CITES Annual Statistics
General notes
All the data provided should be consulted with the proviso in mind that the software used may occasionally produce processing errors.
For the years 1996 and 1997 the statistics are sorted according to the conservation status of the species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices I, II and III. With effect from 1998, conservation status under Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 was adopted as the basic sorting criterion (Annexes A, B, C and D). Statistical data on the import, export and re-export of specimens of species listed in Annex A to Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 (or CITES Appendix I up to 1997) and statistical data on the commercial import of specimens from species listed in Annex B to Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 and the export and re-export of specimens of species listed in Annexes B and C to Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 (or CITES Appendices II and III up to 1997) are exclusively collected on the basis of the import permits, export permits or re-export certificates issued by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and actually used in the relevant year.
Statistical data on the import of specimens of species listed in Annex B to Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97, for personal effects are collected on the basis of CITES export documents from the countries of export forwarded by the customs offices at the port of entry to the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
Statistical data on the commercial import of specimens of species listed in Annexes C and D to Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 (or CITES Appendices II and III up to 1997) are exclusively collected on the basis of the import notifications issued by the customs offices at the points of entry and forwarded to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) (or, until 1997, import certificates and import permits for species which at that time required additional import permits under EU law).
Notes on comparability with other statistics
The CITES-annual-statistics only include those permits and certificates actually used or imports registered during the relevant period of time. These figures deviate considerably from the number of permits and certificates issued, for the following reasons:
- The number of specimens actually imported, exported or re-exported can be lower than the quantities permitted in the CITES documents.
- As a result of their 6-month validity period, some permits or certificates were only used during the following calendar year or had already been issued during the preceding year.
- Some permits or certificates issued were not used and returned to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
For these reasons the data can only be compared with CITES statistics from other countries which statistics are collected on the same principles.
The CITES statistics are organized according to the scientific species-names which are currently in use; synonymous names used by countries of export in their CITES export documents have been corrected appropriately. The foreign trade statistics compiled by the German Federal Statistical Office often include combinations of items according to the Harmonized System without regard for the presence or absence of CITES specimens among them. Thus for example the product number 643150 ('wild cat furs, raw') may also include furs of feral domestic cats which are not protected under CITES.
The distinction made between 'country of export' and 'country of origin' effectively declares whether the species has been imported directly into the Federal Republic of Germany from its country of origin or from a third country by way of re-export. Whether the specimen has passed through additional countries between the country of origin and the country of export cannot be documented.
In contrast, the foreign trade statistics compiled by the German Federal Statistical Office use a different concept of origin: here 'country of origin' means the country of production, i.e. if the item has undergone any substantial treatment or processing in a second country resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing a significant stage in production, then in the foreign trade statistics compiled by the German Federal Statistical Office only this second country counts as the country of origin or production
Traffic in goods within the European Union does not constitute trade under the terms of CITES. Hence this internal trade is not reported in the CITES statistics. In contrast, the foreign trade statistics compiled by the German Federal Statistical Office take in all internal trade within the European Union.
Differences between CITES statistics and foreign trade statistics compiled by the German Federal Statistical Office can also be based on different units of measure (e.g. ivory: pieces or kilograms; snake skins: kilograms or length in metres) or result from the fact that statistics from the German Federal Statistical Office already include imports which have yet to be examined for compliance with the leglislation in force by the CITES implementation authorities (time discrepancy).
