Caviar and orchids

It seems Christmas is the time of year for CITES violations to come to light.  It is now the turn of caviar some of which is covered by the CITES convention.   However, it was not discovered ready to eat – it was found in face cream!   

And the rare orchid?   No, not for exotic flower arranging but an ingredient in bodybuilding supplements. 

 All intercepted and seized by HMRC (UK Customs) on the way into the UK.

 

 

 

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

 

Hoppy Happy?

So the Australian Kangaroos beat England today in the rugby – shame!     But this is not the only thing Kangaroos are good for – did you know that their skin can be used for shoes and clothing?

Did you also know that there are lots of different species of Kangaroo?  Therein lies the problem – some of those species of Kangaroo are endangered and are therefore subject to CITES controls.   Worse still some places reject the use of Kangaroo skin of any species and therefore none can be imported or sold there.

 So if you want a bit of bounce in your footwear perhaps you should try springs!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Can you blame them?

I recently came across this excellent description of goods on a shipping invoice: -

‘Ivory 2 meters’

That’s it, that’s all it said – no tariff code, no anything.  

How could anyone be surprised that Customs were interested to find out if they were shipping elephant ivory in contravention of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species  (CITES).    Needless to say the goods stuck in customs and the only one surprised was the shipper.

What was actually being shipped?    2 meters of Ivory coloured cotton fabric.

www.morley-consulting.co.uk