General guidance notes for commercial use within the European Union (EU)
You should read these notes together with GN1 General Guidance Notes for Importers and Exporters if you are importing or exporting specimens.
These notes are for guidance only and are not a full statement of the law. If you need points of law to be explained, you should get independent legal advice.
This page is available as a downloadable document here 
- Movement of CITES specimens within the European Union (EU)
- Controls on commercial use
- Controls on sales
- Controls on Annex B listed species
- Specimen specific certificates
- Transaction specific certificates
- Documents
- Marking
- Exemptions from marking
- Sale of unworked ivory
- Lists of Species that do not require individual certificates from us
Movement of CITES specimens within the EU
CITES specimens may be moved freely within the EU, although you may have to provide evidence to confirm that they were imported or obtained legally. Evidence could be:
- the holder’s copy of the import permit; or
- an invoice or receipt which has the number of the import permit or sale certificate on it; or
- a letter from the person who originally bred the specimen, or a certificate from another EU management Authority if the specimen was acquired for commercial purposes. The letter should be signed and dated by the breeder or importer. You must also give the person’s address, where the specimens were bred, their birth or hatch dates, and details of the parents.
Controls on commercial use
You do not need any certificate issued by us simply to possess an Annex A CITES specimen or to give it away.
You only need a certificate if specimens are to be used for commercial purposes.
‘Commercial’ means the purchase, sale, offering for sale and display for commercial purposes or using for any commercial purposes, any Annex A specimen dead or alive, their hybrids and any of their parts including eggs, feathers, blood and semen. These activities include hiring or photographing such specimens require a certificate issued by the UK or another EU member state Management Authority. These are generally known as Article 10 certificates.
There are two types of Article 10 certificate. One type called a ‘Transaction Specific Certificate’ (TSC) that may only be used by the person named and from the address on it. The other type is called a ‘Specimen Specific Certificate’ (SSC), and may be used by anybody in possession of the specimen. Each certificate will say which type it is.
Certificates are normally issued for the following three purposes :
- To authorise the sale or commercial use of specimens of species listed in Annex A.
- To authorise the movement of live Annex A specimens from the premises set out in the original import permit.
- In the case of the re-export of Annex A to C specimens by an EU country, to confirm that these were legally imported or acquired within the EU.
You will also need one of these certificates if you are breeding from Annex A specimens to sell offspring, even if you do not plan to sell the parents. The parents will have to be marked – see marking.
Controls on sales
‘Sale’ includes buying, offering to buy, obtaining for commercial purposes, keeping for sale, offering for sale, advertising for sale, transporting for sale, exchange, as well as actual sale.
You must not buy, sell, offer to sell, use or display for commercial purposes including on the Internet, any Annex A specimens unless:
- a valid SSC Article 10 Certificate has been issued for the specimen.
- a valid TSC Article 10 Certificate has been issued with your name on it for the specimen you intend to sell.
- an import permit with a special condition has been issued allowing the first sale of the specimen(s) by the person named on that import permit. This condition will allow sale only by that person. The certificate may only be used once so if you intend to sell the specimens separately to more than one person you will need additional certificates. Once all the specimens have been sold you must return your copy of the permit to us. Each live specimen must be marked in accordance with the regulation
- Before you buy a specimen, you must make sure that it has a valid certificate or import permit and that if necessary you apply for another certificate, a TSC, if you want to resell it or use it commercially in any way, including breeding from it.
There are some exceptions to these rules. These relate to:
- antique specimens (that is, worked specimens acquired before 1st June 1947);
- specimens of certain bird species (or hybrids of them) that have been bred in captivity and that are listed in the Annex to this note; or
- specimens of certain plant species that have been grown artificially.
‘Antique’ worked specimens are specimens used for jewellery, adornment, art, utility or musical instruments, produced before 1st June 1947. They must have been acquired in this condition and need no further carving, crafting or manufacture to meet their purpose. Specimens acquired before this date, but which are mainly unaltered from their natural state, such as an unworked elephant tusk or rhino horn, do not qualify under the exemptions. Guidance Note 7 gives more details about antiques.
Controls on Annex B listed specimens
You do not currently need a CITES certificate to possess or trade in specimens of species listed on Annex B of the Regulations. However if you are challenged, you must be able to show by providing documentary evidence, that they were lawfully acquired.
In addition if you ever intend to export them to countries outside the EU, import and export permits may be required, so you must also be able to satisfy us, again by providing documentary evidence with your application, that they were lawfully acquired.
It is an offence to use commercially, any specimens listed in Annex B that were imported illegally.
Specimen Specific Certificates (SSC)
‘Specimen specific certificates’ (SSC) are issued for a specimen, not the holder. They are usually issued to the original breeder, and are designed to stay with the specimen throughout its life. They must be given to the person buying the specimen, at the time of the first sale. It should then be passed on at all future sales. SSCs are valid for all commercial uses in any EU member state, as long as the description of the specimen in box 4 of the certificate does not change.
Specimen specific certificates will only be issued if the following conditions are met:
- The specimens must have been introduced into the European Union when the conditions relating to species listed in Annex A or in Appendix I to the Convention or in Annex C1 to Regulation EC 3626/82 did not apply to them.
