The European Union and wildlife trafficking
Introduction
When the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was concluded in 1973, accession to it was only possible to states. An amendment to the Convention was adopted in 1983 which allowed regional economic integration organisations, such as the European Union (further – the EU), to also become parties to the Convention. However, it took until 2013 before this amendment of the Convention entered into force. The EU made use of this opportunity and acceded to the Convention in 2015.
However, the EU did not wait, until 2013 to apply the provisions of the Convention. It requested and obtained an observer status in the CITES. Where it had proposals to make for the amendment of the Appendices, it agreed such proposals in the Council. One of its Member States - all 28 EU Member States progressively became parties to the Convention, - then formally presented the proposal in its own name and as the representative of the EU.
As the EU defines itself as a space without internal borders where products and services could circulate freely, without controls, it was impossible to incorporate the CITES provisions on national export and import permits directly into EU law, as this would have meant the re-introduction of national border controls for endangered fauna and flora. The EU decided therefore to adopt a regulation where export and import permits and other CITES documents would be granted at entrance and exit from the EU, but where fauna and flora specimens, once within the EU, could circulate freely between Member States, without further controls.
Franz Böhmer