What is CITES
CITES is the officially used abbreviation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Sometimes this convention is also referred to as the Washington Convention after the place where it was signed.
The purpose of the CITES Convention is to regulate international trade in endangered species of animals and plants. This regulation is necessary for the effective protection of some species from extinction in the wild, because their capture or collection for international trade is very extensive and it is one of the most serious factors threatening the survival of these species. Trade is regulated by a system of export and import permits (so-called CITES permits), which are issued by the relevant executive authorities of member countries. These permits are required when moving CITES specimens across national borders. If the trade threatens the survival of the species, permits are not issued to the applicant.
CITES applies to living organisms, but also to any parts or products of them. They can be products made from furs, skins and bones of protected animals, statues and carvings from rare woods or ivory, products of traditional Asian medicine containing extracts from protected animals or plants, gourmet specialties, etc. Both live and dead organisms are officially designated by the term "specimen" within CITES. Currently, 184 contracting parties are already signatories to CITES, including all 27 EU member states and the EU as a whole. Czechoslovakia signed the Convention on February 28, 1992 as the 114th state, and the Convention entered into force for our country on May 28, 1992. The Czech Republic assumed the obligations from the Convention after the division of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic on 1 January 1993. CITES is implemented in the European Union in a uniform manner based on the legislation of the European Union (EU), which came into force in our country from the date of the Czech Republic's entry into the EU on May 1, 2004.
