Public consultation and call for proposals: 17th Conference of the Parties on endangered species trade

This is to provide you with information about the Canadian consultation process for the meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

CITES is an international agreement to ensure that international trade in wildlife specimens does not threaten their survival.  CITES uses a permit system to control international trade.

Member countries meet every three years to decide on changes to the list of species that are regulated by CITES as well as changes to administration of the Convention.

CITES species are listed in one of three Appendices and these are available at The CITES Appendices.

Decisions are made by voting on proposals to change the Appendices that are submitted by member countries.

The next meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties will be held from September 24 to October 5, 2016 in South Africa.  Please visit CITES for more information. The deadline for member countries to submit proposals to the Conference of the Parties is April 27, 2016.

Public consultations in preparation for the Conference of the Parties are being initiated and a summary of the consultation process in Canada is at Canadian Consultation Process.

There are two key steps.  The first is an invitation for the Canadian public to submit proposals for Canada to consider taking forward to the CoP.

The second is a public meeting for Canada to receive comments from the public on proposals submitted by other countries.  This meeting will take place in the spring of 2016.  We will post another notice on this Environment Canada website.

For proposals to change the list of CITES-regulated species, there is a reference document with the CITES criteria for listing species at Criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II.  Please use the standard format for proposals which is in Annex 6 of the document.

For further information, please contact:

Species Assessment (CITES)
Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H3
Telephone: (819) 938-3951
Facsimile: (819) 994-3984
E-mail: ec.scientificauthority.ec@canada.ca