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You must apply for a permit or certificate to import, export or re-export any living or dead plant or animal (or any of its parts) that is listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This includes if you move CITES specimens between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the EU, and Great Britain and Northern Ireland (NI).

Use Species+ to find out if your specimen comes from a species on the CITES list. Species are listed according to how endangered they are in the wild. Annex A is the most strictly controlled list of species and annex D the least.

You should also check if your specimen is subject to an import suspension.

You must apply for a permit to import, export or re-export annex A, B or C specimens.

Unless you have the correct CITES documentation, you should not:

• ship or travel with specimens
• make payments for their purchase
• enter into contracts over specimens

Youll need to:

• use a designated point of entry or exit
• show your CITES documents to Border Force at the border
• check other custom controls required by HMRC

How to apply

Find out how to apply for CITES permits and certificates, including any fees youll need to pay.

Commercial use

If you plan to use a specimen for commercial purposes, you must check if you also need an Article 10 certificate for commercial purposes. You may be able to get an exemption for single commercial use.

Musical instruments, museums, art exhibitions and touring displays

In some cases, you may need to move CITES specimens across international borders several times. For example, endangered species or specimens that are part of a:

• touring orchestra
• museum exhibit
• art exhibition
• touring display or circus

If youre travelling with your instrument as part of a touring orchestra you must apply for a CITES permit for each instrument containing CITES listed specimens. You do not have to pay for the permit.

Contact the APHA team for endangered plant and animal species (CITES) if youre not sure which type of permit or certificate you need.

Personal and household effects

In some specific circumstances, you do not need CITES documentation to move personal and household effects that contain a CITES specimen.

You do not need a CITES permit for the following items if they are carried in your personal luggage and intended for personal use (allowance is per person):

• 125 grams of caviar (Acipenseiformes spp), in containers that are individually marked in accordance with Article 66(6)
• 3 rainsticks of Cactaceae spp
• 4 worked items containing Crocodyllia spp (excluding meat and hunting trophies)
• 3 shells of Queen conch (Strombus gigas)
• 4 dead specimens of seahorse (Hippocampus spp)
• 3 specimens of giant clam (Tridacnidae spp) not more than 3kg in total, where a specimen can be one intact shell or 2 matching halves
• up to 1 kg woodchips, 24 ml oil, and two sets of beads or prayer beads (or two necklaces or bracelets) of agarwood (Aquilaria and Gyrinops species)

If you think a personal or household item that you plan to import, export or re-export includes a CITES specimen, contact the APHA team for endangered plant and animal species (CITES).

Extra rules about identifying controlled species

CITES rules still apply to items if the:

• packaging lists a controlled item but the packet does not contain a specimen or derivative - such as a traditional Asian medicine listing tiger bone
• actual species is not known and the specimen can only be identified to a higher group that includes controlled species - such as Crocodylia (for all crocodiles, alligators and gharials) and Orchidaceae (for all orchids)

Where the specimen cannot be identified as a specific species in a taxonomic group, APHA treats it as the most protected species of that group.

CITES rules do not apply to naturally excreted urine, faeces and ambergris because these are waste products.

If youre not sure whether CITES rules apply to your item, contact the APHA team for endangered plant and animal species (CITES).

Customs requirements for CITES items

All CITES import, export and re-export permits or certificates must be endorsed by customs authorities when they enter or leave Great Britain at the border.

UK Border Force (UKBF) will check and endorse the documents. UKBF will keep the documents and send copies to APHA. Other copies are used to prove legal import or export of the specimen.

You must present these documents to UKBF at the:

• first point of entry into Great Britain - before the CITES goods are removed to a customs temporary storage facility
• last point of exit from Great Britain

For imports, you must:

• get the appropriate documents to submit to UKBF
• attach CITES documents travelling with the goods to the outside of the parcel in a sealed clear-plastic folder

Read the guide for trading or moving CITES-listed specimens through UK ports and airports.

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