No. 888                                   Geneva, 30 November 1995


CONCERNING:


   Submission of Nationally Established Export Quotas for 1996


1.The Secretariat is in the process of preparing a Notification on
  export  quotas for 1996, to be sent to the Parties as  early  as
  possible  next year, preferably before the end of  January.  The
  Secretariat  would  also  like to  avoid  having  to  issue  two
  Notifications on export quotas for 1996, although it had  to  do
  so  for  1995.  To  meet these two objectives,  the  Secretariat
  requests that the Parties provide it with details of the  export
  quotas  that they have established for 1996, by 15 January  1996
  at the latest.

2.The  information  requested should  be  presented  in  a  format
  similar  to  that  used in the table that was  transmitted  with
  Notification to the Parties No. 874 of 31 August 1995.

3.For  species included in the table transmitted with Notification
  No.  874,  changes  from the 1995 export  quota  levels  may  be
  indicated  on  a photocopy of the relevant page of  that  table,
  transmitted to the Secretariat.

4.The  Parties  are invited to consider the following points  when
  deciding on the export quotas for 1996 and future years:

     i)    In  cases where the hunting season includes the end  of
     one  calendar  year  (1  January  to  31  December)  and  the
     beginning  of  the  next calendar year, the establishment  of
     export   quotas  relating  to  hunting  seasons  has  created
     misunderstandings  about the legality of  some  specimens  in
     trade.  The  Secretariat  therefore  urges  the  Parties   to
     distinguish  hunting quotas from export  quotas  and  to  set
     export quotas only in relation to the calendar year.

     ii)   Misunderstandings have also been created by the  export
     of specimens with a permit or certificate declaring that they
     were  exported under the export quota for the previous  year.
     To avoid further misunderstandings, the Secretariat urges the
     Parties  to make every effort to include in the export  quota
     for  each year specimens that, during the previous year, were
     legally acquired for export but not exported.

5.The  Secretariat  thanks the Parties in advance  for  their  co-
  operation and prompt action.