Introduction
The Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of
International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA)
received royal assent on December 17, 1992, and came into force
on May 14, 1996, when the Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulations took effect. The purpose of WAPPRIITA is to
protect Canadian and foreign species of animals and plants that
may be at risk of overexploitation because of poaching or illegal
trade and to safeguard Canadian ecosystems from the
introduction of species designated as harmful. It accomplishes
these objectives by controlling the international trade and
interprovincial transport of wild animals and plants, as well as
their parts and derivatives, and by making it an offence to
transport illegally obtained wildlife between provinces or
territories or between Canada and other countries.
WAPPRIITA is the legislative vehicle through which Canada
meets its obligations under the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Canada
became one of the original Parties to this international agreement
in 1973; by the end of 2001, it had been adopted by 156
sovereign states. Qatar, the Republic of Moldova, and Sao Tome
and Principe are the three new Parties that acceded to the
Convention in 2001.
CITES sets controls on the trade and international movement of
animal and plant species that have been, or may become,
threatened with overexploitation as a result of trade pressures.
Such species are identified by the Parties and listed in one of
three appendices to the Convention, according to the level of
control considered necessary for them.
- Appendix I lists species that are threatened with extinction.
Trade in these species is strictly regulated to ensure their
survival, and trade for primarily commercial purposes is
prohibited.
- Appendix II lists species that are not currently threatened with
extinction, but may become so unless trade is strictly regulated
to avoid overexploitation.
- Individual Parties may list species found within their borders
in Appendix III to manage international trade in those species.
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