

The US federal ban exempts all items older than 100 years as well as items with up to 50% ivory content. Commercial activities to, and between, museums which are accredited by Arts Council England, the Welsh Government, Museums and Galleries Scotland or the Northern Ireland Museums Council in the UK, or the International Council of Museums for museums outside the UK.īy covering ivory items of all ages and adopting these narrow exemptions, the UK’s ban will be one of the toughest in the world. In addition, there will be a specific exemption for portrait miniatures painted on thin slivers of ivory and which are at least 100 years old. Such items must be at least 100 years old and their rarity and importance will be assessed by specialist institutions such as the UK’s most prestigious museums before exemption permits are issued. Rarest and most important items of their type.These must have an ivory content of less than 20% and have been made prior to 1975 (when Asian elephants were added to CITES). Such items must be comprised of less than 10% ivory by volume and have been made prior to 1947. Items with only a small amount of ivory in them.The exemptions have been tightened since the Government published its proposals for consultation, but still provide balance to ensure people are not unfairly impacted: In line with the approach taken by other countries, including the United States and China, there will be certain narrowly-defined and carefully-targeted exemptions for items which do not contribute to the poaching of elephants. The ban on ivory sales we will bring into law will reaffirm the UK’s global leadership on this critical issue, demonstrating our belief that the abhorrent ivory trade should become a thing of the past. Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol, so we will introduce one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales to protect elephants for future generations. The number of elephants has declined by almost a third in the last decade and around 20,000 a year are still being slaughtered due to the global demand for ivory.Įnvironment Secretary, Michael Gove said:


There were more than 70,000 responses to the consultation, with over 88 percent of responses in favour of the ban. The maximum available penalty for breaching the ban will be an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail. The ban will cover ivory items of all ages – not only those produced after a certain date. The Government is publishing the response to its consultation on a UK ivory sales ban, and confirming robust measures that will be brought into force through primary legislation. The UK will introduce a ban on ivory sales, Environment Secretary Michael Gove confirmed today as he set out our plans to help protect elephants for future generations.
