DICTÁMENES DE ADQUISICIÓN LEGAL

The document serves as a technical guide for CITES Management Authorities to implement Legal Acquisition Findings (LAF). It details the process of verifying the 'chain of custody'—the chronological documentation of a specimen from extraction to export—to ensure compliance with national and international laws. The manual outlines steps for preparing national guidelines, evaluating legal frameworks, and applying risk-based assessment methods to determine if a specimen was acquired legally (positive LAF) or illegally (negative LAF). It provides specific documentation requirements for different taxa, including timber, marine species, and captive-bred animals, and emphasizes the importance of transparency and public accessibility of these guidelines to prevent fraud and illegal trade.

• A Legal Acquisition Finding (LAF) is a mandatory independent evaluation performed by a CITES Management Authority to confirm that a specimen was not obtained in violation of the state's laws on the protection of flora and fauna.
• The 'chain of custody' is defined as the chronological documentation of transactions regarding the extraction of a specimen from the wild and its subsequent ownership, as far as possible and in accordance with applicable laws.
• Management Authorities are encouraged to use a risk-based assessment method where the amount of information required from an applicant is proportional to the probability that the specimen was acquired illegally.
• For timber species, verification of legal acquisition should cover the entire supply chain, including land tenure, extraction conditions, payment of fees, and compliance with trade and third-party rights laws.
• The manual suggests that countries with Timber Legality Assurance Systems (TLAS) under EU FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) can integrate these systems into their CITES LAF processes if they ensure full chain of custody traceability.
• Specific risk indicators for captive-bred or farm-bred animals include production levels that exceed the reproductive potential of the parental stock or specimens whose physical condition is inconsistent with a controlled environment.
• Permits issued by a Management Authority under a court order without the authority having first formulated a Legal Acquisition Finding are considered invalid.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2021). DICTÁMENES DE ADQUISICIÓN LEGAL. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Legal-Acquisition-Findings-Handbook_Spanish.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. DICTÁMENES DE ADQUISICIÓN LEGAL. 2021. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Legal-Acquisition-Findings-Handbook_Spanish.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=DICTÁMENES DE ADQUISICIÓN LEGAL |date=2021 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Legal-Acquisition-Findings-Handbook_Spanish.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2021dictmenes, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{DICTÁMENES DE ADQUISICIÓN LEGAL}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Legal-Acquisition-Findings-Handbook_Spanish.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }