Maldives passes legal framework protecting endangered species from international trade.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified the International Trade Controls on Endangered Species Act (Act No. 13/2022), which was passed by the parliament on June 30, on Wednesday.
The law specifies procedures for trade and transfer of species and their parts, and also guarantees protection from unsustainable international trade, which would result in their endangerment and exploitation. With this new act, the government can implement the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES), which Maldives has been party to in 2013.
The regulations mandated under this law must be published within six months of enactment.
The International Trade Controls on Endangered Species Act was published in the government gazette upon ratification, and will come into effect three months after the Act being gazetted.