In March of this year, after the United States signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora,¹ two bills designed to implement the Convention were introduced in the House of Representatives. The two measures, one proposed by the Administration, the other by Rep. John Dingell, were analyzed in a comment in the April, 1973, issue of ELR.² On September 18, a toughened version of the Dingell bill passed the House by an overwhelming 390-12 vote; in the Senate, a similar bill was approved unanimously in July. Although the two measures differ significantly, both would grant the Secretary of the Interior sweeping new power to take actions necessary to preserve species currently or potentially in danger of extinction.

The Convention required compilation of three lists: animals and plants in imminent danger of extinction; those that may become threatened with extinction unless trade in the species is regulated closely; and those that are protected within signatory countries irrespective of the danger of extinction. For the first category, trade in the species is permitted only for noncommercial purposes, and with the permission of both the importing and exporting countries; for the second and third, trade is allowed only with a permit from the country of export. The House and Senate bills, which direct the Secretary of the Interior to prepare such lists for this country, are designed to bring United States law into conformity with the Convention even before its ratification.