Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

Proposals to amend Appendices I and II

Provisional assessments by the Secretariat

1. The list of proposals to amend Appendices I and II to be considered at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties was communicated to the Parties through a Notification to Contracting and Signatory States on 17 June 2002.

2. The proposals themselves started being made available on the CITES website from 14 June 2002 and printed copies were sent with Notification to the Parties No. 2002/037 of 24 June 2002, in the form and language in which they were received by the Secretariat.

3. Annexed to the present Notification are provisional assessments of these, prepared by the Secretariat in the context of its responsibilities under Article XV, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention, and in accordance with Resolution Conf. 5.20.

4. This information is being communicated to the Parties at this early stage in order to help them in making their own assessment of the proposals, to stimulate discussion and to encourage further clarification to be provided where appropriate.

5. In September 2002, the Secretariat will communicate to the Parties its recommendations on the proposals, which will take account of the comments received from Parties and organizations as well as from intergovernmental bodies having a function in relation to marine species (in accordance with the provisions of Article XV, paragraph 2(b), of the Convention).

6. Parties that wish to submit comments on the proposals are requested to communicate these to the Secretariat no later than 4 September 2002.