Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

MAURITANIA

Recommendation to suspend trade

1. Decisions 11.37 and 11.89 of the Conference of the Parties provide that:

Directed to Parties

11.37

From 1 January 2001, Parties should not authorize any trade in specimens of CITES-listed species with any Party that the Standing Committee has determined has failed, without having provided adequate justification, to provide the annual reports required under Article VIII, paragraph 7 (a), of the Convention for three consecutive years within the deadline established in Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP12)1, or the extended deadline that is provided for in that Resolution.

Directed to the Standing Committee

11.89

The Standing Committee shall, on the basis of reports presented by the Secretariat, determine which Parties have failed, without having provided adequate justification, to provide the annual reports required under Article VIII, paragraph 7 (a), of the Convention for three consecutive years within the deadline established in Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP12), or the extended deadline that is provided for in that Resolution.

2. The Secretariat wrote to Mauritania in February 2003 advising it that, in preparation for the 49th meeting of the Standing Committee (Geneva, April 2003), the Secretariat had reviewed its records of annual report submissions. These records showed that Mauritania had failed, without having provided adequate justification, to provide annual reports for the years 1999-2001. The letter urged Mauritania to advise the Secretariat whether its records were in error, submit the missing reports, or provide copies of the CITES permits and certificates that were issued and received, so that reports could be compiled by UNEP-WCMC, or provide an adequate justification for the late or non-submission of annual reports. At the time of the Standing Committee meeting, the Secretariat had received no response from the CITES Management Authority of Mauritania.

3. Based on the Secretariat’s reports, the Standing Committee determined at its 49th meeting that Mauritania had failed, without having provided adequate justification, to provide annual reports for three consecutive years within the deadline established in Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP12) or the extended deadline that is provided for in that Resolution. The Secretariat was instructed to issue a Notification to the Parties recommending suspension of trade in specimens of CITES-listed species in relation to Mauritania.

4. The Secretariat consequently hereby informs Parties that, pursuant to Decision 11.37, the Conference of the Parties recommends that, with immediate effect, Parties should not authorize any trade in specimens of CITES-listed species with Mauritania.