Scenario · CITES
The timber was bought under its trade name and the species turned out to be CITES-listed
International trade works with trade names; CITES rules work with scientific names. A single trade name can cover several botanical or zoological species, and it only takes one of them appearing in the annexes to Regulation (EC) 338/97 for the shipment to need a document.
The problem is rarely a lack of willingness to comply. It is the starting point: if the species is taken for granted from the supplier’s invoice, the requirement does not surface until someone checks it at the border.
The trade name is not enough
A furniture manufacturer has been buying tropical timber from a regular supplier for years. On orders, invoices and delivery notes the goods are always identified by their trade name — the same one the whole sector uses.
While preparing an import, the team reviews the supplier’s paperwork and finds that the scientific name on the certificate of origin is not the one they expected: the trade name covers several species of the same genus, and the one arriving in this shipment is listed in one of the annexes to the regulation.
The purchase is already closed and the goods are in transit. Nobody had ever asked for the scientific name because, until now, it had not been necessary.
Goods held at the border
Without the CITES document matching the species and the type of movement, the goods cannot be cleared.
The permit is not resolved at the moment of clearance: it is applied for to the management authority and requires the document from the country of origin to be correct and valid.
On top of the goods being held, there is a risk that is invisible in this shipment but not in the earlier ones: if the same supplier has shipped the same species before, there is a history to review.
First we understand the case and define the scope
How we approach it
- 01 We start from the actual product rather than the trade name: we check the species against official sources to establish which scientific name applies.
- 02 We determine which annex it is listed in and what document the specific movement requires — import, export and re-export do not ask for the same thing.
- 03 We review the document from the country of origin and, if a new one is needed, we handle the permit with the management authority.
- 04 We leave the species, quantity, invoice and permit connected in the case file, and review the supplier’s history to establish whether earlier shipments are affected.