COMPLETE GUIDELINE TO:
“SURVEY BY THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR ENVIRONMENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON IVORY TRADE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU)”
Section A:
Your Personals Information.
Questions 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, are compulsory and should indicate your personal data.
Section B:
Information about your involvement in trade. Questions should reflect your interest. You can be a specialist or simply a wildlife amateur. Specify.
Section C:
Question 1:
In your experience, what is the scale of illegal trade in ivory to/from/within the EU, compared to the legal trade?
= Illegal trade is much larger
Evidence:
Ivory is the most traded wildlife product over the internet (IFAW, Interpol, EC Program 2013). In two weeks investigation conducted in 10 EU countries emerged that 660 advertisement were posted, 61 auctions took place, 4500 kg were traded for a value of Euro 1.450.000.
LINKS :
http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Project%20Web%20-%20PUBLIC.pdf
http://www.ifaw.org/european-union/news/map-highlights-europes-role-global-ivory-trade
EU MUST FOLLOW THE STEPS OF USA AND CHINA
https://eia-international.org/illegal-trade-seizures-elephant-ivory-europe
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/14/wildlife-smugglers-using-facebook-sell-ivory-rhino-horn
https://speakupforthevoiceless.org/2016/05/18/facebook-ivory-trade-off-the-scale-viet-nam-part-i/
Question 2:
In your experience, what is the scale of illegal trade to/from/within the EU, compared to international ivory trafficking?
= Illegal EU trading is much larger than international illegal trade.
Evidence:
As actions have been taken by US and CHINA to close the ivory trading, Europe has become a hub market. A IFAW study dated Aug 2017 indicated Belgium (Bruxelles) as the larger illegal trading point in the world, then UK, France, Switzerland, Italy. Ivory is either received from Africa and sent to final destination (Asia), or traded within the EU.
Brussels Airport leads the frequency of seizures of small objects, while UK and France lead for big objects.
The EU did not follow US and CHINA in adopting progressive measures to stop the trading. The Internet is a big platform for illegal trade with EBAYJapan, Amazon, WeChat (China) Facebook and Craiglist leading. Despite some of these companies had implemented a few rules, the illegal and uncontrolled market continues to flourish on the internet markets and these companies continue to profit millions of dollars through illegal ivory trade.
LINKS :
http://www.ifaw.org/european-union/news/map-highlights-europes-role-global-ivory-trade
https://eia-international.org/illegal-trade-seizures-elephant-ivory-europe
Question 3:
In your experience, what proportion of ivory illegally traded comes from elephants which have been illegally killed in the last 10 years?
= The majority of ivory traded illegally to/from/within the EU comes from elephants illegally killed in the last 10 years.
Evidence:
The international trade has been illegal starting from 1990. Since then, only Antiques can be traded. The volume of a growing illegal market and the fact that elephants are continued to be poached at an even growing rate, shows the link between illegal market of ivory and illegal killing of elephants.
The legal trade has failed to contain the growth of illicit businesses. On the contrary, offers opportunities for criminals and keep up the demand.
The European Commission has not yet published specific data on the scale of legal and illegal ivory trade. Therefore, we request the Commission to publish detailed data on ivory seizures by EU Member States, and the number of permits issued for legal trade in the EU, information that is currently held by Member State government agencies.
LINKS :
https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/15/13635054/facebook-ivory-rhino-horn-trafficking-vietnam
Can China’s ivory trade ban save elephants? – BBC News
https://www.wired.com/2016/01/activists-target-yahoo-over-links-to-ivory-trade/
https://speakupforthevoiceless.org/tag/rhino-ivory-facebook/
https://annamiticus.com/2016/06/13/protected-species-openly-sale-malaysia-based-facebook-group/
https://wildlifejustice.org/viet-nam-wildlife-crime-investigation-public-hearing-announced/
Question 3:
In your experience, what are the main ivory items involved in illegal trade?
Evidence:
Statues are the most traded items (legally and illegally) as well as personal effects and cultural objects, often linked to religions and believes (60%), while jewelry and furniture parts, tusks and musical instruments parts represent only a smaller portion of the market (30% all together).
