Section 303CC — Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999: Exports of CITES specimens

(1) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person exports a specimen; and (b) the specimen is a CITES specimen. Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both. Authorised export—permit (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the specimen is exported in accordance with a permit that was issued under section 303CG, 303GB or 303GC and is in force. Authorised export—CITES exemptions (3) Subsection (1) does not apply if the export of the specimen is an export that, in accordance with a determination made by the Minister under the regulations, is taken to be part of a registered, non-commercial exchange of scientific specimens between scientific organisations. (4) Subsection (1) does not apply if the Minister issues a certificate under subsection (5) in relation to the specimen. (5) If the Minister is satisfied that a specimen was acquired before the provisions of CITES applied to the specimen, the Minister may issue a certificate to that effect. (6) Subsection (1) does not apply if the export of the specimen is an export that, under the regulations, is taken to be an export of a personal or household effect. Note 1: See paragraph 3 of Article VII of CITES. Note 2: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsections (2), (3), (4) and (6) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code).