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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the People's Republic of China has taken steps to ban completely the domestic trade in ivory.

We were pleased to hear of China’s announcement to end its domestic commercial ivory trade in 2017.

We look forward to seeing further detail on China’s measures, including understanding the nature of provisions for auctioning certified ivory ‘relics’ and how China plans to implement the new measures.

We particularly commend the announcement of enhancements to enforcement and education, both of which are an important part of tackling the illegal trade in ivory and stopping poaching.