Found: Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF T 03459 335577 defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk www.gov.uk/defra 2 Ivory Act

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s ban on importing ivory on (a) historically and (b) artistically significant ivory.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Ivory Act 2018 bans dealing in ivory, including imports to and exports from the UK for the purposes of dealing.

The Act includes an exemption to the ban for pre-1918 items of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value. An exemption certificate must be issued before an item can be legally dealt under this exemption.

Since the Act came into force in 2022, 346 applications for exemption certificates have been submitted and 284 exemption certificates have been issued.

Found: Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the power conferred by section 2(5) of the Ivory Act

Animal Welfare APPG
Wednesday 11th June 2025

Found: Government’s commitment to animal welfare has been demonstrated with positive measures like the Ivory Act

Found: Britain, but you must still register the item under a standard exemption in accordance with the Ivory Act

Found: Ivory Act 2018 enforcement and civil sanctions

Found: ) Regulations 2025’ (“the UKSI”) before the UK Parliament in exercise of powers conferred by the Ivory Act