§ Mr. BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to ban the import of all ivory products; and if she will make a statement. [150962]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 28 January 2004]The EU CITES Regulations, which implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in the European Union, already prohibit trade in products made from wild-taken elephant and narwhal ivory.
Powers are also available:
- (a) to control trade in all other ivory products, including pre-convention and antique specimens, by means of a permitting system; and
- (b) to suspend the issue of such permits where we consider, on the basis of scientific advice, that the trade would be detrimental to the conservation of the species in the wild.
Mr. TonyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of imports of mammoth ivory products in each of the last five years. [150960]
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§ Mr. Mike O'Brien[holding answer 28 January 2004]Under the system of classification used by HM Customs and Excise for categorising UK trade in goods it is not possible to distinguish between mammoth ivory and other ivory. The value of UK imports of ivory were as follows:
£000 1998 20.6 1999 62.7 2000 0.7 2001 0.1 2002 2.7 Jan-Nov 2003 63.5 Note:
Ivory is defined by commodity codes 0507 1000 (unworked) and 9601 1000(worked) of the Combined Nomenclature.