The EU’s facilitation of the commercial trade in tigers and tiger parts
8.5.2020
Question for written answer E-002849/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Anja Hazekamp
A recent NGO report entitled ‘Europe’s second-class tigers’ reveals that some Member States continue to import and export tigers and tiger parts/derivatives for commercial purposes. Between 2014 and 2018, Czechia, Belgium and Malta exported more than 10 tigers. Belgium and Denmark imported skins, bodies and trophies under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) code ‘T’, which means that the items were traded for commercial purposes. The Netherlands issued permits for the commercial export of 10 tiger bodies, 15 tiger skins and one trophy to China, where there is a significant demand for tiger parts to produce traditional medicines.
- 1.Can the Commission provide an accurate overview of the number of live tigers kept in the EU, and the number of tigers and tiger parts/derivatives that were traded for commercial purposes between 2014 and 2018?
- 2.CITES COP14 Decision 14.69 on captive-bred and ranched specimens states that tigers should not be bred for trade. It is clear that this CITES decision is not being applied by all of the Member States. Does the Commission agree that the EU should not permit the breeding of tigers for the commercial trade of tigers or their parts?
- 3.Will it consider adopting additional measures, including comprehensive bans on all commercial trade in live tigers and all trade in tiger parts?