Religious symbols are legally and illegally shipped internationally, including Asia
The Vatican did not join CITES and therefore does not respect any restriction imposed by the Congress.
Italy has a very strong market over the internet, where items are sold with no certification, domestically and internationally.
Buyers from the world can decide to purchase illegal items for the most various reasons. An investigation by WildAid.org and Save The Elephants indicated that a sample of Chinese customers bought jewelry, little statues and objects without certification; here are their opinions:
“If I buy a big quantity I will request a certificate, otherwise not.” “I trust my retailer, he is big. if I buy from him, it must be legal” “I never buy ivory over the counter, I have a friend who sells it privately” “I think it is antique, maybe the certificate was lost” “the colour of ivory taken from elephants which died naturally is normally not nice”.
LINKS :
COMMENTS OF THE IVORY BUYERS IN CHINA
https://www.wildaid.org/sites/default/files/resources/WEBReportIvoryDemandinChina2014.pdf
ILLEGAL TRADE AND RELIGION
http://www.earthintransition.org/2012/09/will-religion-finally-kill-off-the-elephants/
http://inchieste.repubblica.it/it/repubblica/rep-it/2012/09/14/news/il_viaggio_dell_avorio-42565741/
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15735
http://www.earthintransition.org/2012/09/will-religion-finally-kill-off-the-elephants/
https://sojo.net/articles/report-religion-heart-illegal-ivory-trade
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/movies/ivory-a-crime-story-review.html
https://sojo.net/articles/report-religion-heart-illegal-ivory-trade
http://bryanchristy.com/vatican-city-ivory-raids/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-joseph/gods-ivory-the-role-of-re_b_5745994.html
http://legacytalk.blogspot.it/2012/10/ivory-objects-seized-in-gallery-close.html
https://www.kotafoundation.org/when-vanity-and-religion-collide/
Question 5:
In your experience, is the illegal trade in ivory more widespread:
= ALL THE ABOVE
Evidence:
Illegal Items predominantly travel from Africa to Europe, with Asia as a destination, but also the EU and UK can be the final destinations. It is difficult to establish how big the illegal trade is but has been indicated that only 3% of the items travel with documentation indicating the origin.
The European Commission should publish detailed data on the scale of legal and illegal ivory trade on ivory seizures by the EU Member States and on the number of permits issued for legal trade in the EU, information that is currently held by Member State government agencies.
LINKS :
http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Project%20Web%20-%20PUBLIC.pdf
http://www.ifaw.org/european-union/news/map-highlights-europes-role-global-ivory-trade
https://eia-international.org/illegal-trade-seizures-elephant-ivory-europe
https://awionline.org/content/europe-open-market-ivory-trade
Question 6:
In your experience, what are the links, if any, between the legal ivory trade in the EU and the illegal international ivory trade?
= LEGAL AND ILLEGAL TRADE ARE UNFORTUNATELY STRICTLY LINKED WITH THE LEGAL MARKET ACTING AS A “FERTILIZER” FOR THE ILLEGAL ONE
Evidence:
The legal trade had failed to control the illegal killing of elephants. The legal trade is, on the contrary, an opportunity for illegal businesses and criminal activities to take place. With poverty and corruption on one side and legislative loopholes, ignorance, greed on the other side, the system had proved to leak in tragic proportions. Legal trade fuels the demand, the industry and the continuing slaughtering of elephants. The EU must take the necessary steps towards the total ban, not only on import/export of raw ivory but also on ALL worked ivory.
China has a florid and traditional ivory carving industry. In June 2017 Hong Kong published a bill to totally ban ivory trade by 2021. Manuals on how to gradually proceed with the closure of big industry systems are circulating and available.
LINKS :
Studies over green criminology – Book:
CLOSING STRATEGY FOR CHINA:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/Research/Africa/0214Wildlife.pdf
Question 7:
What do you consider the most important problems in relation with the illegal trade?
= THE INTERNET MARKET PLAYS A BIG ROLE IN ILLEGAL BUSINESSES
Evidence:
The legislation concerning the ivory trade was prevalently written before the introduction of the internet and therefore refers only to traditional trade methods.
