Viet Nam is drafting a Decree on managing endangered, precious, and rare forest plants and animals and implementing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (Draft Decree).
The Draft Decree consists of 5 chapters and 28 articles, inheriting the provisions on: Protection, investigation, assessment of the current status, scientific research on endangered, precious, and rare forest plants and animals; raising common forest animals; conditions for growing, planting, granting codes for facilities raising and planting animals and plants listed in the CITES Appendix; conditions for export, re-export, import and procedures for granting CITES licenses and certificates listed in the CITES Appendix.
The Draft Decree promptly updates changes in the CITES Convention; strengthens decentralization and delegation of authority; cuts and simplifies administrative procedures ensuring publicity and transparency, and creates favorable conditions for people and businesses; ensures consistency with other relevant legal regulations; overcomes shortcomings in the implementation process; at the same time inherit and supplement strengths and contents that are still suitable for practice in previously issued decrees.
The draft Decree supplements criteria for building a list of endangered, precious, and rare forest animals/plants in Viet Nam; stipulates the order and procedures for exploiting specimens of animals and plants in the CITES Appendix from nature and farming and cultivation; stipulates the granting of extensions and changes of codes for breeding and cultivation facilities; stipulates cases of exemption from CITES licenses and certificates; stipulates the order and procedures for granting replacements and cancellations of CITES licenses; trade with non-CITES member countries; stipulates the responsibilities of agencies in managing the exploitation, farming, cultivation and export and import of specimens in the CITES Appendix.
The draft Decree amends 7 contents including: Regulations on not granting CITES import permits for aquatic species in Appendix II and Appendix I originating from aquaculture and planting facilities that have registered codes with the CITES Secretariat because aquatic species have been managed according to the provisions of the law on fisheries; specific regulations on conditions for exporting and importing animals and plants in the CITES Appendix; regulations on processes and procedures for granting codes for aquaculture and planting facilities, and granting licenses; rules on processing, trading, transporting, advertising, displaying, and storing specimens of animals and plants in the CITES Appendix; regulations on handling confiscated specimens of animals and plants in the CITES Appendix; regulations on the functions and tasks of managing CITES Vietnam, CITES scientific agencies in Vietnam; regulations on promulgating the List of CITES species after adjustments of the CITES Convention after each meeting of member countries.