20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties

The United States submitted or co-sponsored four proposals to amend Appendices I and II and four discussion documents for consideration at CITES CoP20. 

Species Proposals

• CoP20 Prop. 40 to amend Annotation #3 to exempt thin-sliced roots of artificially propagated American Ginseng from CITES provisions.
• CoP20 Prop. 7 (co-sponsored with Mexico) to move the Guadalupe Fur Seal to Appendix II from Appendix I.
• CoP20 Prop. 8 (co-sponsored with Mexico) to remove the Caribbean Monk Seal from Appendix I. This species has gone extinct, with no sightings since 1952, more than two decades before CITES was established.
• CoP20 Prop. 17 (co-sponsored with Canada) to to move the Peregrine Falcon to Appendix II from Appendix I.

Discussion documents

• CoP20 Doc. 105.2 on facilitating legal trade and sustainable use during periods of transition: We submitted a document to improve implementation of the Convention and reduce clearance delays for CITES specimens with long transit times, such as timber, by amending existing resolutions to expressly allow Parties to issue pre-Convention certificates and retrospective CITES documents during these periods of transition following a CoP.
• CoP20 Doc. 64.3 on the voluntary register of placement facilities for confiscated live specimens): We proposed decisions to increase support of CITES enforcement by establishing a voluntary register of rescue centers for confiscated live CITES listed animals and plants and amending a resolution to encourage funding for the transport and care of these specimens post-confiscation.
• CoP20 Doc. 67.2 on considerations and recommendations for ranching of aquatic species: We proposed that the CITES Animals Committee and Standing Committee review and provide guidance for the consistent application of the source code “R” for “ranching” for aquatic species. This guidance would close potential loopholes exploited by other Parties and prevent U.S. businesses engaging in legal, biologically sustainable trade in aquatic species from being undermined and out-competed in global markets.
• CoP20 Doc. 90 on the conservation of and trade in sea cucumbers (Holothuridae and Stichopodidae): We suggested the CITES Secretariat convene a global workshop to discuss the management of sea cucumbers and efforts to combat sea cucumber trafficking, which is a continuing conservation and national security threat as cucumber trafficking has linkages to transnational organized crime syndicates.

Tentative U.S. negotiating positions on tems for consideration at CoP20 that were submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES committees, and the CITES Secretariat, are available for species proposals and other agenda items.