The European Union and wildlife trafficking

The first EU legislation – Regulation 3626/82 on the implementation in the Community of the Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, - which adhered to the provisions of the CITES Convention was adopted in 1982, and entered into effect in 1984. Some years later, this Regulation was replaced by Regulation 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein, which was based on the present Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and amended several times , but it is still valid at present. The amendments were almost all made in order to adapt Annexes to Regulation 338/97 to the amendments which the CITES Conference of the Parties had brought to Appendices I and II to the Convention; as regards Appendix III of the Convention, amendments were introduced by decisions of the different states who were signatories to the Convention, and the EU also adapted its Annexes in line with these amendments.

The EU had to take into consideration that it is a customs union and defines itself as a space without internal borders. It tried to align its legislation as much as possible with the provisions of the CITES Convention, and thus asked Member States to designate management authorities which should issue permits and certificates, and to appoint scientific authorities which could assess the scientific elements of any application for a permit. However, at the same time, it provided that import permits, export permits and other certificates and documents, which were issued by one authority of an EU Member State, were valid all over the EU (Article 11 part 1 of Regulation 338/97). And it set up a "Scientific Review Group" (SRG), composed of scientific representatives of all Member States which was to give advice to the EU CITES Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora, set up under Article 18 of Regulation 338/97. Cooperation in the EU SRG led to the result that any opinion expressed by the SRG was in practice considered to express also the opinion of the different scientific authorities of Member States; in this way, the opinions of the SRG were reflected in any opinion which these national authorities issued (footnote 1 in Commission Regulation 2015/736, which suspended the introduction of certain species into the EU).