There is no obligation on the seller to prove the ivory item is legal; to inform the buyer of the existing law; the website owner is not obligated to comply with the law, nor to develop policies for governing the ivory trade.
The Internet offers worldwide reach, anonymity and low costs. The items are labelled as “personal effects” and shipped via mail to destination.
Ebay has been a huge seller of ivory the past; had tried to control and take illegal sales from its platform after 2014. Ivory is now called with code names which are changing all the times so it is impossible for the company to avoid illicit businesses. Despite the huge profits Ebay continues to have thanks to illegal ivory trade, the company itself is calling for a total ban from the EU.
Other platforms like Ebay-Japan, Amazon, Yahoo Shopping and Yahoo Auctions, Craiglist, We Chat and even Facebook are responsible for the majority of the illegal ivory trade over the internet (also rhino horn and tiger parts plus a lot of other endangered live animals and animal parts).
Facebook is a big platform for Vietnam where the ivory market is huge, WeChat for China, Yahoo for Japan. Japan has a leading ivory carving industry.
An investigation from the Wildlife Justice Commission exposed illegal ivory businesses for 42.000 pounds over FB in only two weeks in Vietnam and this was called by the report “the tip of the iceberg”.
LINKS :
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151210-Japan-ivory-trade-african-elephants/
Facebook is marketplace for endangered species parts, from elephants, rhinos, tigers: report
FACEBOOK: IVORY TRADE OFF THE SCALE | VIET NAM | PART I
https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/15/13635054/facebook-ivory-rhino-horn-trafficking-vietnam
https://www.wired.com/2016/01/activists-target-yahoo-over-links-to-ivory-trade/
https://speakupforthevoiceless.org/tag/rhino-ivory-facebook/
Protected Species Openly for Sale in Malaysian Facebook Group
http://www.britishcampaignfurniture.com/products?id=11408
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-06/conservationists-cast-doubt-on-chinas-ivory-trade-ban/8399992
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/21/asia/hong-kong-illegal-ivory-trade/index.html
Section D:
EU priorities in relation to ivory trade:
Question 1:
Which of the following do you think should be the priorities for the EU and EU Member States in relation to tackling the illegal trade in ivory within/to/from the EU?
- Better enforcement of the existing EU regulations and guidelines for the trade in ivory
= This should be pursued together with other priority actions
- Educating and raising awareness on the existing EU regulations and guidelines among ivory traders/customers to promote legal trade
= This should not be a priority
- Banning all ivory trade to, from, and within the EU
= This should be the main Priority Action
- Banning raw ivory trade to, from and within the EU
= This should be pursued together with other Priority Actions
- Banning trade in ivory within the EU, with well justified exemptions
= This should be pursued together with other priority actions
- Banning (re-)export of ivory from the EU, with well-justified exemptions
= This should be pursued together with other priority actions
Question 2:
“Illegal trade in ivory in the EU represents a marginal problem compared to the global ivory trafficking problem. Rather than changing the EU rules on ivory trade, the EU priority should be to provide support for actions against ivory trafficking in other regions (in particular, Africa and Asia), which are more important as countries of origin and destination markets for illegal ivory trafficking.”
= Option 5: Strongly disagree
Question 3:
“The current EU regulations are sufficient to ensure that the EU domestic elephant ivory market does not contribute to illegal international trade in elephant ivory. Rather than changing the rules, the priority should be that people are fully aware of these rules and that they are better enforced”.
= Option 5: Strongly disagree
Question 4:
“The current EU regulations are not sufficient to ensure that the EU domestic elephant ivory market does not contribute to illegal international trade in elephant ivory. Further restrictions on ivory trade should be put in place at the EU level to address the problem”.
= Option 1: Strongly agree
Question 5:
In your opinion, should the EU further limit intra-EU trade in elephant ivory? If so, what should such restrictions consist of?
= YES. The EU should ban all ivory trade.
Question 6:
In your view, which of the following ivory items should be exempt from any further regulations or guidelines regarding trade within the EU? (Select all that apply)
= Option 7: Other items (please specify below): items containing a very small proportion and quantity of ivory, e.g. inlaid furniture or musical instruments.
