CITES

Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has vowed to consult with the antiques trade over plans to tighten rules surrounding ivory.

Antiques Trade Gazette is partnering with auctioneer body SoFAA and dealer organisation the BADA to host a seminar on the essentials of CITES, as the government announces tougher rules around the trade of ivory-based objects.

The government is expected to announce that it will consult the antiques industry and other parties on the kind of proof that will be required to trade ivory pre-dating 1947, ATG has learned.

Environment minister Andrea Leadsom will tomorrow announce a full prohibition on the sale of ivory objects made after 1947, ATG has been told.

Auctioneers and dealers will have to provide proof that antique ivory is aged 70 years and older, according to media reports this morning.

The vendor of the ‘unworked’ elephant tusk trophy that Christie’s offered for sale against CITES rules in 2015, has himself been prosecuted.

As world legislators clamp down on the modern ivory trade, an ATG round table reveals the antique variety has a serious image problem to tackle

The EU’s planned crackdown on terrorism funding and the way it is investigating possible legislation is a ‘big concern to the trade’.

An antique narwhal tusk that faced destruction following a dispute over paperwork has been returned to its owner after a judge ruled its confiscation by customs had been “unreasonable”.

A leading CITES lawyer has criticised DEFRA’s “wholesale failure” to alert the public to law changes, after a court fined a jeweller £2000 for selling antique tiger claw pendants.

The burden of proof in CITES court cases should now switch from the defence to the prosecution, says a lawyer who has just won an important victory on the matter.

Lawyer ANDREW BANKS reviews three recent CITES cases and considers what we might learn from them...

Embroiled in the debate regarding the rights and wrongs of selling elephant ivory works of art, Chiswick Auctions have become the first UK saleroom to stop almost all sales of ivory – regardless of age.

Magistrates have fined a West London auction house £3200 for breaching the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

A West London auction house is facing court, charged with the sale of a modern elephant ivory carving under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) (CITES) Regulations 1997.

More than 80 lots of Danish rosewood furniture were withdrawn from Sworder’s January 28 sale of Decorative Art and Design after advice that their sale contravened the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

Whitehall officials overseeing CITES enforcement have removed guidelines from their website after conceding that they are confusing.

The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers held a seminar titled ‘CITES, What’s Going On?’ in London on September 2 attended by more than 40 members.

A top official from the Border Agency has been added to the list of speakers at SOFAA’s September 2 seminar on the impact of the new endangered species guidelines.