New rules to regulate exotic animal trade

In June 2020, the wildlife division of MoEFF introduced new rules to regulate the import and export of ‘exotic wildlife species’. Until now, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, oversaw such trade. Under the new rules, owners and possessors of such animals and birds must also register their stock with the Chief Wildlife Warden of their States.

 

Officials of the Wildlife Department will prepare an inventory of such species and have the right to inspect the facilities of such traders to check if these plants and animals were being housed in salubrious conditions. In addition,  stockists will have six months to declare their stock.

 

The ‘exotic live species’ will mean animals named under Appendices I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. It will not include species from the Schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

 

CITES is part of a multilateral treaty that includes plant, animals and

birds under varying categories of threat of extinction and which will be jointly protected by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. India is a signatory to CITES. According to the 2016 UN World Wildlife Crime Report 2016, criminals illegally trade products derived from over 7000 species of wild animals and plants across the world.

 

The FATF Report (described in the previous blog post) described wildlife trafficking as a “global threat”, which also has links with other organized crimes such as modern slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade. The illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to $23 billion a year.

 

India continues to battle wildlife crime, with reports suggesting that many times such species are available for trade on online market places. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is the organization that is tasked with monitoring illegal trade.

 

(Source: This is based on a report in The Hindu dated June 29, 2020.)