Decisions of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in effect after the 18th meeting

At each of its meetings, the Conference of the Parties to CITES considers means of improving the implementation of the Convention and its effectiveness. The results of its deliberations are in the form of recommendations (Article XI, paragraph 3) that are recorded either in Resolutions or in Decisions of the Conference of the Parties. Resolutions are generally intended to provide long-standing guidance. Decisions, are more short term in nature. This means that they are to be implemented, often by a specified time, and then become redundant by the next Conference of the Parties and are deleted. Typically they contain instructions to a specific Committee or to the Secretariat.

A document containing all valid Decisions is compiled by the Secretariat after each meeting of the Conference of the Parties. Decisions that are in effect after the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties are available below.

The Decisions in this section are grouped by subject, in accordance with Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev. CoP18). Every Decision that was adopted at CoP18 has a number starting with '18', e.g. Decision 18.1. Every Decision that was adopted at a previous meeting and remains valid is included here with its original number, e.g. Decision 14.69. If the Conference of the Parties amended a Decision at a meeting after the one at which it was adopted, the original number of that Decision is followed by the indication ‘(Rev. CoPXX)’, where 'XX' represents the number of the meeting at which the amendment was adopted. For example, Decision 16.162 (Rev. CoP18) was adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its 16th meeting and amended at its 18th meeting.

Download all the valid Decisions: