[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 361 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 361

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 26, 1997

 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, 
    import, and export 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, IMPORT, AND EXPORT 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 Indian rhinoceros, the Javan 
        rhinoceros, the African black rhinoceros, and all of the 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 are insufficient legal mechanisms enabling the 
        United States Fish and Wildlife Service to forcefully interdict 
        products that are labeled as containing endangered species and 
        prosecute the merchandisers for sale or display of the 
        products; and
            (4)(A) 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; and
            (B) wildlife inspectors are able to physically inspect an 
        estimated 5 to 10 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)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) by striking ``(A)'' and inserting 
                        ``(A)(i)'';
                            (ii) by adding ``or'' at the end; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(ii) import any product labeled as containing any such 
        species or any species of fish or wildlife listed in Appendix I 
        to the Convention into, or export any such product from, the 
        United States;''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (F), by inserting before the 
                semicolon the following: ``or any product labeled as 
                containing any such species''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) by striking ``(A)'' and inserting 
                        ``(A)(i)'';
                            (ii) by adding ``or'' at the end; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(ii) import any product labeled as containing any such 
        species or any species of plant listed in Appendix I to the 
        Convention into, or export any such product from, the United 
        States;''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (D), by inserting before the 
                semicolon the following: ``or any product labeled as 
                containing any such species''.
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