[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2807 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2807

To amend the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 to prohibit 
     the sale, importation, and exportation of products labeled as 
        containing substances derived from rhinoceros or tiger.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 4, 1997

 Mr. Saxton (for himself and Mr. Miller of California) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 to prohibit 
     the sale, importation, and exportation of products labeled as 
        containing substances derived from rhinoceros or tiger.

    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, IMPORTATION, AND EXPORTATION OF PRODUCTS 
              LABELED AS CONTAINING A SUBSTANCE DERIVED FROM RHINOCEROS 
              OR TIGER.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The populations of several magnificent and unique 
        endangered species of rhinoceros and tigers, such as the Indian 
        rhinoceros, the Javan rhinoceros, the African black rhinoceros, 
        and all of the tiger subspecies, continue to decline.
            (2) Growing demand throughout the world for wildlife and 
        wildlife parts and products has created a market in which 
        commercial exploitation has threatened certain rhinoceros and 
        tiger populations.
            (3) There are insufficient legal mechanisms enabling the 
        United States Fish and Wildlife Service to forcefully interdict 
        products that are labeled as containing substances derived from 
        rhinoceros or tiger species and prosecute the merchandisers for 
        sale or display of those products.
            (4) Although approximately 77,000 import and export 
        shipments occur annually in the United States, the United 
        States Fish and Wildlife Service is able to maintain only 92 
        wildlife inspectors at 30 ports of entry, including 13 
        designated ports, to monitor the shipments.
            (5) Wildlife inspectors are able to physically inspect only 
        an estimated 5 to 10 percent of all import and export 
        shipments, making the rate of detection of contraband wildlife 
        products extremely low.
    (b) Prohibition.--The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 
(16 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is amended by redesignating section 7 as 
section 8, and by inserting after section 6 the following new section:

``SEC. 7. PROHIBITION RELATING TO LABELING.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--No person shall sell, import, or export any 
product labeled as containing any substance derived from any species of 
rhinoceros or tiger.
    ``(b) Penalty.--Any person who knowingly violates subsection (a) 
shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for not 
more than 1 year, or both.''.
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