The document discusses CITES reporting requirements for parties. It outlines that parties must submit annual reports on trade in CITES species and biennial reports on enforcement measures. Parties are obliged to submit these reports under Article VIII. The reports allow for monitoring of trade levels and implementation. Special reports may also be required through resolutions. The document provides details on the content and deadlines for annual and biennial reports. It notes that reports are an important tool but are only as accurate as the data submitted by parties. Constraints to reporting like lack of resources and guidance are also discussed.

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Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
www.CITES.org
National Reporting

2. 2
Overview
• National reporting in CITES falls under the
following categories:
– Annual report on trade in CITES species
– Biennial report on measures taken to enforce the
Convention
– Special reports, required by
Resolutions, Decisions,
or Committees

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Overview
• Legally-binding
– Annual and biennial reports Article VIII, paragraph 7
– Responses to requests for further information from the
Secretariat after the study of reports Article XII, paragraph 2(d)
• Not legally-binding
– General information requested in Resolutions
– Species-specific information requested in Resolutions
– Information requested through Notifications or direct
requests

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Annual/biennial reports
• Parties are obliged to submit periodic reports under
the provisions of Article VIII, paragraph 7
• The annual reports and biennial reports are the only
available means of monitoring the implementation of
the Convention and the level of international trade in
specimens of species included in the Appendices
• However,
– Compliance with annual reports has improved but timeliness
is still a problem
– A number of Parties have not submitted regular biennial
reports, but a new format may improve submission rates

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Annual/biennial reports
• Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP14) on National
reports urges all Parties to submit their annual reports
in accordance with the Guidelines for the preparation
and submission of CITES annual reports distributed by
the Secretariat by Notification to the Parties
(see Notification to the Parties No. 2006/030)
• The Resolution also urges all Parties to submit their
biennial reports in accordance with the Biennial report
format distributed by the Secretariat
(see Notification to the Parties No. 2005/035)
• Both reports should now cover the same 1 January --
31 December period

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Annual/biennial reports
• The Resolution urges Parties with multiple
Management Authorities to submit a coordinated
annual report and a coordinated biennial report (e.g.
including information from all sectoral and
subnational bodies) to the extent possible
• The Resolution also acknowledges that the
Conference of the Parties may request that Parties
provide special reports not required by the
Convention, if additional information is
needed that cannot be sought via the
annual or biennial report

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Annual reports
• The Resolution also:
– Recommends that each Party to the Convention that is a
member of a regional trade agreement include in its annual
reports information on trade with other member States of
that regional trade agreement, unless the record-keeping
and reporting duties of Article VIII are in direct and
irreconcilable conflict with the provisions of the regional
trade agreement
– Urges every Party to consider whether the preparation of its
reports could be computerized and submitted in electronic
format

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Annual reports
• The Resolution also:
– Urges Parties experiencing problems with the regular
preparation and submission of reports to seek assistance
from the Secretariat to produce those reports
– Recommends that Parties studying or developing computer
programmes for licensing and reporting trade as well as
managing other information under the Convention consult
with each other, and with the Secretariat, in order to ensure
optimal harmonization and compatibility of systems

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Deadlines
• Reports are due by 31 October of the year following
the year for which the report is due
• The Secretariat may approve a valid request from a
Party for a reasonable extension of the deadline for
the submission of annual or biennial reports provided
the Party submits a written request containing
adequate justification before that deadline

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Deadlines
• Failure to submit an annual report by 31 October of
the year following the year for which the report was
due constitutes a major problem with the
implementation of the Convention, which the
Secretariat is required to bring to the attention of the
Standing Committee
• Parties are recommended to not authorize trade in
specimens of CITES-listed species with any Party that
the Standing Committee has determined has failed to
provide their annual reports for three consecutive
years and without an adequate justification

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Submission
• Annual reports should be sent either to the
Secretariat or to the UNEP World Conservation
Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), which maintains
the computer database of annual report statistics on
behalf of the Secretariat
• However, if the annual report is sent directly to
UNEP-WCMC, a note of transmission of the report
must be sent to the Secretariat

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General principles
• Annual reports must contain information on imports,
exports, re-exports and introductions from the sea of
specimens of all species included in Appendices I, II
and III
• Records of trade in manufactured specimens of
species in Appendices II and III may be summarized
• Annual reports should be prepared in English, French
or Spanish

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General principles
• As far as possible, the data in the report should
record the actual trade that took place, i.e. the
quantity of specimens that entered or left the country
• If it is not possible to report the actual exports and re-
exports, the data on such trade should come from
each permit and certificate issued
• The report should state clearly whether the data used
for the records of imports and exports/re-exports are
based on permits/certificates issued or on actual
trade

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General principles
• Any record relating to a specimen that was traded in
accordance with an exemption under Article VII of the
Convention (e.g. Pre-Convention specimens), should
be annotated to show this

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• Annual reports may be submitted in the form of
printed or hand-written reports or in electronic format,
with the following information:
Imports
General principles
• Appendix
• Species
• Description
• Quantity
• Country of export or re-
export
• Number of export permit or re-
export certificate
• Country of origin of re-exports
• Purpose
• Source
• Remarks

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• Annual reports may be submitted in the form of
printed or hand-written reports or in electronic format,
with the following information:
Exports/Re-exports
General principles
• Appendix
• Species
• Description
• Quantity
• Country of destination
• Number of export permit or re-
export certificate
• Country of origin of re-exports
• Purpose
• Source
• Remarks

