[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1915 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1915

  To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit the sale of 
   products labeled as containing endangered species, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 27, 1996

 Mr. Jeffords introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit the sale of 
   products labeled as containing endangered species, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rhino and Tiger Product Labeling 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF PRODUCTS LABELED AS CONTAINING 
              ENDANGERED SPECIES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the populations of several magnificent and unique 
        endangered species, such as the African black rhinoceros, the 
        southern white rhinoceros, and the many tiger subspecies, are 
        declining;
            (2) growing demand throughout the world for wildlife and 
        wildlife parts and products has created a market in which 
        commercial exploitation has threatened certain wildlife 
        populations;
            (3) there is no legal mechanism enabling the United States 
        Fish and Wildlife Service to confiscate products labeled as 
        containing endangered species and prosecute the merchandiser 
        for sale or display of the products; and
            (4)(A) although approximately 90,000 import and export 
        shipments occur annually in the United States, the United 
        States Fish and Wildlife Service is able to maintain only 74 
        wildlife inspectors at 11 ports of entry to monitor the 
        shipments; and
            (B) wildlife inspectors are able to physically inspect an 
        estimated 5 percent of all shipments, making the detection rate 
        of contraband wildlife products extremely low.
    (b) Prohibition.--Section 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(F), by inserting before the semicolon 
        the following: ``or any product labeled as containing any such 
        species or any species of fish or wildlife listed in Appendix I 
        to the Convention''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(D), by inserting before the semicolon 
        the following: ``or any product labeled as containing any such 
        species or any species of plant listed in Appendix I to the 
        Convention''.
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