Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Scott W]

The following has been drafted by the FBH, if you have bought or sold animals via the internet you are advised to read this and add any comments or suggestions.

This Code of Practice is written for US by US, obviously far better than letting the RSPCA or others to draft and push through.

Code of Practice for UK Website Owners
Permitting the Vending of Live Fauna & Flora

Introduction

This Code of Practice (CoP) has been developed with the participation of website owners, trade associations, keepers’ associations, government enforcement agencies and various other non-government organisations (NGOs). The purpose of this CoP is to endeavor to eliminate any illegal trade, whilst impacting as little as possible on lawful trade. The CoP acknowledges that there is legal trade in live fauna & flora and that this trade can be transacted via the Internet. It also acknowledges, however, that the Internet could facilitate illegal trade in such. It is hoped that the best practices outlined in this code will serve the welfare and conservation needs of the fauna & flora concerned and also serve to protect the legal trade from the actions of the less scrupulous.

Internal Policy and Practice

Website owners should be fully aware of UK laws relating to the sale of live fauna & flora and should further be aware of the possibility of illegal trade. Internal policies and practices should be established to ensure compliance with the law and these should be reviewed at regular intervals. All reasonable steps should be undertaken to prevent illegal trade. Such steps would include, but not be limited to:

It is recommended that all website owners based in the UK selling fauna & flora carry a note to potential purchasers alerting them to the fact that should they choose to buy items from sites or traders not based in the UK they will become responsible for ensuring all necessary legal requirements are fulfilled prior to, or at the time of, import. Those choosing to buy from non-UK sites should assure themselves that all necessary requirements are included in the contract of sale before the sale is completed.

Carry out adequate, regular and detailed monitoring of the site for adverts offering live fauna & flora which may contravene UK and/or international regulations.

Take rapid and appropriate action in relation to any suspicious wildlife items found by company staff, or reported by users. If it is unclear whether an item is legal or illegal, the item should be removed as a precautionary measure until this is clarified with the seller or a law enforcement agency.

Provide regular training and clear reference materials for staff in relation to the law related to the sale of fauna & flora.
Ensure that the company marketing strategy does not encourage trade in violation of the law.

Devote sufficient resources to enable full and ongoing implementation of all the measures in this Code of Practice.

Education of Users

At minimum, provide easy access for site users to user-friendly information on the legal requirements and legal sanctions for wildlife trading, including trade via internet, and proactively draw users attention to this information:

Have a clear, plain-English policy* on the website concerning the advertising, buying and selling of live animals.

Make this policy easy to find from pages where items are advertised and from other parts of the website.

Actively promote awareness of the issue of wildlife crime among users through newsletters, news features, discussion boards and other channels of communication.


Reporting by Users

Establish an effective reporting mechanism to allow users to easily report any live fauna & flora being offered for sale about which they have legitimate concerns. The mechanism should include the following features:

An obvious link from pages where items are advertised to the reporting form.

Provide an opportunity on the reporting form to add details of why the item may be illegal.

Include the ability for individuals who are not registered users to report suspicious items.

Include mechanism for action against persistent, malicious or spurious reporters.

Make information available for users on how to report illegal items directly to a law enforcement agency.
Give prompt feedback for the person who reports an item, detailing action taken by the site owner, or an explanation of why no action was taken.


Cooperation with External Agencies

Cooperate fully with government enforcement agencies in order to reduce illegal wildlife trade:

Seek advice from appropriate enforcement agencies when developing a clear policy statement for users and provide appropriate links to other websites** for more information.

Establish a close relationship with key law enforcement agencies and agree a procedure and format for rapid and easy reporting of suspicious items.

Cooperate fully and rapidly with any criminal investigation and prosecution.

Help to promote government and other initiatives to raise public awareness about illegal wildlife trade, e.g. PAW (Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime).



* Suggested Policy Statement for UK Websites dealing with live fauna:

Vendors should state the country of which they are resident, and the country from which the item is being sold

Vendors should make all enquires practical to ensure that purchasers are over the age of 16, including direct contact by phone (where appropriate) prior to completing any transaction
It is an offence to offer a species covered by EU Wildlife Trade Regulations Annex A (CITES Appendix I) for sale without a valid Article 10 Certificate.

The vendor should, where possible, provide a copy of the relevant import permit number, or other documentation (e.g. receipt) to the purchaser for any CITES listed species not included on Annex A.

It is required that any species scheduled by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act be clearly marked as such.

Vendors of animals scheduled under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act should make all practical enquires to ensure that the purchaser has such a license, or is exempt from same.

