“I am compliant with the laws on the preservation of the environment and species.
All the wood used in the construction of my instruments, where required by law,
are accompanied by their own Cites certificate which traces its entire history,
from the place of its growth to the Customs point of entry into the European Community”
The Cites Certificate will be your new instrument’s identity card.
The Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora, more commonly known as CITES, is an international agreement between states that aims to
protect plants and animals threatened with extinction by regulating and monitoring their trade, i.e.
the export, re-export and import of live and dead animals, plants, and parts and derivatives thereof.
The Convention is based on a system of permits and certificates that can be issued if certain
conditions are met and that must be presented to the customs control offices of the countries
involved in the trade.
The Convention entered into force in 1975 and currently has 183 Members (Parties), including the
European Union, which became a Party on 8 July 2015.
The CITES Secretariat is administered by the UNEP-United Nations Environment Programme
based in Geneva.
CITES regulates international trade in approximately 35,000 species, of which approximately
30,000 are plants. These species are listed in 3 Appendices according to the degree of protection
they need.
Specimens of wild (W) origin are covered by the Convention, but also, and not only, specimens
born and bred in captivity and artificially propagated plants.
Each Country designates one or more Management Authorities to issue CITES permits and
certificates, subject to the opinion of one or more Scientific Authorities designated for this purpose.
The complete list is available on the Secretariat‘s website.
In Italy, the Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del territorio e del mare is the Management
Authority primarily responsible for the enforcement of CITES legislation, while the Administrative
Authorities that can only issue CITES permits and certificates are:
Ministry of Economic Development – Directorate General for International Trade Policy Division II-
CITES for import and export permits, Carabinieri – Carabinieri’s CITES Service for import
notifications, re-export certificates, community certificates, for travelling exhibitions, personal
ownership and for sample collections.
The European Union, which is one of the world’s most important destination markets for CITES
specimens, enforces the Convention through Community Regulations directly applicable in each
Member State.
https://www.mimit.gov.it/
https://www.cites.org/