It is the prerogative of each Party to decide how it incorporates CITES obligations into national legislation, taking into account its needs and legal practice. The provisions of the Convention and Resolution Conf. 8.4 (Rev. CoP15) only provide a broad framework, which must be elaborated in national legislation. There are many matters of detail that need to be settled at national level, either in enabling and/or in secondary legislation. To assist Parties with their legislative planning and drafting process, the CITES Secretariat - in collaboration with Parties to the Convention - has prepared the following legislative guidance materials.
- Revised draft model law (2021) English
- Draft model law (Arabic) (French) (Russian) (Spanish)
- Legislative checklist (CoP14 version) (English) (French) (Spanish)
- Questionnaire for Legal drafters
- Format for the national legislative analysis
- Sample of CITES Legislative Plan
- Standard training presentations
- Basic principles of legislation to implement CITES (pdf)
- CITES guidelines on the minimum requirements for national legislation