Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

Submission of nationally-established export quotas for the year 2003

Submission of export quotas

1. The Secretariat requests that by 31 December 2002 at the latest the Parties provide it with details of the export quotas for CITES-listed species that they have established for 2003. These export quotas will be published on the relevant section of its website as soon as they are received and, where necessary, verified. The Secretariat will also publish by April 2003 a Notification to the Parties on the nationally-established export quotas for the year 2003.

2. The information requested should preferably be presented in a format similar to that used in the tables in Annex 2 of Notification to the Parties No. 2002/032 of 2 May 2002, which is available on the CITES Secretariat website. Parties should specify the origin and the type of the specimens that will be subject to annual export quotas.

3. For species included in the tables in Annex 2 of Notification to the Parties No. 2002/032, changes from the 2002 export quota levels may be transmitted to the Secretariat in the form of annotations to the relevant page of the tables. Exports quotas for additional species should preferably be provided electronically using the standard nomenclature where applicable. In cases where export quotas remain the same in 2003 as in the previous year, the Secretariat should be duly notified of this decision.

Export quotas for Acipenseriformes

4. The Parties are reminded that a new Resolution concerning Conservation of and trade in sturgeons and paddlefish was adopted at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The Resolution recommends, with regard to catch and export quotas, that Parties not accept the import of specimens of Acipenseriformes species from stocks shared between different range States¹ unless:

a) export quotas for that year have been established by the range States² concerned and have been communicated by the Secretariat to the Parties;

b) the export quotas referred to in subparagraph a) have been derived from catch quotas agreed amongst States that provide habitat for the same stock of an Acipenseriformes species;

c) catch quotas are based on an appropriate regional conservation strategy and monitoring regime for the species concerned;

d) the Secretariat is satisfied that catch and export quotas are agreed by all relevant range States, on the basis of information provided to it on the status of stocks of the species concerned; and

e) if a range State of a shared stock of a species of Acipenseriformes decides to reduce its quota established in accordance with the recommendation under stricter domestic measures, this shall not affect the quota of the other range States of this stock.

Export quotas for elephant specimens

5. Regarding export quotas for African elephant hunting trophies, the range States concerned should refer to the section entitled 'Regarding quotas for and trade in raw ivory' in Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev. CoP12).

Export in 2003 of specimens subject to the quotas for 2002

6. As explained in Notification to the Parties No. 2002/032, Parties that intend to authorize exports in the year 2003 of specimens that were obtained for export in 2002 or previous years and that were part of the quota for 2002, should inform the Secretariat before 15 January 2003 about the quantities still held in stock and the reason why they have not been exported in 2002. Otherwise the Secretariat may not be in a position to confirm the validity of the permits concerned.

General recommendations

7. Parties are encouraged to provide the Secretariat with any additional information pertaining to the rationale, scientific basis, management plan or agreement upon which export quotas have been based, or the non-detriment findings made concerning such export quotas. Provisions will be made on the website of the Secretariat to publish upon request of the Party concerned such information in the form and language received. This information should therefore be communicated electronically. Parties should specify the origin of the information and clearly indicate that it is intended for further distribution via the website of the Secretariat.

1	Quotas do not have to be established for specimens from stocks that are not shared with other countries, or from captive-breeding or aquaculture operations. Quotas communicated for such specimens are voluntary quotas recommended to be established and communicated in paragraph f) of Resolution Conf. 10.12 (Rev.).
2	For States that do not have legislation to establish export quotas at the national level, export quotas communicated to the Parties are considered to be export quotas for the purposes of this Resolution only.