[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 215 (Monday, November 7, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68778-68780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28735]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R9-IA-2011-0087; 96300-1671-0000 FY12-R4]
Request for Information and Recommendations on Resolutions,
Decisions, and Agenda Items for Consideration at the Sixteenth Regular
Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: To implement the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES or the Convention),
the Parties to the Convention meet periodically to review what species
in international trade should be regulated and other aspects of the
implementation of CITES. The sixteenth regular meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP16) is tentatively scheduled to
be held in March 2013 in Thailand. This is our second in a series of
Federal Register notices that, together with an announced public
meeting, provide you with an opportunity to participate in the
development of the U.S. negotiating positions for CoP16. We published
our first CoP16-related Federal Register notice on June 14, 2011, in
which we requested information and recommendations on species proposals
for the United States to consider submitting for consideration at
CoP16. Further input from the public on species proposals will be
sought in a future notice. With this notice we are soliciting and
invite you to provide us with information and recommendations on
resolutions, decisions, and agenda items that the United States might
consider submitting for discussion at CoP16. In addition, with this
notice we provide preliminary information on how to request approved
observer status for nongovernmental organizations that wish to attend
the meeting.
DATES: We will consider all information and comments we receive on or
before January 6, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments pertaining to recommendations for
resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for discussion at CoP16 by one
of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R9-
IA-2011-0087.
U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public Comments Processing,
Attn: FWS-R9-IA-2011-0087; Division of Policy and Directives
Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS
2042-PDM; Arlington, VA 22203.
We will not consider comments sent by email or fax or to an address
not listed in the ADDRESSES section. We will post all comments on
http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any
personal information you provide us. If you submit a comment via http://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment--including any personal
identifying information--will be posted on the Web site. If you submit
a hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying information, you
may request at the top of your document that we withhold this
information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so. We will post all hardcopy comments on http://www.regulations.gov.
Comments and materials we receive in response to this notice will
be available for public inspection on http://www.regulations.gov, or by
appointment, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of
Management Authority, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 212, Arlington, VA
22203; telephone (703) 358-1908.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information pertaining to
resolutions, decisions, and agenda items contact: Robert R. Gabel,
Chief, Division of Management Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 212, Arlington, VA 22203;
telephone (703) 358-2095; facsimile (703) 358-2298. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at (800) 877-8339. For information
pertaining to species proposals contact: Rosemarie Gnam, Chief,
Division of Scientific Authority, phone (703) 358-1708, fax (703) 358-
2276, email: scientificauthority@fws.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora, hereinafter referred to as CITES or the Convention, is
an international treaty designed to regulate international trade in
certain animal and plant species that are now, or potentially may
become, threatened with extinction. These species are listed in the
Appendices to CITES, which are available on the CITES Secretariat's Web
site at http://www.cites.org/eng/app/index.shtml.
Currently, 175 countries, including the United States, are Parties
to CITES. The Convention calls for regular biennial meetings of the
Conference of the Parties, unless the Conference
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decides otherwise. At these meetings, the Parties review the
implementation of CITES, make provisions enabling the CITES Secretariat
in Switzerland to carry out its functions, consider amendments to the
list of species in Appendices I and II, consider reports presented by
the Secretariat, and make recommendations for the improved
effectiveness of CITES. Any country that is a Party to CITES may
propose amendments to Appendices I and II, resolutions, decisions, and
agenda items for consideration by all the Parties at the meeting.
This is our second in a series of Federal Register notices that,
together with an announced public meeting, provide you with an
opportunity to participate in the development of the U.S. submissions
to and negotiating positions for the sixteenth regular meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP16). We published our first
CoP16-related Federal Register notice on June 14, 2011 (76 FR 34746),
in which we requested information and recommendations on species
proposals for the United States to consider submitting for
consideration at CoP16. With today's notice, we had intended to
announce tentative species proposals that the United States is
considering submitting for CoP16 and solicit further information and
comments on them. However, we have not completed our assessment of the
information received in response to our request for information and
recommendations on species proposals for the United States to consider
submitting for consideration at CoP16. We intend to announce tentative
species proposals that the United States is considering submitting for
CoP16 and solicit further information and comments on them when we
publish our next CoP16-related Federal Register notice. You may obtain
information on species proposals by contacting the Division of
Scientific Authority at the telephone number or email address provided
in ``FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT'' above. Our regulations governing
this public process are found in title 50 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) at 23.87.
CoP16 is tentatively scheduled to be held in Thailand in March
2013.
U.S. Approach for CoP16
We published our first CoP16-related Federal Register notice on
June 14, 2011 (76 FR 34746) and described our approach for species
proposals for the United States to consider submitting at CoP16.
