The Washington Convention on the international trade of fauna and flora species that are threatened with extinction, named C.I.T.E.S., was signed in Washington the 3rd of March 1973 and came into force on the 1st of July 1975.

This Convention resulted from the need to control the trade of animals and plants, which is one of the principal causes of the dwindling and extinction in nature of several species and that has led, through the exploitation of the species, to the destruction of their habitats.
CITES does not only deal with the regulation of the international trade and the sale of wild fauna and flora species that are threatened with extinction, but also with species that are at present considered as susceptible to becoming threatened with extinction in the future. 168 countries have signed this Convention and act, in a coordinated way, with the aid of a solid regulatory tool, based on a system of permits and certificates that allow, on a global level, the importation or exportation of specimens that belong to protected species or derivatives thereof.

The Washington Convention is considered as one of the most efficient means for the protection and conservation of natural resources and, particularly, of the endangered species that are listed in Appendix I (Appendices I, II e III ; CITES photo gallery). The different levels of protection attributed to various species are revised every two years on the basis of the conservation status of the species in nature and of the pressure imposed by the international trade of the species.

Among the species whose commercial exploitation is regulated by the Washington Convention, figure (to the left) Paphiopedilum charlesworthii (© Greg Allikas ) and Encephalartos laevifolius (source: The Cycad Society), both included in Appendix I of CITES.

The Washington Convention acts also in accordance with non-governmental organisations such as IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and the WWF, in order to sensitize the public and to prevent people from contributing, albeit unintentionally, to the extinction of species through international trade.

The European Union is not yet included among the Contracting Parties of the Convention, but CITES is nevertheless applied in conformity within the member countries of the European Community through the regulation 338/97 CE, which is specially adapted to the European situation.




For more detailed information on the Washington Convention