Wildlife trade and conservation

Approved Wildlife Trade Operations (WTOs)

About Wildife Trade Operations

Approved wildlife trade operations replace the former category of declared controlled specimens. Wildlife trade operations may be approved for up to three years.

A proposed operation must be published on this web site for public comment.

A declaration in relation to specimens made under subsection 10A(2) of the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 and related to a particular operation (controlled specimens) is recognised as an approved wildlife trade operation under the transitional arrangements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act). These operations will continue in force until the date on which the original declaration is due to cease. Under the previous Act declarations of controlled specimen could be made for periods of up to five years. This means that some approved wildlife trade operations previously recognised as controlled specimens may operate for up to five years even though new approvals may only be for a maximum of three years.

Permits may be issued for the commercial export of specimens derived from an approved wildlife trade operation. A wildlife trade operation is an operation for taking specimens that meets the requirements of section 303FN of the Act and regulation 9A.20 as a market testing operation, a small-scale operation, a developmental operation, a commercial fishery, a provisional operation or an existing stocks operation.

Approval of a wildlife trade operation is made through an instrument signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette. The Minister may specify the period, the circumstances or conditions under which accreditation will occur in the declaration (subsection 303FT(4)). A declaration may be varied by specifying additional or new conditions or revoking or varying existing conditions by a subsequent instrument published in the Gazette (subsection 303FT(7)). A declaration must be revoked if the Minister is satisfied that a condition of the declaration has been contravened (subsection 303FT(9)). A declaration may be revoked at any time.

The broad groups below list the types of wildlife trade operations that are currently approved under the EPBC Act.

Conditions of approval, additional to the species covered and period of approval, are specified in the individual declarations.The declarations published on this web site are electronic copies of the original declarations published in the Commonwealth Gazette. They are reproduced, including typographical errors where present, as close as possible to the original document.