The CITES Convention and trade in animals and plants
The Conference of the Parties to the CITES
The Conference of the Parties to the Convention meets about every three years; it last met in 2013 and will meet again in September 2016 in South Africa. It decides in particular on the requests for amendments to Appendices I and II, monitors progress in practical application of the Convention and takes other decisions concerning activities related to trade in endangered species. The parties shall annually report to the Secretariat on permits issued with details on the specimens concerned. They shall also, every two years, report on legislative and other measures to enforce the application of the Convention (Article VIII(7)).
To date, the Convention has been amended twice. A 1979 amendment allowed the Conference of the Parties to adopt financial provisions. And the Gaborone amendment of 1983 allowed the accession of regional economic integration organisations, such as the EU. This amendment entered into force after 30 years, in 2013. In 2015, the EU acceded to the Convention.
Source: CITES. https://cites.org/cop17