President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Wednesday ratified the International Trade Controls on Endangered Species Act (Act No. 13/2022).The parliament passed the bill at the 22nd sitting of the second session, held on Thursday, June 30, 2022.

The law specifies procedures for trade and transfer of species and their parts, and also guarantees protection from unsustainable international trade, which would result in their endangerment and exploitation. One of the primary objectives of this Act is to implement the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES), which Maldives has been party to in 2013.

The regulations mandated under this law must be published within six months of enactment. Upon ratification, the International Trade Controls on Endangered Species Act was published in the Government Gazette. It will come into effect three months after the Act being gazetted.