Warsaw, 21 June 2010
What Is Noteworthy to Know Beforehand When You Go for the Summer Vacations?
Which of the holiday-souvenirs are under legal provisions allowed, and which forbidden to bring
through the State border? Can you travel safely together with your animal pet? How to become the
Ambassador of the Realm of Good Habit? How to check whether the bus by which you are going for
a trip is really safe? What could be done in case when a plane arrival delays? Why it is good to have
the European Health Insurance Card? Could the price of a holiday trip be subject to a change?
Nineteen relevant institutions provide hereby their replies to the above important questions.
Ministry of the Environment avails itself to draw hereby the Readers' attention to important matters of
imports and exports of souvenirs made from or in form of exotic plants and/or animals that people
used to bring themselves on their return from summer-holidays. These matters are regulated under
provisions in the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Prior to importing such specimens of plants and/or animal species you should check whether the
specimen in question is or is not covered by the relevant legal provisions on the protection of
wild fauna and flora. But of course, it does not mean that none of the souvenirs made of endangered
species and covered by such provisions is allowed to bring from abroad across the Polish state border.
However, first you have to make sure that such specimen was taken in a foreign country from the wild
in accordance with the legal provisions in force on its territory, then legally acquired (e.g. bought), and
that all the relevant legal import and/or export procedures have been complied with under both the
CITES and other provisions, including also those under the European Union legal framework
concerning these issues.
For full list of the EU provisions in force click here.
ALWAYS REMEMBER that under legal provisions it is irrespective whether you are bringing a live
animal or only a thing made therefrom.
Under the CITES, the specimens are considered the live and non-live animal persons and also products
derived therefrom, e.g. hunting trophies, hides and leather products, corals/shells and fragments
thereof (jewellery, souvenirs), food, medicaments, ivory and rhinoceros horn products, and also
wooden things. The presence of a legally protected species is a key identity of a product in question.
One could ask a good question, whether any limitation of the international trade in non-live specimens
or products thereof does really contribute to the species protection; since it seems that importing a
handbag made of python/crocodile hides would in no way and any more contradict helping that
animal. Yes, it is true that the animal will not alive however careful obeying the Convention
provisions effects in the real impossibility of shipment of the specimens which originated from illegal
sources. Strict control of trading in specimens of the species endangered by extinction causes that
these specimens have been more reluctantly acquired from the environment. Penalties for illegal trade
in the CITES specimens reduce the demand and consequently reduces also the supply thereof, i.e.
diminish real acquisition of the specimens from the environment.
The list of species includes, amongst others, the following ones (for consolidated list of the species
subject to the EU legal provisions see the Regulation (EC) nr 407/2009 of 30 April 2009):
VERTEBRATES:
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Mammals: all primates (including capuchin monkey, tamarin, marmoset), felidae (tiger, lion,
leopard, puma, serval, lynx, wildcat and all other, except for domestic cat), wolf, elephant, rhinoceros,
otter.
What should you first pay attention to: live monkeys being sold for hobby purpose, hides of wild
cats, wolves, bears, otters, elephants, certain zebras and products made therefrom (shoes, carpets,
collars), products made from ivory, rhinoceros horns, walrus tusks, souvenirs (stuffed animals of
fragments thereof, leather products, including souvenirs made of monkey palms, and elephant
legs/hair), hunting trophies, medicaments of traditional Asian medicine (those may contain tiger
bones, bear gall, rhinoceros horn).
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Birds: e.g. hill myna, peacock, all parrots, all birds of prey, owl, hummingbird.
What should you first pay attention to: live and stuffed animals, and also eggs and hunting trophies.
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Reptiles: snakes e.g. all of python and constrictor gena, all terrestrial and sea turtles, popular
aquaria red-eared slider, all crocodiles, numerous iguanas, geckos, chameleons, and other lizards.
What should you first pay attention to: live animals, leather products (watch-bracelets, hand bags,
shoes, hats, jackets), souvenirs made from prepared snakes, cobras in bottles containing exotic
alcohols, and hunting trophies.
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Amphibians: e.g. dyeing poison-arrow frog, tiger salamander.
What should you first pay attention to: live animals being sold for hobby.
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Fish: e.g. all sturgeon-like and horse fish.
What should you first pay attention to: exotic aquaria fish, caviar, medicaments and paramedicaments (including, but not limited to, medicaments of traditional Asian medicine) made from
horse fish.
INVERTEBRATES:
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Arachnids: e.g.: bird-spiders, emperor scorpion.
What should you first pay attention to: live animals being sold for hobby, prepared scorpions sold
as souvenirs, or components of exotic alcohols.
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Insects: e.g. Apollo butterfly, birdwing butterflies.
What should you first pay attention to: prepared specimens (butterflies, coleopterons) being sold for
collection purpose, and live animals.
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Annelids: European medicinal leech.
What should you first pay attention to: live specimens for para-medical purpose, medicaments and
para-medicaments produced from leeches.
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Molluscs (mainly bivalves and snails): e.g. shells of queen conch and giant clam;
What should you first pay attention to: shells for collection purpose.
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Certain anthozoans.
