| For many people, the first
time they hear of CITES (Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species) is when something gets confiscated
from them when entering the country. CITES is an international
agreement, to which 162 countries are party to. Each
country administers the agreement under their own laws.
In New Zealand it is administered under the TIES Act
1989.
35,000 species of plants and animals are protected
by CITES, this is to protect them from extinction and
exploitation through the demand for them in trade as
whole animals or as ingredients in medicines etc. CITES
does not prohibit the trade in these species, it monitors
the trade of them through a system of permits and certificates.
The Department of Conservation is the CITES Management
Authority in New Zealand. There are currently only two
fulltime CITES Officers in New Zealand and they are
based in Auckland as 98% of all CITES items confiscated
are in Auckland.
MAF and NZ Customs are the border agents working on
behalf of the Department of Conservation. Anything that
is listed with CITES is surrendered to or seized by
MAF and Customs and this is forwarded to the Department
of Conservation.
A lot of time is spent processing confiscated items
and following is a table showing the number of items
confiscated that contain derivatives of CITES listed
species, at least half of these items are Traditional
Eastern Medicines.
ILLEGAL IMPORTS FOR THE PERIOD
1/08/2003 TO 15/09/2003:
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