Considerations on COM(2013)867 - Accession of the EU to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

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dossier COM(2013)867 - Accession of the EU to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
document COM(2013)867 EN
date March  6, 2015
 
table>(1)The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (‘the Convention’) to which 178 countries, including all Member States, are a party, is a major international environmental instrument aiming to protect endangered species of fauna and flora through controls on international trade in specimens of those species.
(2)The Gaborone amendment to the Convention, adopted by a special Conference of the Parties in Gaborone, Botswana, in 1983, modified Article XXI of the Convention so that access to the Convention, previously limited to States, was opened to regional economic integration organisations constituted by sovereign States having competence in respect of the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of international agreements in matters transferred to them by their Member States and covered by the Convention. The Gaborone amendment to the Convention entered into force on 29 November 2013.

(3)The matters covered by the Convention relate essentially to the protection of the environment. The provisions of the Convention have been implemented uniformly in all Member States since 1 January 1984. In addition, Union rules have been adopted in the form of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 (2) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 (3).

(4)Accession to the Convention by the Union will enable it to play a role in the work of the Convention and will legally bind the Union to implement and enforce the Convention in matters falling within its competence. It will create formal responsibilities for the Union so as to make the Union a Party accountable to other Parties for its implementation of the Convention.

(5)The accession of the Union to the Convention will not affect the way in which the positions for the CITES Conference of the Parties are agreed by the Union and its Member States, within the fields of their respective competences, in accordance with the Treaties.

(6)The positions of the Union and its Member States for the CITES Conference of the Parties will be expressed in line with relevant practice in the area of multilateral environmental agreements, within the field of their respective competences, in accordance with the Treaties.

(7)The European Union should therefore accede to the Convention,