What should you first pay attention to: fossil anthozoan fragments as souvenirs, components of
jewellery (not applicable to red and rouge corals), live anthozoan and sea anemones for aquaria
purpose.
PLANTS:
For example:
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certain agaves;
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certain cupressuses;
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almost all cactuses;
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all orchids;
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all monkey cups;
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a number of tree-plants of mahonia genus.
What should you first pay attention to: exotic decorative plants, wooden furniture and other
products (made in particular from mahogany).
Are there any obstacles to travelling together with your animal pet?
First and foremost, you have to check whether the animal species you have is listed amongst the
CITES species.
The examples of the CITES animals which may become domesticated animal pets are following:
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all monkeys (including capuchin monkey, tamarin, marmoset);
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hill myna, almost all parrots (e.g. grey parrot, macaw, cockatoo, parakeet, Alexandretta), all
birds of prey e.g. used for falconry;
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all terrestrial turtles (e.g. Horsfield's tortoise, Herrman's tortoise, spur-thighed tortoise) and sea
turtles, certain swamp turtles, e.g. red-eared slider popular in aquaria, all crocodiles, numerous
iguanas (e.g. green iguana), geckos, chameleons, other lizards, snakes e.g. all of the python
genus (e.g. royal python, Indian python) and constrictors (e.g. boa constrictor);
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dyeing poison-arrow frog, tiger salamander, and Mantella frogs;
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all horse fish;
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bird-spiders and emperor scorpion;
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live corals and sea anemones;
Look into the same list, as referred to in case of the souvenirs (above).
The CITES permit is required for both exporting these animals from the EU area and for their imports
into the EU.
For transits over the European Union countries of animals born in wild and listed in Annex A of the
EU provisions (including that in the Regulation 407/2009 of 30 April 2009) the EU certificate is
required that points out approved designation, which the animal has to be shipped to (such certificate
is required for each transit of every animal). However, such requirement is rather rare in case of
domestic animals which are mostly born in captivity.
Where that is the case, the shipment is allowed, provided its holder has in place the certificate of origin
stating the legality of the specimen's origination. The following are the examples of the certificates of
origin:
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certificate exempting from the ban to commence commercial activities (e.g. sales or purchase)
for specimens of the species covered by the most restrictive Appendix A of the EU
Commission Regulation (EC) No. 359/2009, e.g. spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca),
Herrman's tortoise (Testudo hermanni);
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document stating that the animal is born in captivity, or acknowledgement of its legal import
into the European Union, in case of other species, e.g. Horsfield's tortoise (Testudo
(agrionemys) horsfieldii).
Additionally, you should contact veterinary services and meet all possible health-related and sanitary
requirements connected with imports of live animals.
It is also advisable to request information from the Customs in order to make sure that bringing such
specimen involves no obstacle during border and custom control in Customs Office you selected for
crossing the State border.
It is also necessary to take advice from the airlines or other carrier in order to make sure that they do
not refuse guaranteeing shipment of given animal.
Are there any specimens of the species the imports of which into the European Union are totally
banned?
Yes, for full list thereof click here.
These include, amongst others, the following animal and plant specimens:
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wolf hunting trophies from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey;
Fischer's Lovebird from Tanzania;
red-and-green Macaw from Argentina and Panama;
all red-eared sliders, as endangering the European fauna;
numerous Hippocampus species from Indonesia;
certain butterflies for Solomon Islands;
queen conch (the shells of which are common souvenirs) from Haiti, certain clam shells from
Vietnam, Mozambique and Solomon Islands;
certain orchids from Switzerland, Turkey, Norway, South Korea, Russia, China and Vietnam.
However, most of the species covered by the legal provisions may be imported upon the respective
prior permit acquired beforehand in both the export country and the import country.
How often the relevant legal provisions can be changed? In this March, the Conference of the
Parties to the Washington Convention took place; what are the changes related?
The provisions in the Washington Convention may undergo amending primarily during the
Conference of the Parties (each 2.5 years, on average), but sometimes those could change the more
frequently.
The provisions of the European Union may be additionally changed, irrespective of the amendments to
the Convention Appendices, and thus those could introduce some even more stringent provisions.
The following are the examples of the changes introduced during the last CITES Conference of
the Parties that entered into force on 23 June 2010:
Iguanas of genus Ctenosaura: C. bakeri, C. oedirhina, C. melanosterna, C. palearis – these species are
now included into Appendix II of the CITES;
Tree frogs (Agalychnis spp.) and also the frog species bred for hobby in genus Agalychnis, have been
included into Appendix II of the CITES;
Salamander (Neurergus kaiseri) has been included into Appendix II of the CITES. This salamander
species is critically endangered due to its intensive illegal acquisition for sales for terrarium purpose.
Read more information here.
How to arrange for the formalities required in case of shipment of exotic souvenirs through the
State border? Bringing what souvenirs you have to avoid where you wish to omit the formalities
required for imports and evade likely trouble at the border-cross in case when you failed to fulfil
these formalities?
