and the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment called for a plenipotentiary conference as soon as possible. The US government subsequently convened national representatives for negotiations in Washington from 12 February to 2 March 1973, chaired by Christian Herter Jr. The conference's Final Act was dated 2 March, while the convention entered treaty records under the following day's date, when it opened for signature. It formally entered into force only on 1 July 1975.

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Appendix I addressed species threatened with extinction that were or might be affected by trade. Their trade was subject to particularly strict restrictions and permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II covered species that might become endangered unless trade was strictly regulated and could also include similar-looking species whose inclusion was necessary for effective controls. Listing in Appendix II therefore did not amount to a complete sales ban, but required exports to satisfy conservation conditions.

Appendix III followed a different route: a party already regulating a species domestically could list it when assistance from other countries was needed to control trade. It was not simply the lowest risk category. Exports from the country requesting the listing required an export permit, while exports from other countries generally required a certificate of origin. The appendices linked risk, existing domestic measures and needs for international cooperation rather than subjecting every organism to one blanket prohibition.

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The convention required each party to designate management and scientific authorities. The management authority administered permits and checked that specimens had been legally acquired; the scientific authority advised whether trade would be detrimental to the species' survival. For an Appendix II export, a sales contract alone was insufficient: a scientific non-detriment finding was also required. Transport of live specimens had to minimize injury, damage to health and cruel treatment. Scientific authorities were to monitor exports and species conditions continually and recommend export limits where necessary.

Appendix I imports generally also required an advance permit from the importing state, confirming that the purpose was not detrimental to the species' survival, that facilities for receiving live specimens were suitable, and that use would not be primarily commercial. Re-export required confirmation that the specimens had originally been imported under the convention. Permits thus connected species identity, origin, purpose and transport in verifiable records. Export permits, import permits and re-export certificates each had their own conditions and were not interchangeable.

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Article VIII required parties to take appropriate measures to enforce the convention, prohibit trade contrary to it, and address illegal trade or possession through penalties, confiscation or return and related measures. Customs officials had to compare documents with specimens, specialists had to identify species, and domestic laws had to establish powers of investigation and punishment. The CITES Secretariat supported information exchange and meetings, but had no global patrol force replacing national enforcement agencies.

Plant trade particularly illustrated the importance of identification. Lavorgna and colleagues combined official documents with interviews of relevant agency personnel in thirteen countries to study vulnerabilities in trade involving orchids, cacti, timber and other plants. They found that forged documents, false species declarations and wild-collected plants declared as artificially propagated could deprive paper permits of their protective effect. Training, provenance records and inter-agency information exchange were therefore parts of the permit system.

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The convention provided procedures for amendments to Appendices I and II through proposals by parties, discussion of scientific material and voting, while Appendix III allowed relevant states to add or withdraw listings. What was established in 1973 was therefore an updatable regulatory framework. Later additions, deletions and transfers between appendices must be described according to their own decisions and effective dates, rather than projected back as arrangements completed all at once in the original convention.

CITES brought source and consumer countries together to confront pressures from international trade and created verification tools such as permits and trade reports. A list alone, however, could not restore lost habitat or guarantee adequate population data for every scientific assessment. Its historical role was to embed biological conservation in cross-border procedures. Effectiveness still depended on field information, domestic enforcement, genuine provenance and continuing cooperation.

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