CITES Convention, Conservation of Endangered Animals and plants

The Directorate of Fisheries and CITES

The Cites Convention is intended to protect species of animals and flora that are in danger of extinction. The agreement includes rules for the import and export of live and dead animals, plants and their products.

The Directorate of Fisheries on behalf of the Icelandic Government enforces the agreement regarding marine species. Amongst other things, this includes issuing so called CITES certificates that allow the export and import of endangered marine species.

What is needed for a CITES certificate:

• The first step is to check if the item in question is covered by the CITES agreement, these are the types of organisms that are covered by the agreement.

• Contact the Directorate of Fisheries via email fiskistofa@fiskistofa.is and request a CITES certificate, giving details of the identity of the species and/or item, together with its weight, quantity, sender and recipient.

• The Directorate of Fisheries will request further information as appropriate. In some cases, the applicant will need to provide further documentation on the organism, for example a review from the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute or the Icelandic Institute of Natural History

Please note that in many cases it can be expected that a CITES certificate must also be issued by the exporting or receiving country. Some countries have stricter rules than Iceland, so it is important to make sure that the other country accepts the transfer. For example, Iceland allows the export of whale specimens and products, but many countries will not accept such imports.

The certificate costs 24.500 ISK