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Each Party is required to submit an annual report on its CITES trade, containing a summary of information on, inter alia, the number and type of permits and certificates granted, the States with which such trade occurred, the quantities and types of specimens, and the names of species as included in Appendices I, II and III. Failure to submit an annual report for three consecutive years without providing adequate justification could lead to the Standing Committee recommending to all Parties to suspend trade with the Party concerned.
Provisions of the Convention
Article VIII - Measures to be Taken by the Parties, paragraphs 7 and 8
Para 7. Each Party shall prepare periodic reports on its implementation of the present Convention and shall transmit to the Secretariat:
(a) an annual report containing a summary of the information specified in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 6 of this Article; and
(b) a biennial report on legislative, regulatory and administrative measures taken to enforce the provisions of the present Convention.
Para 8. The information referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article shall be available to the public where this is not inconsistent with the law of the Party concerned.
Resolutions and Decisions
- Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP19) on National reports
How to submit an annual report?
The deadline for submission of the annual report is 31 October of the year following the year for which the report was due. Parties are encouraged to use this format and to follow the Guidelines for the preparation and submission for CITES annual reports. Reports should be sent to [email protected], copy to [email protected] and [email protected].
In a number of countries, annual reports are among various outputs from a national information management system that records and tracks daily trade-related and other activities undertaken by CITES authorities. Such record-keeping and reports assist national policy-makers in defining, implementing and assessing their wildlife management and trade policies.
The CITES Secretariat is working with its Parties to facilitate reporting thanks to the eCITES project.
Why are annual reports important?
Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP19) on National reports recognizes the ‘importance of the annual reports and biennial reports as the only available means of monitoring the implementation of the Convention and the level of international trade in specimens of species included in the Appendices’. The data in the annual reports are included the database maintained for the Secretariat by UNEP-WCMC and provide the basis for comparative trade analysis, the Review of Significant Trade, quota management, identification of Parties with high trade volumes under the National Legislation Project, reports to various fora and overall compliance with and enforcement of the Convention.
CITES trade data are available to everyone and accessible via the CITES trade database on the CITES website.
Trade suspensions
In Resolution Conf. 11.17 (Rev. CoP19), the Conference of the Parties have instructed “the Standing Committee to determine, on the basis of reports presented by the Secretariat, which Parties have failed, for three consecutive years and without having provided adequate justification, to provide the annual reports required under Article VIII, paragraph 7 (a), of the Convention within the deadline (or any extended deadline) provided in the present Resolution”; and recommended “that Parties not authorize trade in specimens of CITES-listed species with any Party that the Standing Committee has determined has failed, for three consecutive years and without having provided adequate justification, to provide the annual reports required under Article VIII, paragraph 7 (a), of the Convention within the deadline (or any extended deadline) provided in the present Resolution”.
Parties are encouraged to check regularly the trade suspension page.