Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties

The Government of Thailand has agreed to host the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, which, with the agreement of the CITES Secretariat, will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from Saturday 2 to Thursday 14 October 2004.

In accordance with the provisions of Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev. CoP12) on the Submission of draft resolutions and other documents for meetings of the Conference of the Parties, the text of any draft resolution and any document submitted for consideration at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties should be communicated to the Secretariat at least 150 days before the meeting, i.e. by 5 May 2004.

In accordance with the provisions of Article XV, paragraph 1, of the Convention, any Party may propose an amendment to Appendix I or II for consideration at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The text of the proposed amendment shall be communicated to the Secretariat at least 150 days before the meeting, i.e. by 5 May 2004. The proposals for amendment should be based on the criteria adopted in Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP12).

However, if a Party intends to submit a proposal to amend Appendix I or II that concerns a species or populations of a species that occur partly or totally outside of the territory under its jurisdiction, and if it does not intend to consult the other range States before the submission of its proposal, the Party, in accordance with Resolution Conf. 8.21 on the Consultation with range States on proposals to amend Appendices I and II, should submit its proposal to the Secretariat at least 330 days prior to the meeting, i.e. by 7 November 2003.

Additionally, in accordance with the provisions of Resolution Conf. 11.16 on the Ranching and trade in ranched specimens of species transferred from Appendix I to Appendix II, any Party may propose an amendment to Appendices I and II pursuant to this Resolution for consideration at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The text of the proposed amendment should be received by the Secretariat at least 330 days before the meeting, i.e. by 7 November 2003.

The Secretariat reminds Parties that the Conference of the Parties has recommended in Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev. CoP12) that, as a general rule, documents submitted for consideration should not be more than 12 pages in length and that any draft resolution or decision that has budgetary or workload implications for the Secretariat must contain a budget for the work involved and an indication of the source of funding. Moreover, the Standing Committee has agreed that the Secretariat should ask any Party that submits a document longer than 12 pages to provide it in the three working languages of the Convention.

Further information on the arrangements for the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties will be sent to the Parties in due course.