Decision directed to Standing Committee

The Standing Committee shall, in close collaboration with the Plants Committee, recognizing that the Plants Committee is an important source of expertise and advice to Parties on such scientific and technical issues: 

a) re-establish the working group on annotations, aiming to ensure balanced representation of importing and exporting Parties. The group shall include, but not be limited to, Members from the Standing Committee, Plants Committee, observer Parties, including representatives of CITES Management and Scientific Authorities, enforcement focal points, and industry representatives. The terms of reference for the working group shall include the following and may be expanded in response to other Decisions adopted at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP20): 

i) further consider annotations #11 and #12 with regard to determining when extracts become ingredients in finished products and consult with range States to ensure that the annotations would continue to regulate the specimens/commodities they export under the original rationale for the species listing in line with the guidance provided in Resolution Conf. 11.21 (Rev. CoP19) on Use of annotations in Appendices I and II; 

ii) further consider annotation #14 related to the agarwood producing taxa (Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp.) in particular with regard to the implementation of paragraph e) “exhausted agarwood powder, including compressed powder in all shapes” and the challenges related to the identification of exhausted agarwood powder by frontline enforcement officers; 

iii) develop or refine definitions of terms used in current annotations as appropriate, and submit them for adoption by the Conference of the Parties and subsequent inclusion in the Interpretation section of the Appendices; 

iv) conduct any work related to annotations directed to it by the Conference of the Parties, the Standing Committee or the Plants Committee; and v) prepare reports on progress made in addressing the issues tasked to it and submit them for consideration by the Standing Committee; and 

b) report its conclusions and any recommendations to the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties.