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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 11 of her Department's publication, Red Tape Challenge - Environment Theme Implementation Plan, what the reasons are for the review of Regulations on Control of Trade in Endangered Species being delayed from April 2014 until 2015.

The Review has not progressed as swiftly as originally intended due in part to the volume and complexity of the work needed fully to assess the anticipated impacts of the proposals for changes to the Regulations, and in part to the focus required on other urgent priorities, including the preparations for the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade and its follow up.

In addition to the Red Tape Challenge commitment to rationalise the number of CITES-related pieces of domestic legislation currently in place, the review has looked at, amongst others, proposals relating to new requirements brought about by amended EU regulations, the designation of ports of entry and exit to be used when importing and exporting CITES specimens and the updating of enforcement requirements to reflect the evolution of the illegal wildlife trade and enforcement trends.

The work on the Regulations is now nearing completion and it remains our intention to issue as soon as possible a public consultation on proposals to update and improve the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations, together with the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Ports of Entry) Regulations.