50 Cfr 23.20

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Title 50: Wildlife and Fisheries
PART 23—CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD
FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES)
Subpart B—Prohibitions, Exemptions, and Requirements
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§ 23.20 What CITES documents are required for international trade?
(a) Purpose . Articles III, IV, and V of the Treaty give the types of standard CITES documents that must
accompany an Appendix-I, -II, or -III specimen in international trade. Articles VII and XIV recognize
some exemptions and provide that a CITES document must accompany most exempt specimens.
(b) Stricter national measures . Before importing, introducing from the sea, exporting, or re-exporting a
specimen, check with the Management Authorities of all countries concerned to obtain any
documentation required under stricter national measures.
(c) CITES documents . Except as provided in the regulations in this part, you must have a valid CITES
document to engage in international trade in any CITES specimen.
(d) CITES exemption documents . The following table lists the CITES exemption document that you
must obtain before conducting a proposed activity with an exempt specimen (other than specimens
exempted under §23.92). If one of the exemptions does not apply to the specimen, you must obtain a
CITES document as provided in paragraph (e) of this section. The first column in the following table
alphabetically lists the type of specimen or activity that may qualify for a CITES exemption document.
The last column indicates the section of this part that contains information on the application procedures,
provisions, criteria, and conditions specific to each CITES exemption document, as follows:

Type of specimen or
activity
(1) Artificially propagated
plant (see paragraph (d)(4)
of this section for an
Appendix-I plant
propagated for commercial
purposes)
(2) Artificially propagated
plant from a country that
has provided copies of the
certificates, stamps, and
seals to the Secretariat
(3) Bred-in-captivity wildlife
(see paragraph (d)(5) of
this section for Appendix-I

CITES exemption
Appendix
document
Section
I, II, or III CITES document with source 23.40
code “A”1

II or III

Phytosanitary certificate with 23.23(f)
CITES statement1

I, II, or III CITES document with source 23.41
code “C”1

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Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:

wildlife bred in captivity for
commercial purposes)
(4) Commercially
I
propagated Appendix-I
plant
(5) Commercially bred
I
Appendix-I wildlife from a
breeding operation
registered with the CITES
Secretariat
(6) Export of certain marine II
specimens protected under
a pre-existing treaty,
convention, or international
agreement for that species

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CITES document with source 23.47
code “D”1
CITES document with source 23.46
code “D”1

CITES document indicating 23.36
that the specimen was taken (e)
in accordance with provisions 23.39
of the applicable treaty,
(e)
convention, or international
agreement
(7) Hybrid plants
I, II, or III CITES document unless the 23.42
specimen qualifies as an
exempt plant hybrid
(8) Hybrid wildlife
I, II, or III CITES document unless the 23.43
specimen qualifies as an
exempt wildlife hybrid
(9) In-transit shipment (see I, II, or III CITES document designating 23.22
paragraph (d)(14) of this
importer and country of final
section for sample
destination
collections covered by an
ATA carnet)
(10) Introduction from the II
Document required by
23.39
sea under a pre-existing
applicable treaty, convention, (d)
treaty, convention, or
or international agreement, if
international agreement for
appropriate
that species
(11) Noncommercial loan, I, II, or III A label indicating CITES and 23.48
donation, or exchange of
the registration codes of both
specimens between
institutions and, in the United
scientific institutions
States, a CITES certificate of
registered with the CITES
scientific exchange that
Secretariat
registers the institution3
(12) Personally owned live I, II, or III CITES certificate of
23.44
2
wildlife for multiple crossownership
border movements
(13) Pre-Convention
I, II, or III CITES document indicating 23.45
specimen
pre-Convention status1
(14) Sample collection
I4, II, or III CITES document indicating 23.50
covered by an ATA carnet
sample collection2
(15) Traveling exhibition
I, II, or III CITES document indicating 23.49
specimens qualify as preConvention, bred in captivity,

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or artificially propagated2
1Issued by the Management Authority in the exporting or re-exporting country.
2Issued by the Management Authority in the owner's country of usual residence.
3Registration codes assigned by the Management Authorities in both exporting and importing countries.
4Appendix-I species bred in captivity or artificially propagated for commercial purposes (see §§23.46
and 23.47).

(e) Import permits, export permits, re-export certificates, and certificates of origin. Unless one of the
exemptions under paragraph (d) of this section or §23.92 applies, you must obtain the following CITES
documents before conducting the proposed activity:

Appendix
Type of CITES document(s) required
I
Import permit (§23.35) and either an export permit (§23.36) or reexport certificate (§23.37)
II
Export permit (§23.36) or re-export certificate (§23.37)
III
Export permit (§23.36) if the specimen originated in a country that
listed the species; certificate of origin (§23.38) if the specimen
originated in a country other than the listing country, unless the
listing annotation indicates otherwise; or re-export certificate for all
re-exports (§23.37)
(f) Introduction-from-the-sea certificates . For introduction from the sea of Appendix-I or Appendix-II
specimens, you must obtain an introduction-from-the-sea certificate before conducting the proposed
activity, unless the exemption in paragraph (d)(10) of this section applies (see §23.39). The export of a
specimen that was previously introduced from the sea will be treated as an export (see §23.36 for
export, §23.36(e) and §23.39(e) for export of exempt specimens, or §23.37 for re-export). Although an
Appendix-III specimen does not require a CITES document to be introduced from the sea, the
subsequent international trade of the specimen would be considered an export. For export of an
Appendix-III specimen that was introduced from the sea you must obtain an export permit (§23.36) if the
export is from the country that listed the species in Appendix III, a certificate of origin (§23.38) if the
export is from a country other than the listing country, or a re-export certificate for all re-exports (§23.37).
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