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General principles
• Terminology is standardized for:
– Description of specimens and units of quantity
• E.g.
– Names of countries and territories
– Purpose of trade
– Source of specimens

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Annual report data
• Data from annual reports are compiled into the
CITES trade database managed on behalf of the
CITES Secretariat by the UNEP- World Conservation
Monitoring Centre
• To date, the database has over seven million
records (compiled since 1975)

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… an under-utilized resource
• Parties put a significant amount of time and effort into
compiling annual reports
• However, few take advantage of the wealth of
information to be found within the larger database,
compiled subsets of which are available on request,
or obtained through the CITES Website access

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Why analyse trade data?
• Parties can compare their records of national
exports with import records submitted by their
trading partners
• This could provide indications on problems
with enforcement or reporting

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Why analyse trade data?
• CITES data can be illustrated in many
different ways

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What data analyses can demonstrate
• Detrimental trade could be indicated by:
• changes in numbers of species in trade
• serial shifts in countries of export
• lack of correspondence of reported trade with
quotas

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What data analyses can demonstrate
• Trade shifts in response to harvest/trade
controls could be indicated by:
• declines in reported trade in the target taxa
• shifts amongst range States that supply the target
taxa
• increase in trade volumes of
similar species or specimens

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What data analyses can demonstrate
• Changing market trends could be indicated by
changes in time in reported sources or
purposes, trading partners, product types or
volumes of certain specimens

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What data analyses can demonstrate
• CITES data can help highlight situations where more
detailed investigation of harvests, trade and/or
associated controls is required in order to ensure that
trade is not detrimental and is conducted in
accordance with CITES and national laws
• Annual reports are an essential
element of trade management and
monitoring

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Main limitation
• Analyses supported by CITES trade data are
only as accurate and comprehensive as the
data submitted in CITES annual reports

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Biennial report
• Each Party is required to submit a biennial report on
legislative, regulatory and administrative measures
taken to enforce the provisions of the Convention
• The biennial report has three main objectives:
– To enable monitoring of the implementation and
effectiveness of the Convention
– To facilitate the identification of major achievements,
significant developments, or trends, gaps or problems and
possible solutions
– Provide a basis for substantive and procedural decision-
making by the Conference of the Parties and various
subsidiary bodies

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Biennial report
• The biennial report format is divided into five parts:
– General information
– Legislative and regulatory measures: related to adoption and
review of laws and regulations
– Compliance and enforcement measures: related to
compliance monitoring as well as administrative, civil or
criminal enforcement
– Administrative measures: related to the structure and
activities of CITES authorities
– General feedback

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Biennial report
• The current format has been distributed to the Parties
in Notification No. 2005/035 of 6 July 2005
– The reporting format is intended to be completed by making
use of tick boxes and expandable space, so that a reporting
agency can take as much space as required to give a full
answer

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Special reports
• A number of reporting requirements appear in
Resolutions, Decisions, Notifications, or result from
direct requests for information
• These may be of a general nature, or they may be
species-specific
• These reporting requirements, together with annual
and biennial reports, can represent a sizeable
demand on the time of CITES authorities

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Special reports
• Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev. CoP13) on Submission of
draft resolutions and other documents for meetings of
the Conference of the Parties recommends that when
drafting resolutions and decisions which require the
gathering of information, a Party consider whether
such information could be sought via the annual or
biennial report, or if a special report is needed, and
generally ensure that the reporting burden is kept to a
minimum

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Examples of Special reports
• Examples of Special reports requested through
Resolutions:
– Stricter domestic measures Conf. 4.22
– All known manufacturers of microchip implants and associated equipment
within the country Conf. 8.13 (Rev.)
– Any inconsistencies in trade involving non-Parties Conf. 9.5 (Rev. CoP14)
– Decisions taken on disposal of confiscated live specimens Conf. 10.7
– Regional reports Conf. 11.1 (Rev. CoP14)
– Significant cases of illegal trade, convicted illegal traders and persistent
offenders Conf. 11.3 (Rev. CoP14)
– Implementation problems presented by national plant trade organizations to
the Plants Committee Conf. 11.11 (Rev. CoP14)
– Registration of scientific institutions Conf. 11.15 (Rev. CoP12)
– Reports on ranching operations Conf. 11.16 (Rev. CoP16)
– Responses to significant trade selections / recommendations Conf. 12.8 (Rev.
CoP13)

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Review of reporting
• Decision 14.37
The Standing Committee, with the assistance of the Secretariat,
the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN –
The World Conservation Union, shall undertake a review of the
recommendations to Parties to provide special reports under the
Convention, assess whether they have been or might be
effectively incorporated into the annual and biennial reports and
consider how the biennial report format might be revised to
facilitate such incorporation
It shall report at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the
Parties on its conclusions and recommendations

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Review of reporting
• Constraints to reporting:
– A lack of staff, time and/or
money
– Lack of overall record of
permits being issued, used
and accepted
– Computerization problems
– Institutional restructuring,
changes in the
responsibilities of staff,
changes in the designated
Management Authorities
– Poor or no institutional
collaboration and clear
central focal point where
information is brought
– Lack of guidance, format
and/or examples
– Too many reporting
requirements under different
conventions
– Lack of clear purpose or
usefulness of reporting
– Lack of available information
– Civil unrest

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CITES Secretariat
Geneva