DSWF co-signs public letter to European Commission pushing back on inadequate proposal to fight EU ivory trade

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) has joined with 15 other Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to sign a public letter to the European Commission for their non-paper on the elephant ivory trade in the EU.

Between September and December 2017, a public consultation was held to gather evidence and views on ivory trade and ivory trafficking within the EU, and the overwhelming majority of the 92,000 respondents called for the closure of the EU’s domestic ivory market. As a result, the European Commission (EC) held a stakeholder consultation meeting last month to discuss possible measures that could be put in place to further restrict the trade.

While the European conservation and wildlife trade NGOs welcomed the meeting and the European Commission’s non-paper proposal, they considered the proposal to be inadequate and not going far enough to address the loopholes in the current rules, which many, including several African countries have highlighted encourage the laundering of poached and illegally acquired ivory through the EU domestic market.

What is a non-paper?

A non-paper is an informal discussion document which is put forward in closed negotiations within EU institutions looking for agreement on a controversial procedural or policy issue. Often circulated by the presidency of the Council, an individual member state or the European Commission, non-papers look to test the reaction of other parties to possible solutions, without necessarily committing the proposer or reflecting his or her public position up to that point.