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Be careful when buying the animal and/or plant species when on the trip abroad;
Make sure that given the animal/plant species from which the thing is produced you are going
to buy is, or is not covered by the relevant protection provisions;
The above two hints mean that it is not easy to recognise all CITES-covered species, the
specimens of which you have encountered. However, a "red light" must turn on in your mind
in case of such things which are made from ivory, and other animal bones, rhinoceros horn,
corals, shells, reptile and mammal hides (mainly crocs, snakes, wild cats, wolves, bears);
Tell the seller that you are going to take abroad the thing you buy, and ask whether it will
involve any problems where this is the case. It is likely that where the thing in question is
made from the CITES species, the seller has the respective export documents, or he/she could
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possibly arrange for them and this, in turn, will ease the relevant procedures, but of course
only when you have been dully and in detail informed beforehand. And remember, never
consider completely true the information such as „Oh no, you need nothing additional to do
with it, and you will for sure have no problem”;
Contact the Customs and/or Ministry of the Environment and describe in a possibly precise
way your anticipated situation (country, specimen, and species). And you will be provided
with the information, as required, how your specific issue could be efficiently arranged,
including the import procedure as required. It is also likely that the species in question
involves no import requirement, or on the contrary, the import of it could be banned;
If yet prior going for a foreign trip you are intended to buy some exotic souvenirs, e.g. to
expand your shell-collection, or buy a hat made from crocodile leather, etc., do first make sure
what formalities have to be done thereby, including the relevant legal provisions, and where
necessary you should be prepared and ready beforehand to arrange the relevant formalities.
What sanctions are provided for the incompliance?
Any shipments and/or commercial activities carried out in non-compliance with the Community legal
provisions in the field of the international protection of fauna and flora in the scope of trade in them is
considered offence and subject to the penalty of imprisonment up to 5 years.
For additional information, detailed legal provisions, and the list of the CITES species go to website of
Ministry of the Environment: www.mos.gov.pl/cites-ma.
The website of the CITES Secretariat provides data on, inter alia, the authorities competent to
implement the relevant provisions of the Convention worldwide. Information on the provisions which
could be applied for particular legal provisions likely to be applied for individual cases of certain
animal species (e.g. live mammals and birds, mammal hides) is available at the Chief Veterinary
Inspectorate - its Border Affairs Bureau.
However, not only the matters of animals endangered by extinction are in the scope of concern of
Ministry of the Environment. Its website provides also information on, for instance, how many litres
of water may leak per hour and be wasted because of a tap badly turned off, or that in every second
case cars are used on distances below 3 kilometres, which you can cover walking or biking, or that a
plastic shopping bag is in use for only 20÷25 minutes, on average, and then it is usually discarded and
becomes waste, or that given their specific chemical content (i.e. such heavy metal as cadmium,
mercury, lead, nickel, lithium, zinc, manganese), the batteries, when discarded elsewhere, for instance
in a forest, pose considerable environmental hazard, or how to make shopping in a way reducing both
the volume of waste and the quantity of energy consumed, and why it is advantageous to buy water in
1.5 litre bottles?
The leaflet published by Ministry of the Environment for tourists, as titled the „Ambassador of the
Realm of Good Habit” provides a lot of replies to questions asked above!
Remember, both the decisions you take as the consumer, and your attitudes during summer holidays
could have huge synergic environmental impacts.
Have a nice Eco-Holiday!
The following institution recall for you what is good to know before going for summer holidays:
Ministry of the Environment, The Ombudsman for Children, Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, The Police
Commander in Chief, Ministry of Finance, The National Health Fund, The Ombudsman for the
Insured, The Office of Electronic Communications, Civil Aviation Office, The Office of Competition
and Consumer Protection, The Polish European Consumer Centre, and the Voivodship (i.e.
Provincial) Trade Inspectorates in Bialystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Katowice, Łódź, Olsztyn, Poznan,
and Szczecin.
If you wish to know:
About the souvenirs, the imports of which are banned to when returning from your summer holidays,
and how to become the Ambassador of the Realm of Good Habit? Go to www.mos.gov.pl
More about children's safety during holidays, go to www.brpd.gov.pl
How to check water purity when in domestic spa? Go to www.gis.gov.pl
How to foster about safety of your kid and secure your dwelling place? Go to www.policja.pl
How much money can you bring when travelling abroad? Go to www.mofnet.gov.pl
For all about the European Health Insurance Card, go to www.nfz.gov.pl
For the insurance during holiday trips, go to www.rzu.gov.pl
For more about new roaming prices, go to www.uke.gov.pl
For more about the air trips, go to www.ulc.gov.pl
For more about banned change in trip prices, go to www.uokkik.gov.pl
For more about timeshare? Go to www.konsument.gov.pl
To read more about the quality at the catering establishments, motels, or health resorts, go to
websites of the Voivodship (i.e. Provincial) Trade Inspectorates in:
Bialystok: www.bialystok.wiih.gov.pl/
Bydgoszcz: www.wiih.com.pl
Gdansk: www.wiihgdansk.mojbip.pl
Katowice: www.ih.katowice.pl/
Łódź: www.wiih.lodz.pl/
Olsztyn: www.ih.olsztyn.pl
Poznan: www.poznan.wiih.gov.pl