Question 7:
In your opinion, would it be reasonable and proportionate for the EU to take steps to tighten the regulation…
= NOT SUFFICIENT. ANY LEGAL TRADE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ILLEGAL TRADE TO TAKE PLACE. THE INTERNET IS A BIG MARKET, QUITE IMPOSSIBLE TO MANAGE.
Question 8:
In your opinion, should the EU further limit elephant ivory trade TO and FROM the EU? If yes, what should such restrictions consist of?
= YES. The EU should ban all ivory trade.
Question 9:
In your view, which of the following, if any, ivory items should be exempt from any further regulations or guidelines regarding the re-export of worked ivory from the EU to countries outside the EU? (Select all that apply)
= Option 6: Other items (please specify below): items containing a very small proportion and quantity of ivory, e.g. inlaid furniture or musical instruments.
Question 10:
In your view, which of the following, if any, ivory items should be exempt from further regulations or guidelines regarding the import of ivory to the EU from countries outside the EU? (Select all that apply)
= Option 7: Other items (please specify below): items containing a very small proportion and quantity of ivory, e.g. inlaid furniture or musical instruments.
Question 11:
What impact (e.g. financial, logistical, environmental) would possible further EU regulations or guidelines on import, re-export and/or intra-EU trade of ivory have on you or your organisation?
= Option 5: Substantial positive impact
Question 12:
What impact would possible further EU restrictions on import, re-export and/or intra-EU trade of ivory have on elephant poaching and international illegal trade of ivory?
= Option 5: Substantial positive impact
Section E:
You can upload a report or a summary if you want. Here are some facts to help you and relative links and references:
- The more humans learn about elephants, the more we realize how intelligent, emotive, and social this remarkable species is—and how worthy of protection.
- An elephant, though, dies for his tusk every 26 minutes and about 20.000 elephants are killed each year. In Africa the population of elephants have dropped by more than a third between 2007 and 2014.
- Elephants are an iconic and keystone species, and part of humankind’s global heritage and Europe must play its full part in preserving this species.
- The continued legal trade in ivory had failed to protect elephants and to regulate the market. This threatens the very existence of elephants in the wild.
- The EU is the biggest exporter of ivory to China (Hong Kong). Furthermore, Member States are being used as transit countries to smuggle illegal ivory from elephants poached in Africa to Asia.
- After the suspension of the (re)export of raw ivory items from EU, it is essential for the European Commission and Member States of the European Union to now close its domestic ivory markets and to ban import and export of worked ivory items as well. In fact, legal domestic markets -including within the EU- enable illegal trade by serving as a cover for trade in illicit ivory. Ivory remains on sale in many EU countries in markets, auctions, antique shops and online. The internet has become the world’s biggest marketplace, one that is open for business 24/7. It is without boundaries, largely unregulated, mostly anonymous and provides easy opportunities for criminal activities. In 2014, an investigation by IFAW found a total of 33.006 endangered wildlife and wildlife parts and products for sale via 280 marketplaces across 16 countries. Illicit ivory trade has tripled since 1998.
- The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the majority of African countries with elephants have called for the closure of domestic ivory markets.
- As actions to close the trading are being taken also by the US and China, we urge the EU to take responsibility to end its own role in the ivory trade. Also the United Kingdom is currently considering a total ban on ivory sales, with minimal exceptions.
- Beyond its impact on elephants, the ivory trade is also tied to corruption, organized crime, the murder of wildlife rangers in Africa.
- In September 2017, the United Nations General Assembly urged Parties to implement the decision adopted by the Conference of Parties to CITES in 2016, recommending that all Governments close legal domestic ivory markets, as a matter of urgency. In fact, stronger measure than mere guidelines are necessary to stop the ivory illegal trade and the use of EU as a transit point. An opinion poll by IFAW carried out in May 2017 showed that a majority of citizen in the EU would support a full ban on the trade of all ivory in the region (65%).
LINKS, REFERENCES AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE IVORY TRADE AND ELEPHANT POACHING:
Michael J. Chase et al. (2016) Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants. PeerJ 4:e2354, available at https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2354
Mundy, V. 2014: The Re-export of pre-Convention/ antique ivory from the European Union. Report prepared for the European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ cites/pdf/Ivory%20report_Nov%202014.pdf
Closure of domestic markets for elephant ivory. Viewed online at https://portals.iucn.org/congress/motion/007
Trade in elephant specimens. Conf. 10.10 (Rev . CoP 17). Viewed online at https://cites.org/sites/default/files/document/ERes-10-10-R17.pdf
The General Office of the State Council on the orderly stop of commercial Processing of sales of ivory and products State Council issued [2016] No. 10. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/ content/2016-12/30/content_5155017.htm
Revisions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Special Rule for the African Elephant https://www.fws.gov/international/ pdf/questions-and-answers-african-elephant-4d-final-rule.pdf
Regulation 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein, OJ1997, L 61 p.1. Until April 2017, this Regulation was amended 22 times, in particular in order to align its annexes to decisions and resolutions of the CITES Convention authorities. The last amendment was by Commission Regulation 2017/16, OJ 2017, L 27 p.1 http://www.ifaw.org/european-union/resource-centre/eu-ivory-tradeneed-stricter-measures
Resolution on the EU strategic objectives for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Viewed online at 2016/2664(RSP) http:// parltrack.euwiki.org/dossier/2016/2664(RSP)
Export data for elephant ivory and ivory products for 2006-2015. Available at: http://trade.cites.org
Mundy, V. 2014: The Re-export of pre-Convention/ antique ivory from the European Union. Report prepared for the European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ cites/pdf/Ivory%20report_Nov%202014.pdf
Ivory Markets of Europe; A survey in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK by Esmond Martin and Daniel Stiles http://savetheelephants.org/wp-content/ uploads/2016/11/2005MarketsofEurope.pdf
IFAW Wanted – Dead or Alive Exposing Online Wildlife Trade http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/IFAW-Wanted-Dead-orAlive-Exposing-Online-Wildlife-Trade-2014.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/cites/pdf/Ivory%20report_Nov%20 2014.pdf p.11
COMMISSION NOTICE GUIDANCE DOCUMENT EU regime governing intra-EU trade and re-export of ivory http://ec.europa.eu/environment/cites/pdf/guidance_ivory.pdf
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Analysis and Evidence in support of the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ ALL/?uri=CELEX:52016SC0038
Brack and Raymann, 2002, International Environmental Crime: The nature and control of environmental Black Markets, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/3049_environment_crime_background_paper.pdf
CEEE web for Biodiversity, 2010, E-ceetes, Central & Eastern European e-Trade in endangered Species, Polish society for Nature Conservation “ Salamandra”.
CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, www.cites.org
CITES, 2010, Report to the fifteenth meeting of the conference of the Parties (Cop15 Doc. 44.2 (Rev.1)), www.cites.org
European Union, 2006 (updated in 2009), Permits, certificates and notifications. Documents needed for wildlife trade into, from and inside the European Union, www.eu-wildlifetrade.org/pdf/en/3_permits_en.pdf
European Union, 2010, Wildlife Trade Regulations in the European Union, An Introduction to CITES and its Implementation in the European Union, http://ec.europa.eu
IFAW, 2005, Caught in the Web, Wildlife trade on the Internet, www.ifaw.org
IFAW, 2008, 2010 and 2011, Killing with Key Strokes, www.ifaw.org
TRAFFIC, 2011: “Annus horribilis” for African Elephants, says TRAFFIC, www.traffic.org
TRAFFIC, Status of elephant populations, levels of illegal killing and the trade in ivory: a report to the standing committee of CITES (SC61 Doc. 44.2-p.14), www.cites.org
UNODC, 2010, The globalization of crime. A transnational organized crime threat assessment. Chapter 7 Environmental resources, www.unodc.org
REPORTS:
EU ivory trade: The need for stricter measures
Illegal trade seizures: Elephant ivory in Europe
Ivory seizures in Europe 2006-2015