APPENDIX F

FAO WORKPLAN
ON CITES AND COMMERCIALLY-EXPLOITED AQUATIC SPECIES

(Adopted by COFI, see paragraph 48)

The Twenty-fifth Session of COFI agreed on the following guidelines for an experts’ process to be followed by the FAO Secretariat.

i) One Expert Consultation should be convened to address the following issues:

• CITES Article II Fundamental Principles, Paragraph 2(b), the “look-alike” clause;
• Annex 3 of CITES Resolution Conf. 9.24 Criteria for Amendment of Appendices I and II, which deals with split-listing; and aquaculture issues as a group, noting the inter-relationships in these topics.
• Administrative and monitoring implications of listing and down-listing, including the implications of Annex 4 of Res. Conf. 9.24 for this. It was agreed that this should also include an analysis of the socio-economic impact of listing on sturgeon, queen conch and a number of hypothetical listing proposals. It was suggested that participants to this consultation include those with direct experience in implementation of CITES regulations for such cases.

A second Expert Consultation should be convened to address:

• Applications of the phrase “introduction from the sea” in the definition of trade in Article I of the CITES Convention text, including consideration of the administrative costs associated with the various interpretations of this term.
• An analysis of the legal implications of the existing CITES listing criteria and the CITES Convention itself in relation to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and related international law covering fisheries, and of any changes in those implications resulting from adoption of the proposals included in Appendix F to the Report of the FAO Second Technical Consultation.

ii) FAO should continue to monitor and participate, where appropriate, in the on-going CITES process to amend Resolution Conf. 9.24, with a view to facilitating further progress.