The vendor should provide sufficient care information, i.e. a care sheet, to the purchaser at time of sale

It should be noted that it is illegal to send any live vertebrate through the postal system, national or international
When sending live animals by courier, vendors should arrange a confirmed delivery date with the customers to avoid delays and to ensure that someone is present to accept the delivery on arrival


* Suggested Policy Statement for UK Websites dealing with live flora:

Vendors should state the country of which they are resident, and the country from which the item is being sold

It is an offence to offer a species covered by EU Wildlife Trade Regulations Annex A (CITES Appendix I) for sale without a valid Article 10 Certificate

The vendor should, where possible, provide a copy of the relevant import permit number, or other documentation (e.g. receipt) to the purchaser for any CITES listed species not included on Annex A

** recommended links

PAW
DEFRA, Global Wildlife
DEFRA, Animal Health & Welfare
CITES
EU Wildlife Trade Regulations
Customs & Revenue
IATA
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Rickeezee]

Top stuff good! Cheers for that Scott.

As with most things in life far far better to act responsibly and self regulate as opposed to waiting for big brother to to trample over it all and come up with utter nonsense.

Personally I am all in favour of 360 degree appraisal which forms part of self ownership and taking responsibility and ultimately contributes to self regulation. Simple things as customer satisfaction surveys, how could the service be improved etc etc. I know it all sounds a bit Modern Management practice but far better to initiate this first as opposed to not giving a damn. If your a seller then you are at least involving the customer in the process and enabling them to make comment and offer positive or indeed negative feedback and to have a say in how they receive your service. Naive not to really in my view.
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

[mattie]

Spot on Rick, if anything this is going too improve the quality of service and increase customer confidence as a whole. will be interesting too see how many online traders adhere too this, suppose its something customers will determine in the long run, ive just applied too my local authority for a pet shop licence and i know they were impressed when i handed them a copy of the code of practice for retailers, infact i was told they would be contacting other retailers too see why they werent adhering too it, so i believe its a case of doing it yourself before your pushed

[Rickeezee]

[Pollywog]

all sounds fair enough to me. I've no problems with anything I've read in the above.
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Andrew Tillson-Willis
Pollywog
www.pollywog.co.uk
sales@pollywog.co.uk

[Scott W]

Should there be a requirement for a basic care guide to be available for species being advertised on a business website? (not classfieds services for private keepers)

It seems to me as though the CoP are based around CITES/Legal status of the animals being offered, not on a care and welfare basis, is this correct Chris?
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Chris Newman]

Below is the ‘Policy Statement’ or what actually should be called guidance notes. This I missing from the original post and is in my view the most important part of the CoP


Policy Statements for UK Website Owners
Offering for sale Fauna & Flora


1. UK Websites dealing with live fauna

• Vendors (sellers) should state the country of which they are resident, and the country from which the item is being sold.

• Vendors should make all practical enquires to ensure that purchasers are over the age of 16 including direct contact by phone prior to completing any transaction.

• It is an offence to offer a species covered by EU Wildlife Trade Regulations Annex A for sale without a valid Article 10 Certificate [see link]

• The vendor should, where possible, provide a copy of the relevant import permit number, or other documentation, e.g. receipt, to the purchaser for any CITES listed species not included on Annex A.

• It is required that any species scheduled by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act be clearly marked as such [see link]

• Vendors of animals scheduled under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act should make all practical enquires to ensure that the purchaser has such a license or is exempt from same.

• The vendor should provide sufficient care information, i.e. a care sheet, to the purchaser at time of sale.

• It should be noted that it is illegal to send any live vertebrate through the postal system, national or international.

• When sending live animals by courier, to avoid delays, Vendors should arrange a confirmed delivery date with the customers to ensure that some one is present to accept the delivery on arrival.

• Live vertebrate animals transported for commercial purposes must be accompanied by a valid Animal Transport Certificate under the Welfare Of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 [see link]

[Chris Newman]

The CoP is not intended as a welfare document, and should only have rudimentary concerns for welfare. Its purpose is to prevent inadvertent illegal trading, i.e to educate and give advice on what the laws/regulations are, thus allowing people to make an informed choose.

However, under the Animal Welfare Act it will be a legal requirement for vendors to provide sufficient written care information at the time/point of transaction. Care sheets are a separate issue that needs discussing at some point.

[Scott W]

• Vendors should make all practical enquires to ensure that purchasers are over the age of 16 including direct contact by phone prior to completing any transaction.

glad to see that in there.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Chris Newman]

If anyone can see anything that I have missed please let me know, I have tried to make this as comprehensive as possible without being to draconian – I hope!