Commercial trade of wildlife products

Companies that commercially-export Australian native wildlife or wildlife products must be able to demonstrate that their products have been derived from an approved commercial source program or are exempt from the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Further information on exemptions can be found under the List of Exempt Native Species (LENS) on the Australian native animals and plants page.

If the specimen to be exported is, or is derived from, an Australian native species that is also listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), it must meet the requirements for exporting a CITES–listed specimen.

The export of live Australian native mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians is prohibited.

Generally, commercial export permits for wildlife or wildlife products can only be issued if the specimen:

• comes from one of the following approved commercial source programs
• is a vintage item, harvested, deceased and/or manufactured prior to the CITES listing date of the species (pre-Convention).

You can read more about trade requirements for pre-Convention specimens on the vintage page.

• wildlife trade management plans
• wildlife trade operations
  • commercial fisheries
• captive breeding programs
• artificial propagation programs
• aquaculture programs

Specimens of CITES-listed species previously imported into Australia generally require a re-export permit in order to be subsequently re-exported.

Exporters must provide, at the time they apply for their re-export permit, evidence that the specimen was legally-imported into Australia by providing copies of the CITES export permit issued by the country of last re-export and the corresponding Australian import permit. This would normally be addressed through permit acquittal, which is required within two weeks of a shipment taking place.

Apply for a permit

Import permits are required for the commercial import of CITES-listed specimens. Importers must provide, at the time they apply for their import permit, copies of the CITES export permit(s) issued by the country of last re-export.

Importing declared specimens

There are also stricter domestic measures for commercial imports of specimens of CITES Appendix II species that are declared specimens. You can read more about these stricter domestic measures on our CITES page. Specimens from these species need to be either:

• artificially-propagated
• captive-bred
• sourced from an operation that has been approved as a Commercial Import Program (CIP).

These imports will still require an Australian import permit issued by the Department.

Apply for a permit