eCITES

The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the CITES Secretariat, UNEP or the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

**Last updated on 16.06.2021. Based on oral communication by the CITES Secretariat; please contact [email protected] for any corrections/updates.**

Governance: The Convention, through the Resolutions and Decisions adopted by the Conference of Parties based on the recommendations of the Working Group on electronic Systems and Information Technology provides standards for eCITES implementation and ensures that Parties can take advantage of modern eBusiness approaches to implement the Convention.

Tools: The Working Group and the Secretariat publish standards and tools that support parties in the implementation and foster compatibility and information exchange of eCITES systems.

Implementation support: The secretariat provides advisory services and capacity building to Parties. It works with a technology provider to provide Parties with low cost and off the shelf solutions such as the UNCTAD eCITES system. It also supports the implementation of eCITES in partnership with other international or regional organizations.

The CITES Intersessional Working Group on electronic Systems and Information Technology (SC69 to SC74)

The At its 72nd meeting, the Standing Committee re-established the intersessional working group on electronic systems and information technologies. (28 August 2019, Geneva, Switzerland) with the following membership:

Switzerland (Chair), Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Canada, China, the European Union, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Zimbabwe; the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre; the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); Americas Fur Resource Council, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Born Free Foundation, Environmental Investigation Agency USA, International Wood Products Association, Ivory Education Institute, San Diego Zoo, Wildlife Conservation Society and World Animal Protection.

The Working Group was chaired by, Mathias Loertscher, Head, CITES MA Switzerland. 

CITES Electronic Permit Information eXchange (EPIX) Task Force

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) established an EPIX Task Force to provide a forum where Parties could continue to share experiences and information related to the piloting and testing of electronic CITES permit information exchange and to network with other interested Parties. The Task Force convened by UNECE is chaired by the Chair of the working group on electronic systems and information technologies.

eCITES Implementation Framework

The eCITES Implementation Framework provides national project managers with a best practice approach to plan and manage the automation of their CITES processes. A standard implementation approach using a tested framework greatly reduces eCITES project’s risks and costs and achieves improved results and synergies at the regional and global level. The Framework was developed by experienced project managers taking into account lessons learned from similar eGovernment projects around the world.

The eCITES Implementation Framework implements four pillars:

• Automation of the CITES permit issuance process in the Management Authorities, including electronic application of CITES permits; transparent and automated controls during inspection, approval and issuance of all permits; electronic payment of fees and electronic repository of all valid permits.
• Electronic information exchange of CITES permits with customs authorities, automated risk assessment and targeted inspections for export, import and transit and coordinated border controls.
• Automated generation of reports and statistics to monitor legality and sustainability of trade, including CITES annual trade reports.
• Electronic exchange of CITES permit information between Government authorities of export, import and transit countries to prevent use of forged documents and establish end-to-end control of trade. 

Each pillar of the Framework is a sub-project with defined outcomes and benefits. Parties can implement eCITES pillars in a stepwise approach and according to its own readiness. 

ePermitting Toolkit

The CITES ePermitting Toolkit was developed by CITES Secretariat and the Working Group to support Parties in the implementation of electronic Permitting systems. The first version was presented on the CoP 15 (Doha 2010). The Annex of the CITES electronic toolkit was updated in 2013 to include new electronic permitting standards and norms developed by UN/CEFACT and WCO.

The first three chapters of the Toolkit provide background information on the use of electronic Business solutions for CITES permitting. Readers should be aware that since its drafting in 2009 eBusiness technologies and practices have considerably evolved and the topics in the three chapters do not reflect these changes. 

The Annex of the Toolkit contains the normative part of the Toolkit. It provides a data model and the message specifications in UN/EDIFACT and XML format for electronic CITES permits.  The message formats are given in the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library (CCL) standard (ISO 15000 suite of standards) and in the WCO Data Model standard.

The Schema for the electronic CITES permit (toolkit version 2) can be downloaded here. Parties can use the eCITES validation Web Portal to validate a CITES XML permit against the CITES Toolkit Version 2 XML Schema. The service is provided out of courtesy by GEFEG GmbH Germany. 

The CITES Secretariat is ready to provide advisory services and support for implementation of eCITES, subject to availability of funding. It works with various partners to promote and expand the use of digital solutions for advancing eCITES. For information and support, please write to [email protected].

ASYCUDA eCITES system: Cloud based electronic permitting by UNCTAD  

The ASYCUDA eCITES system (previously referred to as “aCITES”) is an off-the-shelf software solution for electronic permit management and exchange. The system is jointly developed by the Secretariat and the UNCTAD ASYCUDA programme and implements the three main pillars of the eCITES Implementation Framework. Its development is governed by a joint MoU between the Secretariat and UNCTAD.  

The ASYCUDA eCITES system can be implemented and maintained by a Management Authority as a stand-alone system or, if the national administration uses the ASYCUDA customs system, as a component of this Customs system.

To provide access to electronic Permit solutions for many of the 193 Parties that have low permit volumes, the Secretariat and UNCTAD have now developed the eCITES BaseSolution, a cloud-based release of the ASYCUDA eCITES system which provides electronic permit processing functionality to Parties while the technical infrastructure of the server is maintained by UNCTAD experts.  The system is virtually maintenance free for the Management Authorities and does not require advanced technical expertise or IT systems.

Parties can implement the ASYCUDA eCITES in the framework of a technical cooperation project with UNCTAD.