Priorities for U.S. submissions to CoP16 continue to be consistent with
the overall objective of U.S. participation in the Convention: To
maximize the effectiveness of the Convention in the conservation and
sustainable use of species subject to international trade. With this in
mind, we plan to consider the following factors when considering
recommendations for resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for
discussion at CoP16:
(1) Does the proposed action address difficulties in implementing
or interpreting the Convention by the United States as an importing or
exporting country, and would the proposed action contribute to the
effective implementation of the Convention by all Parties? Differences
in interpretation of the Convention by 175 Party nations can result in
inconsistencies in the way it is implemented. In addition, wildlife
trade is dynamic and ever-changing, thus presenting problems when
established procedures are not readily applicable to new situations.
The United States experiences some of these problems and
inconsistencies directly through its own imports and exports, but we
also learn of these difficulties through our participation in various
fora, such as the CITES Standing Committee and technical committees,
and through discussions with other countries, nongovernmental
organizations, and the CITES Secretariat. When the United States cannot
resolve these difficulties unilaterally or through bilateral
discussions with trading partners, we may propose resolutions or
decisions, usually in collaboration with other Parties, or have these
topics included in the agenda of the meeting of the Conference of the
Parties for discussion by all of the Parties.
(2) Does the proposed action improve implementation of the
Convention by increasing the quality of information and expertise used
to support decisions by the Parties? With increased complexity,
sophistication, and specialization in the biological sciences and other
disciplines, it is critical that the CITES Parties have the best
available information upon which to base decisions that affect the
conservation of wildlife resources. Where appropriate, the United
States will recommend actions to ensure the availability of up-to-date
and accurate information to the Parties, including through the
establishment of relationships with relevant international bodies,
including other conventions, interjurisdictional resource management
agencies, and international nongovernmental organizations with relevant
expertise.
Request for Information and Recommendations on Resolutions, Decisions,
and Agenda Items
Although we have not yet received formal notice of the provisional
agenda for CoP16, we invite your input on possible agenda items that
the United States could recommend for inclusion, or on possible
resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the Parties that the
United States could submit for consideration. Copies of the agenda and
the results of the last meeting of the Conference of the Parties
(CoP15) in Doha, Qatar, in March 2010, as well as copies of all
resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the Parties currently in
effect, are available on the CITES Secretariat's Web site (http://www.cites.org/) or from the Division of Management Authority at the
above address.
Observers
Article XI, paragraph 7 of CITES provides: ``Any body or agency
technically qualified in protection, conservation or management of wild
fauna and flora, in the following categories, which has informed the
Secretariat of its desire to be represented at meetings of the
Conference by observers, shall be admitted unless at least one-third of
the Parties present object:
(a) International agencies or bodies, either governmental or
nongovernmental, and national governmental agencies and bodies; and
(b) National nongovernmental agencies or bodies which have been
approved or this purpose by the State in which they are located.
Once admitted, these observers shall have the right to participate but
not to vote.''
National agencies or organizations within the United States must
obtain our approval to participate in CoP16, whereas international
agencies or organizations must obtain approval directly from the CITES
Secretariat. We will publish information in a future Federal Register
notice on how to request approved observer status. A factsheet on the
process is posted on our Web site at: http://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/ob.pdf.
Future Actions
As stated above, the next regular meeting of the Conference of the
Parties (CoP16) is tentatively scheduled to be held in Thailand in
March 2013. The United States must submit any proposals to amend
Appendix I or II, or any draft resolutions, decisions, or agenda items
for discussion at CoP16, to
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the CITES Secretariat 150 days (tentatively early October 2012) prior
to the start of the meeting. In order to meet this deadline and to
prepare for CoP16, we have developed a tentative U.S. schedule. When we
publish our next CoP16-related Federal Register notice, we intend to
announce tentative species proposals that the United States is
considering submitting for CoP16 and solicit further information and
comments on them. Following publication of that Federal Register notice
and approximately 9 months prior to CoP16, we plan to publish a Federal
Register notice announcing draft resolutions, draft decisions, and
agenda items to be submitted by the United States at CoP16, and to
solicit further information and comments on them. Approximately 4
months prior to CoP16, we will post on our Web site an announcement of
the species proposals, draft resolutions, draft decisions, and agenda
items submitted by the United States to the CITES Secretariat for
consideration at CoP16.
Through a series of additional notices and Web site postings in
advance of CoP16, we will inform you about preliminary negotiating
positions on resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the Appendices
proposed by other Parties for consideration at CoP16, and about how to
obtain observer status from us. We will also publish an announcement of
a public meeting tentatively to be held approximately 3 months prior to
CoP16; that meeting will enable us to receive public input on our
positions regarding CoP16 issues. The procedures for developing U.S.
documents and negotiating positions for a meeting of the Conference of
the Parties to CITES are outlined in 50 CFR 23.87. As noted in
paragraph (c) of that section, we may modify or suspend the procedures
outlined there if they would interfere with the timely or appropriate
development of documents for submission to the CoP and of U.S.
negotiating positions.
Author
The primary author of this notice is Clifton A. Horton, Division of
Management Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: October 19, 2011.
Hannibal Bolton,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-28735 Filed 11-4-11; 8:45 am]
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