Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Monday, 26 November 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 28 November 2007. It was answered by Joan Ruddock (Labour) on Tuesday, 4 December 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Wildlife: Trade

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are taking to tackle the trade in wildlife on the internet in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) globally.

Answer: In the UK, the Government are working with various organisations such as the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW), HM Revenue and Customs and the police to establish the extent of trade taking place over the internet that is illegal, and to find effective ways to tackle this. We are also working with the trade, website owners, enforcement experts and other stakeholders to establish codes of practice for internet providers and users.Globally, we are working with other parties to the convention on international trade in endangered species (CITES) to carry forward the internet trade proposal agreed at the CITES 14th conference of parties (CoP14). This proposal will gauge the scale and nature of illegal internet trade in wildlife globally and then consider ways to tackle illegal internet trade.We are working closely with enforcement agencies, NGOs, internet providers and website owners to contribute to the review from a UK perspective and the UK Government have already provided the CITES Secretariat with £15,000 to take this work forward.

Secondary information