§4222 Moratoria

Summary

The Secretary must put a temporary ban on importing raw and worked ivory from a country as soon as the Secretary finds that the country does not meet the rules in section 4221(b)(1). If the Secretary does not have enough information about a producing country, the Secretary must start the ban by January 1, 1990 unless new information before that date shows the country meets those rules. The Secretary must also ban imports from an intermediary country right away if that country is not a party to CITES, does not follow the CITES ivory control system, brings in ivory from non‑producing or non‑CITES countries, brings in ivory taken illegally from a producing country, sharply increases imports from a country already under a ban during the first three months of that ban, or brings in ivory from a banned country after the first three months (unless it arrived by ship in the first six months and has paperwork showing it left the exporting country before the ban started). The Secretary must stop a ban if, after public notice and comment, the reasons for it are gone. Anyone can send a written petition asking for a ban or to end one; the Secretary will publish the petition, let the public comment, and decide within 90 days after the comment period ends. People may still import legally hunted elephant trophies from a producing country that submitted an ivory quota. Trade in ivory seized by a country and sold under the CITES system cannot by itself trigger a ban if all sale money goes to wildlife conservation; for countries that were not CITES members when the ivory was seized, that rule only applies after they put in place protections to keep illegal dealers from benefiting.