EU crackdown on illegal wildlife trade welcomed - Main contents

The European Commission has today announced an Action Plan to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade and impose minimum sentences on wildlife traffickers, following a successful campaign led by ALDE MEPs Gerben Jan Gerbrandy and Catherine Bearder.

The plan includes tougher penalties to punish wildlife traffickers across all EU countries (at least 4 years imprisonment for organised wildlife criminals), limiting the ivory trade so that only antique ivory items can be traded within the EU and increased support for international police operations to crack down wildlife trafficking gangs through the EU's crime-fighting agency Europol.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP, who in February 2013 presented his own EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking and initiated the 2014 EP resolution, said today;

"Finally, wildlife crime gets the political priority it deserves. I am delighted to see the Commission has included almost all the measures I proposed in 2013, and that they cover all relevant aspects. Of crucial importance is creating sufficient capacity and well trained people at police, justice and customs level.

"Now the ball is in the court of the Member States and the Dutch Presidency to make sure that each element is implemented to the fullest extent as quickly as possible. The European Council should support the Action Plan as soon as possible and start implementing it swiftly. Every twenty minutes an elephant is slaughtered, we cannot wait any longer. We need to act now."

Catherine Bearder MEP, who has actively campaigned for these proposals said today:

"Today marks a huge step forward in the global fight against wildlife crime. We can only tackle this issue by taking a coordinated approach, tackling the root causes of poaching and cracking down on the criminal gangs making billions from this despicable trade. "

"Together in Europe we can stamp out the illegal wildlife trade and save elephants and other treasured species for future generations."