HC Deb 29 January 2001 vol 362 cc13-4W
Sir Paul Beresford

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people have been prosecuted in respect of a failure to uphold international obligations on the protection of endangered species in each of the last five years. [147712]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

Endangered species are protected under the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This convention is implemented throughout the European Union under EC regulations and enforced in the UK under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 (COTES).

There is no central record of prosecutions or convictions for offences under the COTES regulations. However the number of prosecutions we are aware of in each of the last five years is as follows:

Year Number
1996 6
1997 5
1998 3
1999 6
2000 8

I have been advised by HM Customs and Excise that the number of prosecutions in respect of endangered species under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 in each of the last five years is as follows:

Year Number
1996 1
1997 0
1998 0
1999 0
2000 1

Sir Paul Beresford

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what obligations the United Kingdom has under international treaties to police the protection of endangered species. [147713]

Mr. Meacher

The United Kingdom, as a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is required under Article VIII of the convention to take appropriate measures to enforce the provisions of the convention and to prohibit trade in specimens in violation of those provisions. Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 sets out the requirements on member states to implement the convention. The Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 (Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1372) provide the means for enforcement in the United Kingdom.

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