[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 172 (Friday, September 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47316-47317]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-23843]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Request for Information and Recommendations on Resolutions and 
Agenda Items for Consideration at the Eleventh Regular Meeting of the 
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in 
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Scoping notice; Request for information.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a scoping document that solicits 
recommendations for resolutions and agenda items for discussion at the 
eleventh regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to 
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 
Fauna and Flora (CITES). We invite you to provide us with information 
and recommendations on possible resolutions and agenda items for 
discussion at COP11. We also invite your comments on the issue of 
transborder movements of live animals for exhibition and on the issue 
of the use of product annotations in the CITES Appendices. The CITES 
Standing Committee, at its last meeting in March 1998, established 
Working Groups to focus on each of these issues and it is possible that 
a proposed resolution on each issue may be submitted for consideration 
at COP11.

DATES: We will consider all information and comments received by 
November 3, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Concerning this request, you should send correspondence 
pertaining to resolutions and agenda items to the Office of Management 
Authority; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 North Fairfax Drive; 
Room 700; Arlington, Virginia 22203, or via E-mail at: 
[email protected]. Comments and materials received will be 
available for public inspection, by appointment, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, at the Office of Management Authority. 
Information on species listing issues or scientific issues pertaining 
to CITES is available from the Office of Scientific Authority; U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 North Fairfax Drive; Room 750; 
Arlington, Virginia 22203, or via E-mail at: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of Management Authority, Branch 
of CITES Operations, phone 703/358-2095, fax 703/358-2298, E-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 
Fauna and Flora, TIAS 8249, hereinafter referred to as CITES, is an 
international treaty designed to control and regulate international 
trade in certain animal and plant species that are now or potentially 
may be threatened with extinction. These species are listed in 
Appendices to CITES, copies of which are available from the Office of 
Management Authority at the above address or from the Service's World 
Wide Web site http://www.fws.gov/r9dia/applinks.html. Currently, 144 
countries, including the United States, are Parties to CITES. CITES 
calls for biennial meetings of the Conference of the Parties, which 
review its implementation, make provisions enabling the CITES 
Secretariat in Switzerland to carry out its functions, consider 
amendments to the list of species in Appendices I and II, consider 
reports presented by the Secretariat, and make recommendations for the 
improved effectiveness of CITES. Any country that is a Party to CITES 
may propose amendments to Appendices I and II, resolutions, or agenda 
items for consideration by the other Parties.
    This is our second in a series of Federal Register notices which, 
together with announced public meetings, provide you with an 
opportunity to participate in the development of the United States' 
negotiating positions for the eleventh regular meeting of the 
Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP11). We published our first such 
Federal Register notice on January 30, 1998 (63 FR 4613), and with it 
we requested your information and recommendations on potential species 
amendments for the United States to consider submitting for discussion 
at COP11. Information on that Federal Register notice, and on species 
amendment proposals, is available from the Office of Scientific 
Authority at the above address. Our regulations governing this public 
process are found in 50 CFR 23.31-23.39.
    In our Federal Register notice of January 30, 1998 (63 FR 4613), we 
announced that we expected COP11 to be held in November 1999, in 
Indonesia. Since the publication of that notice, the CITES Secretariat 
informed us via Notification to the Parties No. 1998/22, dated May 25, 
1998, that Indonesia, through Diplomatic Note of April 29, 1998, has 
withdrawn from hosting COP11. As a result, the Secretariat invited 
Parties that might be interested in hosting COP11 to indicate this to 
the Secretariat by June 20, 1998. The Secretariat informed the Parties 
that COP11 is now expected to be held sometime between November 1999 
and May 2000. If more than one country offers to host COP11, a decision 
on the host country will be made through a postal voting procedure. 
Once the Secretariat notifies the CITES Parties of the new host country 
of COP11 and the dates when the meeting will be held, we will publish 
this information in a future Federal Register notice. We will also post 
that information on our World Wide Web site, for your benefit.

Request for Recommendations on Resolutions and Agenda Items

    Although we have not yet received formal notice of the provisional 
agenda for COP11, we invite your input on possible agenda items the 
United States could recommend for inclusion, or on possible resolutions 
of the Conference of the Parties that the United States could submit. 
Copies of the agenda for the last meeting of the Conference of the 
Parties (COP10) in Harare, Zimbabwe, in June 1997, as well as copies of 
all resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the Parties 
currently in effect, are available from the Office of Management 
Authority at the above address. Copies of a list of species proposals 
adopted at COP10 are available from the Office of Scientific Authority 
at the above address. On June 6, 1997, we published in the Federal 
Register (62 FR 31127) a full agenda for COP10 and summaries of all 
U.S. negotiating positions on those agenda items and resolutions.

Request for Information and Comments on the Issue of Transborder 
Movements of Live Animals for Exhibitions

    At COP10, the Parties adopted Decision 10.142, directing the 
Secretariat to prepare recommendations on transborder movements of live 
animals for exhibition. The recommendations are to be based on 
proposals submitted by interested Parties for consideration by the 
CITES Standing Committee in 1998, in order to accomplish the following:
    (a) Simplify transborder movements of live animals traveling to 
other countries for exhibition purposes;
    (b) Register and identify live animals used in exhibitions; and
    (c) Present documents and animals to appropriate border control 
officers when traveling to other countries for exhibition purposes.
    At the last meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, held March 3-
6, 1998, in London United Kingdom, the

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Committee agreed to establish a Working Group to focus on the 
establishment of simplified procedures for transborder movements of 
live animals for exhibition (circuses), as there was no time for 
discussion of this issue at the meeting. The members of the Working 
Group are the United States (Chair), Germany, and Switzerland. The 
United States is to convene the Group, whose work will be carried out 
through correspondence. We invite information and comments on this 
issue.

Request for Information and Comments on the Issue of the Use of 
Product Annotations in the CITES Appendices

    The United States is very interested in resolving issues pertaining 
to the use of product annotations when transferring populations or 
species from CITES Appendix I to II. Product annotations are those 
qualifications to the listing of a species that limit commercial trade 
in the species, subspecies, or geographically separate population 
thereof to specific parts or products of that species that are to be 
included in Appendix II. Parts or products of the species that are not 
specifically included in the annotation for Appendix II are still 
considered to be subject to the treaty provisions and requirements of 
Appendix I. Two examples of product annotations are certain populations 
of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the vicuna (Vicugna 
vicugna).
    The United States supports adoption of clear criteria for the use 
of such annotations. At COP10, the Parties adopted Decision 10.70, 
directed to the CITES Standing Committee, which requires that a report 
be presented to COP11 by the Standing Committee on ways to clarify 
legal and implementation issues related to the use of annotations in 
the Appendices. At its last meeting, the Standing Committee discussed 
the issue and agreed to establish a Working Group with the following 
members: Switzerland (Chair), Germany, Namibia, and the United States. 
The Working Group is expected to submit a draft resolution to the 
Standing Committee at the Committee's next meeting, for approval and 
submission to COP11. The Working Group members have already agreed that 
the starting point will be that any new annotation or any amendment of 
an annotation must be in accordance with Resolution Conf. 9.24, and in 
accordance with all requirements for proposals to amend the CITES 
Appendices. We intend to be an active participant in this process in 
order to clarify the criteria to be used for such product annotations, 
avoid implementation and enforcement problems, and facilitate species 
conservation. We invite information and comments on this issue.

Observers

    Article XI, paragraph 7 of CITES provides: ``Any body or agency 
technically qualified in protection, conservation or management of wild 
fauna and flora, in the following categories, which has informed the 
Secretariat of its desire to be represented at meetings of the 
Conference by observers, shall be admitted unless at least one-third of 
the Parties present object:
    (a) International agencies or bodies, either governmental or non-
governmental, and national governmental agencies and bodies; and
    (b) National non-governmental agencies or bodies which have been 
approved for this purpose by the State in which they are located.
    Once admitted, these observers shall have the right to participate 
but not to vote.''
    National agencies or organizations within the United States must 
obtain our approval to participate in COP11, while international 
agencies or organizations must obtain approval directly from the CITES 
Secretariat. We will publish information in a future Federal Register 
notice on how to request approved observer status.

Future Actions

    We expect the next regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties 
(COP11) to be held sometime between November 1999 and May 2000, in a 
host country to be determined. We have developed a tentative U.S. 
schedule to prepare for that meeting. The United States must submit any 
proposals to amend Appendix I or II, or any draft resolutions or agenda 
items for discussion at COP11, to the CITES Secretariat 150 days prior 
to the start of the meeting. In order to accommodate this deadline, we 
plan to publish a Federal Register notice approximately 10 months prior 
to COP11 to:
    (a) Announce the host country and dates of COP11;
    (b) Include the provisional agenda; and
    (c) Announce tentative species proposals, draft resolutions, and 
agenda items to be submitted by the United States, and to solicit 
further information and comments on them.
    Approximately nine months prior to COP11, we will hold a public 
meeting to allow for additional public input. Another Federal Register 
notice approximately four months prior to COP11 will announce our 
decisions on those species proposals, resolutions, and agenda items 
submitted by the United States to the CITES Secretariat. The deadline 
for submission of the proposals, resolutions, and agenda items to the 
Secretariat is expected to be sometime between June 1999 and December 
1999, as COP11 is currently being planned to take place sometime 
between November 1999 and May 2000.
    Through a series of additional notices in advance of COP11, we will 
inform you about preliminary and ``final'' negotiating positions on 
resolutions and amendments to the Appendices proposed by other Parties 
for consideration at COP11, and about how to obtain observer status 
from us. We will also publish announcements of public meetings expected 
to be held approximately nine months prior to COP11, and approximately 
two months prior to COP11, to receive public input on our positions 
regarding COP11 issues.
    Author: This notice was prepared by Mark Albert, Office of 
Management Authority, under the authority of U.S. Endangered Species 
Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: August 26, 1998.
John G. Rogers,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 98-23843 Filed 9-3-98; 8:45 am]
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