CITES Urges Countries to Report All Ivory Seizures for 2025 to
Strengthen Global Anti-Trafficking Efforts
·
CITES Secretariat has issued Notification No. 2026/014 (22
January 2026) reminding all Parties to report every seizure of illegal ivory and other elephant specimens
to the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS).
·
ETIS, managed by TRAFFIC
in collaboration with CITES, tracks trends in illegal ivory
trade and informs policy, enforcement, and elephant conservation decisions.
·
Parties must submit seizure data within 90 days of occurrence
or by 31 March 2026
for seizures made in 2025, as required under Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.
CoP19).
·
Data can be submitted via:
o ETIS Online portal, including bulk
uploads through Excel templates, or
o Email submission of completed
Excel/Word forms to TRAFFIC and the CITES Secretariat.
·
Updates to the ETIS data collection form (approved at SC78,
Geneva 2025) include:
o Expanded trade route verification
questions,
o More detailed ivory type and quantity classifications,
and
o Alignment with CITES Annual Illegal Trade Report
requirements on sanctions and disposal of confiscated specimens.
·
Parties are encouraged to report older, previously unreported seizures
to ensure complete trend analysis up to 2025.
·
Countries with no
seizures in 2025 are requested to explicitly report “no
seizures” via ETIS to distinguish absence of data from absence of incidents.
·
Minimum mandatory data for each seizure includes: source,
date, enforcing agency, country, and type/quantity of ivory or other elephant
products; incomplete records cannot be entered into ETIS.
·
Special emphasis is placed on accurate identification of ivory types,
as misclassification is the most common reason for delayed or rejected data
entries.
·
For large seizures (≥500 kg), Parties are encouraged
to conduct and report forensic
analyses to improve traceability of ivory origins and trade
chains.
<CITIES
Notification No.
2026/014 dated 22.01.2026]