Ministry of Environment Sends Directive to Ivory Registration Organization

Author(s)

Asahi Shimbun

Date Published
 

On the 18th, the Ministry of Environment issued a written directive to the Japan Wildlife Research Centre, a general foundation commissioned by the government to process ivory registration, ordering that they work toward providing appropriate information and the like. It was said that there was inappropriate correspondence from the Centre regarding ivory registration.

Registration is required for ivory to be sold domestically, and registration may not be possible depending on when it was imported. After it was pointed out by an international environmental NGO, the wildlife division investigated and found there an instance last fall in which a JWRC official who was consulted about ivory registration, after confirming when the ivory was obtained, explained what time period the ivory could have been legally imported.