- The specimens must have been born and bred in captivity. Captive breeding is more involved than just breeding in a cage, aviary or enclosure, and you should ask us if you are not sure if your specimen would be considered to be captive bred.
- The specimens are worked taxidermy specimens which were taken from the wild in the UK in line with domestic legislation.
- The specimens must be uniquely and permanently marked.
Transaction Specific Certificates (TSC)
For non captive bred specimens, in the interest of conservation, where there are welfare implications, or when the specimen is not correctly marked, we may decide to restrict a certificate to a specific holder. In these cases, we may issue a ‘transaction specific’ certificate (TSC) instead of a ‘specimen specific’ certificate. A TSC will say what it may be used for. If it allows sale, it will be for one sale only by the person named on it from the address shown. In some cases they may only allow educational display and/or breeding, but not sale. The person buying the specimen would need to be issued with a new certificate before using the specimen for any commercial purpose.
Unlike SSCs, Transaction Specific Certificates do not authorise use in another EU member state, or from another address in the UK.
If you are breeding Annex A specimens, specimen specific certificates have replaced ‘breeders’ certificates.
Documents
Your application for an Article 10 exemption certificate needs to be supported by the following documents:
- For imported specimens, an HM Customs and Revenue-stamped copy of, or the number of, the original import permit.
- If the sale of the specimens has been authorised before, the original (yellow) copy of the previous Article 10 certificate.
- Some other documentary evidence, such as a licence to remove the specimen from the wild, or a letter or affidavit confirming that the specimens were bred in captivity, or imported or legally obtained in some other way.
- The fullest possible details of the origin of the specimen and, if it was bred in captivity, details of its parents and the breeder. If you regularly breed specimens, you only need to quote the parents’ certificate numbers.
Marking
You can sell live Annex A vertebrates (animals with backbones) only if they are marked as follows:
- Currently, birds bred in captivity must be marked with a uniquely marked close ring or, if this is not possible due to the physical or behavioural characteristics of the specimen concerned, an unalterable microchip that meets ISO Standards 11784:1996 and 11785:1996 (E).
- All other animals may be marked with a microchip as described above or, if this is not possible due to the physical or behavioural characteristics of the specimen concerned, a ring, band, tag, tattoo or other appropriate method.
- Marking must be carried out by taking account
Exemptions from marking
You may not have to mark specimens if you can send us evidence to show that the physical or behavioural characteristics of the specimens at the time of issue mean that any method of marking would harm the specimen. In these cases, we will record this information in box 20 of the certificate or, if marking can be carried out at a later date, we may include a special condition. Special arrangements have been made for tortoises and breeders should read Guidance Note GN3 for further information.
Sale of unworked elephant ivory
The UK along with other EU member states considers the international trade in elephant products, including raw unworked tusks or parts of tusks, as a significant threat to the conservation of the species. Except under very specific circumstances, the international commercial trade in raw ivory is banned, and will remain so until a CITES Conference agrees a specific proposal to permit it.
In the past it has been the policy of the UK CITES Management Authority, where there is adequate evidence of legal acquisition, and evidence that the specimens were obtained before CITES came into force, to consider applications for Article 10 Certificates that would allow the sale of un-worked ivory tusks.
However there is clear evidence emerging that internal trade within domestic markets, is fuelling an illegal international trade in ivory that is putting the long term conservation of the species at risk. So long as these specimens continue to be traded domestically the demand will remain high as will the incentive to trade illegally.
Because of this, and for the sake of consistency with the stricter requirement placed on international trade, it has been decided that all applications for Article 10 Certificates for un-worked ivory tusks will be refused regardless of origin or acquired date, unless there are very exceptional circumstances.
As stated earlier the exception for worked specimens acquired before 1st June 1947 applies only to worked specimens, and this consequently means that unless a valid Article 10 certificate is already in existence, all trade in un-worked ivory specimens within the UK is banned.
List of species that do not require individual certificates from us
A general sale exemption applies to specimens of the following species that have been bred in captivity. As a result, you will not need an individual sale exemption certificate to use these specimens commercially.
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Anas laysanensis | Laysan duck |
| Anas querquedula | Garganey |
| Aythya nyroca | Ferruginous duck |
| Branta ruficollis | Red-breasted goose |
| Branta sandvicensis | Nene |
| Oxyura leucocephala | White-headed duck |
| Catreus wallichi | Cheer pheasant |
| Colinus virginianus ridgwayi | Masked bobwhite |
| Crossoptilon crossoptilon | White-eared pheasant |
| Crossoptilon mantchuricum | Brown-eared pheasant |
| Lophophorus impejanus | Himalayan monal |
| Lophura edwardsi | Edward’s pheasant |
| Lophura swinhoii | Swinhoe’s pheasant |
| Polyplectron emphanum | Palawan peacock pheasant |
| Syrmaticus ellioti | Elliott’s pheasant |
| Syrmaticus humiae | Hume’s pheasant |
| Syrmaticus mikado | Mikado pheasant |
| Columba livia | Rock pigeon |
| Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae | Red-fronted parakeet |
| Psephotus dissimilis | Hooded parrot |
| Carduelis cucullata | Red siskin |
Page last modified:22 February 2008
Page published:22 February 2008