No. 706                                 Lausanne, 21 December 1992


CONCERNING:


                             COLOMBIA

               Export of Skins of Caiman crocodilus


1.Since  some  years  Colombia  has initiated  a  captive-breeding
  programme  of Caiman crocodilus. After the Crocodile  Specialist
  Group, at its meeting in Zimbabwe, in August 1992, and the CITES
  Secretariat  expressed their concern regarding the  conduct  and
  development of that programme, the CITES Authorities of Colombia
  offered  their  full  co-operation  and  initiated  an  in-depth
  revision of the programme.

2.Some   importing  countries,  however,  have  reported  to   the
  Secretariat   cases  of  lack  of  correspondence  between   the
  merchandise and the indications of the Colombian permits.

  Therefore,  the Secretariat wishes to confirm that  when  it  is
  indicated on a Colombian CITES permit "pieles menores de  1m20",
  this  size  refers  to  the total length of  a  full  skin  (see
  Figure 1). On the other hand, when it is indicated on the  CITES
  permit  "flancos provenientes de pieles menores de  1m20",  this
  means that the document covers flanks of a length which can  not
  be above 70cm [see Figure 2 (1a and 1b)].

3.The  Secretariat  urges all Parties to control  with  particular
  care  the  shipments  of skins of Caiman crocodilus  originating
  from Colombia and to take note of the above information.