II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4848 

To continue the whole-of-government approach to ending global wildlife poaching and trafficking by permanently reauthorizing the activities of the 

Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 22 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. COONS (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To continue the whole-of-government approach to ending 

global wildlife poaching and trafficking by permanently 

reauthorizing the activities of the Presidential Task 

Force on Wildlife Trafficking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eliminate, Neutralize, 

5 and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Reauthorization and Im6 provements Act of 2020’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) the United States Government should con2 tinue to work with international partners, including 

3 nations, nongovernmental organizations, and the pri4 vate sector, to identify long-standing and emerging 

5 areas of concern in wildlife poaching and trafficking 

6 all along the supply chain; and 

7 (2) the activities and required reporting of the 

8 Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, es9 tablished by Executive Order 13648 (78 Fed. Reg. 

10 40621), should be reauthorized to minimize the dis11 ruption of the work of such Task Force. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 Section 2 of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt 

14 Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7601) is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through 

17 (12) as paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively; 

18 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(8) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

21 ‘intelligence community’ has the meaning given such 

22 term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 

23 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).’’; and 

24 (3) in paragraph (12), as redesignated, by 

25 striking ‘‘section 201’’ and inserting ‘‘section 301’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. FRAMEWORK FOR INTERAGENCY RESPONSE AND 

2 REPORTING. 

3 (a) REAUTHORIZATION OF REPORT ON MAJOR WILD4 LIFE TRAFFICKING COUNTRIES.—Section 201 of the 

5 Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking 

6 Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7621) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘annually’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘biennially’’; and 

9 (2) by striking subsection (c). 

10 (b) REAUTHORIZATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK

11 FORCE ON WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING RESPONSIBIL12 ITIES.—Section 301(a) of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and 

13 Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 

14 7631(a)) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

16 end; 

17 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para18 graph (8); and 

19 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(5) pursue programs to expand the role of 

22 technology for anti-poaching and anti-trafficking ef23 forts, in partnership with the private sector, aca24 demia, and nongovernmental organizations (includ25 ing technology companies and the transportation 

26 and logistics sectors), including programs that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) assess the technology needs in focus 

2 countries and promote the use of technology to 

3 improve wildlife protection and investigation 

4 and prosecution of wildlife crimes, while taking 

5 into account the technological limitations within 

6 each focus country; 

7 ‘‘(B) address wildlife crime and the wildlife 

8 trafficking supply chain; 

9 ‘‘(C) promote the shared costs of tech10 nology or resources over cross-cutting sectors 

11 for multi-group and multi-purpose use; and 

12 ‘‘(D) support existing and new innovative 

13 finance mechanisms for community and region14 ally based needs; 

15 ‘‘(6) consider programs and initiatives that ad16 dress the expansion of the illegal wildlife trade to 

17 digital platforms, including the use of digital cur18 rency and payment platforms for transactions by 

19 collaborating with the private sector, academia, and 

20 nongovernmental organizations, including social 

21 media, e-commerce, and search engine companies, as 

22 appropriate— 

23 ‘‘(A) to assess how online platforms are 

24 used in wildlife trafficking; 


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1 ‘‘(B) to identify strategies, including tech2 nology and policy solutions, to combat wildlife 

3 trafficking online; 

4 ‘‘(C) to initiate online public awareness 

5 and behavioral change campaigns to educate 

6 users of online programs regarding spotting and 

7 reporting illegal wildlife sale or trade activities; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(D) to engage with existing national and 

10 international initiatives to combat wildlife traf11 ficking online by sharing the expertise of the 

12 Task Force members and the intelligence com13 munity; 

14 ‘‘(7) establish a procedure for removing from 

15 the list in the biennial report any focus country or 

16 country of concern that no longer meets the defini17 tion of a country of concern or a focus country 

18 under paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 2, which re19 quire the Secretary of State, in consultation with 

20 other members of the Task Force, to consider— 

21 ‘‘(A) the establishment of appropriate do22 mestic laws to combat wildlife trafficking and 

23 poaching, including demonstrated progress in 

24 implementing such laws; 


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1 ‘‘(B) an increase in the number of convic2 tions for crimes relating to wildlife trafficking; 

3 ‘‘(C) the implementation of specialist law 

4 enforcement units or tactics, or demonstrable 

5 cooperative efforts; 

6 ‘‘(D) demonstrated compliance with inter7 national treaties or conventions, including the 

8 Convention on International Trade in Endan9 gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, done at 

10 Washington March 3, 1973 (27 UST 1087; 

11 TIAS 8249) to which the country is a party; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(E) other factors used to define focus 

14 countries and countries of concern; and’’. 

15 (c) REAUTHORIZATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK

16 FORCE ON WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING STRATEGIC RE17 VIEW.—Section 301 of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Dis18 rupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7631) 

19 is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (d)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

22 the end; 

23 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe24 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

25 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(6) an analysis of the indicators developed by 

2 the Task Force, and recommended by the Govern3 ment Accountability Office, to track and measure in4 puts, outputs, law enforcement outcomes, and public 

5 perceptions of wildlife trafficking for each focus 

6 country listed in the report, including baseline meas7 ures for each indicator in each focus country to doc8 ument progress.’’; and 

9 (2) by striking subsection (e). 

Æ 


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