HC Deb 21 May 1990 vol 173 cc23-4W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has for improving the implementation of CITES controls; and whether, in view of the letter from the head of the endangered species branch of his Department (WLF/2050/411) to the International Council for Bird Preservation, of 25 April, he will adopt a system of the reverse listing of birds.

Mr. Trippier

Since 1 January 1984 CITES controls have been applied in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the European Community by EC regulation 3626/82. The implementation of regulation 3626 is kept under constant review by the EC CITES committee, which is comprised of representatives of the CITES authorities of member states. A new regulation to replace regulation 3626/82 is to be prepared and will take account, inter alia, of decisions resulting from an independent study of the implementation of regulation 3626/82. It will be for the EC CITES committee to consider if the reverse listing of birds and other species is to be incorporated in the new regulation.

The reverse listing of birds in the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976 remains extant in the United Kingdom for species not covered by EC regulation 3626/82.