I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 226 

To amend the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 to conserve elephants while appropriately regulating ivory in the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 

to conserve elephants while appropriately regulating ivory 

in the United States, 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 ‘‘African Elephant Con5 servation and Legal Ivory Possession Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 

7 Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 

8 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

9 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the refVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 Jan 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H226.IH H226

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1 erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 

2 the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201 

3 et seq.). 

4 SEC. 3. LIMITED EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN AFRICAN ELE5 PHANT IVORY. 

6 Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is amended— 

7 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

8 the first sentence; 

9 (2) by inserting ‘‘and subsection (b) of this sec10 tion’’ after ‘‘2202(e)’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(b) EXEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act or subsection 

13 (a) or (d) of section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 

14 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed to prohibit im15 portation or exportation, or to require permission of the 

16 Secretary for importation or exportation, of— 

17 ‘‘(1) any raw ivory or worked ivory— 

18 ‘‘(A) imported solely for purposes of be19 coming part of a museum’s permanent collec20 tion, return to a lending museum, or display in 

21 a museum; or 

22 ‘‘(B) exported solely for purposes of— 

23 ‘‘(i) display in a foreign museum; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) return to a foreign person who 

2 lent such ivory to a museum in the United 

3 States; 

4 ‘‘(2) any raw ivory or worked ivory that was 

5 lawfully importable into the United States on Feb6 ruary 24, 2014, regardless of when acquired; or 

7 ‘‘(3) any worked ivory that was previously law8 fully possessed in the United States.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND WILD10 LIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER 

11 IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE COUN12 TRY. 

13 Part I (16 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) is amended by adding 

14 at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2105. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND 

16 WILDLIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OF17 FICER IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE 

18 COUNTRY. 

19 ‘‘The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary 

20 of State, may station one United States Fish and Wildlife 

21 Service law enforcement officer in the primary United 

22 States diplomatic or consular post in each African country 

23 that has a significant population of African elephants, who 

24 shall assist local wildlife rangers in the protection of Afri25 can elephants and facilitate the apprehension of individVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 Jan 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H226.IH H226

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1 uals who illegally kill, or assist the illegal killing of, Afri2 can elephants.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE FISH4 ERMEN’S PROTECTIVE ACT OF 1967. 

5 Section 2202 of the African Elephant Conservation 

6 Act (16 U.S.C. 4222) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(g) CERTIFICATION.—When the Secretary of the In9 terior finds that a country, directly or indirectly, is a sig10 nificant transit or destination point for illegal ivory trade, 

11 the Secretary shall certify such fact to the President with 

12 respect to the country for the purposes of section 8(a) of 

13 the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C. 

14 1978(a)).’’. 

15 SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY. 

16 Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY.—Nothing in 

19 this Act or the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

20 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed— 

21 ‘‘(1) to prohibit, or to authorize prohibiting, the 

22 possession, sale, delivery, receipt, shipment, or trans23 portation of African elephant ivory, or any product 

24 containing African elephant ivory, that has been law25 fully imported or crafted in the United States; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) to authorize using any means of deter2 mining for purposes of this Act or the Endangered 

3 Species Act of 1973 whether African elephant ivory 

4 has been lawfully imported, including any presump5 tion or burden of proof applied in such determina6 tion, other than such means used by the Secretary 

7 as of February 24, 2014.’’. 

8 SEC. 7. SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES. 

9 Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended 

10 by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(d) SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES.—Noth12 ing in this Act or subsection (a) or (d) of section 9 of 

13 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) 

14 shall be construed to prohibit any citizen or legal resident 

15 of the United States, or an agent of such an individual, 

16 from importing a sport-hunted African elephant trophy 

17 under section 2202(e) of this Act, if the country in which 

18 the elephant was taken had an elephant population on ap19 pendix II of CITES at the time the trophy elephant was 

20 taken. 

21 ‘‘(e) RELATIONSHIP TO THE CONVENTION.—Nothing 

22 in this section shall be construed as modifying or repealing 

23 the Secretary’s duties to implement CITES and the ap24 pendices thereto, or as modifying or repealing section 8A 


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1 or 9(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

2 1537a and 1538(c)).’’. 

3 SEC. 8. AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT FINAN4 CIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY AND REAUTHOR5 IZATION. 

6 (a) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY.—Section 

7 2101 of the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

8 4211) is amended by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) 

9 as subsections (f) and (g), respectively, and by inserting 

10 after subsection (d) the following: 

11 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In providing financial assistance 

12 under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to 

13 projects designed to facilitate the acquisition of equipment 

14 and training of wildlife officials in ivory producing coun15 tries to be used in anti-poaching efforts.’’. 

16 (b) REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 2306(a) of the Af17 rican Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4245(a)) is 

18 amended by striking ‘‘2007 through 2012’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘2018 through 2022’’. 

Æ 


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