[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 90 (Monday, May 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26948-26950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11251]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-HQ-IA-2014-0018; 96300-1671-0000-R4]


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

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: To implement the Convention on International Trade in 
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES or the Convention), 
the Parties to the Convention meet periodically to review what species 
in international trade should be regulated and other aspects of the 
implementation of CITES. The seventeenth regular meeting of the 
Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) is tentatively scheduled to 
be held in September 2016 in South Africa. With this notice we are 
soliciting and invite you to provide us with information and 
recommendations on resolutions, decisions, and agenda items that the 
United States might consider submitting for discussion at CoP17. In 
addition, with this notice we provide preliminary information on how to 
request approved observer status for nongovernmental organizations that 
wish to attend the meeting.

DATES: We will consider all information and comments we receive on or 
before July 10, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments pertaining to recommendations for 
resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for discussion at CoP17 by one 
of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-HQ-
IA-2014-0018 (the docket number for this notice).
     U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public Comments Processing, 
Attn: FWS-HQ-IA-2014-0018; Division of Policy and Directives 
Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike; MS: 
BPHC; Falls Church, VA 22041.
    We will not consider comments sent by email or fax, or to an 
address not listed in the ADDRESSES section. Comments and materials we 
receive in response to this notice will be available for public 
inspection on http://www.regulations.gov, or by appointment, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, at the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Management Authority, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, 2nd Floor, Falls Church, VA 22041; telephone 703-358-
2095.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information pertaining to 
resolutions, decisions, and agenda items, contact Craig Hoover, Chief, 
Wildlife Trade and Conservation Branch, Division of Management 
Authority, at 703-358-2095 (phone), 703-358-2298 (fax), or 
[email protected] (email). If you use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal Information Relay Service 
(FIRS) at 800-877-8339. For information pertaining to species 
proposals, contact Rosemarie Gnam, Chief, Division of Scientific 
Authority, at 703-358-1708 (phone), 703-358-2276 (fax), or 
[email protected] (email).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

[[Page 26949]]

Background

    The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 
Fauna and Flora, hereinafter referred to as CITES or the Convention, is 
an international treaty designed to regulate international trade in 
certain animal and plant species that are now, or potentially may 
become, threatened with extinction. These species are listed in the 
Appendices to CITES, which are available on the CITES Secretariat's Web 
site at http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php.
    Currently, 180 countries, including the United States, are Parties 
to CITES. The Convention calls for regular biennial meetings of the 
Conference of the Parties, unless the Conference decides otherwise. At 
these meetings, the Parties review the implementation of CITES, 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, decisions, and agenda items for consideration by all the 
Parties at the meeting.
    This is our second in a series of Federal Register notices that, 
together with an announced public meeting (time and place to be 
announced), provide you with an opportunity to participate in the 
development of the U.S. submissions to, and negotiating positions for, 
the seventeenth regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to 
CITES (CoP17), which is tentatively scheduled to be held in September 
2016 in South Africa. We published our first CoP17-related Federal 
Register notice on June 27, 2014 (79 FR 36550), in which we requested 
information and recommendations on species proposals for the United 
States to consider submitting for discussion at CoP17. In that notice, 
we also described the U.S. approach to preparations for CoP17. We 
intend to announce tentative species proposals that the United States 
is considering submitting for CoP17 and solicit further information and 
comments on them when we publish our next CoP17-related Federal 
Register notice. You may obtain information on species proposals by 
contacting the Division of Scientific Authority at the telephone number 
or email address provided in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT above. Our 
regulations governing this public process are found at 50 CFR 23.87.

Request for Information and Recommendations on Resolutions, Decisions, 
and Agenda Items

    Although we have not yet received formal notice of the provisional 
agenda for CoP17, we invite your input on possible agenda items that 
the United States could recommend for inclusion, or on possible 
resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the Parties that the 
United States could submit for consideration. Copies of the agenda and 
the results of the last meeting of the Conference of the Parties 
(CoP16) in Bangkok, Thailand, in March 2013, as well as copies of all 
resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the Parties currently in 
effect, are available on the CITES Secretariat's Web site (http://www.cites.org/) or from the Division of Management Authority at the 
address provided in the ADDRESSES section above.

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 
nongovernmental, and national governmental agencies and bodies; and
    (b) national nongovernmental 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 CoP17, whereas 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. A factsheet on the 
process is posted on our Web site at: http://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/factsheet-become-observer-to-cites-meeting-2013.pdf.

Future Actions

    As stated above, the next regular meeting of the Conference of the 
Parties (CoP17) is tentatively scheduled to be held in South Africa in 
September 2016. The United States must submit any proposals to amend 
Appendix I or II, or any draft resolutions, decisions, or agenda items 
for discussion at CoP17, to the CITES Secretariat no later than 150 
days (tentatively April 2016) prior to the start of the meeting. In 
order to meet this deadline and to prepare for CoP17, we have developed 
a tentative U.S. schedule. Approximately 14 months prior to CoP17, we 
plan to publish our next CoP17-related Federal Register notice 
announcing tentative species proposals that the United States is 
considering submitting for CoP17 and soliciting further information and 
comments on them. Following publication of that Federal Register notice 
and approximately 12 months prior to CoP17, we plan to publish a 
Federal Register notice announcing draft resolutions, draft decisions, 
and agenda items the United States is considering submitting for CoP17 
and soliciting further information and comments on them. Approximately 
4 months prior to CoP17, we will post on our Web site an announcement 
of the species proposals, draft resolutions, draft decisions, and 
agenda items submitted by the United States to the CITES Secretariat 
for consideration at CoP17.
    Through a series of additional notices and Web site postings in 
advance of CoP17, we will inform you about preliminary negotiating 
positions on resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the Appendices 
proposed by other Parties for consideration at CoP17, and about how to 
obtain observer status from us. We will also publish an announcement of 
a public meeting tentatively to be held approximately 3 months prior to 
CoP17. That meeting will enable us to receive public input on our 
positions regarding CoP17 issues. The procedures for developing U.S. 
documents and negotiating positions for a meeting of the Conference of 
the Parties to CITES are outlined in 50 CFR 23.87. As noted in 
paragraph (c) of that section, we may modify or suspend the procedures 
outlined there if they would interfere with the timely or appropriate 
development of documents for submission to the CoP and of U.S. 
negotiating positions.

Author

    The primary author of this notice is Mark Albert, Division of 
Management Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).


[[Page 26950]]


    Date: April 30, 2015.
Stephen Guertin
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-11251 Filed 5-8-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-55-P