I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 697 

To amend the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 to conserve 

elephants while appropriately regulating ivory in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself and Mr. PETERSON) 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. 

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 of 2015’’. 

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 ref10 erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 


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

2 et seq.). 

3 SEC. 3. LIMITED EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN AFRICAN ELE4 PHANT IVORY. 

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

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

7 the first sentence; 

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘and subsection (b) of this sec9 tion’’ after ‘‘2202(e)’’; and 

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

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

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

13 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed to prohibit im14 portation or exportation, or to require permission of the 

15 Secretary for importation or exportation, of— 

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

17 ‘‘(A) imported solely for purposes of be18 coming part of a museum’s permanent collec19 tion, return to a lending museum, or display in 

20 a museum; or 

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

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

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

24 lent such ivory to a museum in the United 

25 States; 


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

2 lawfully importable into the United States on Feb3 ruary 24, 2014, regardless of when acquired; or 

4 ‘‘(3) any worked ivory that was previously law5 fully possessed in the United States.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND WILD7 LIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER 

8 IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE COUN9 TRY. 

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

11 at the end the following: 

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

13 WILDLIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OF14 FICER IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE 

15 COUNTRY. 

16 ‘‘The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary 

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

18 Service law enforcement officer in the primary United 

19 States diplomatic or consular post in each African country 

20 that has a significant population of African elephants, who 

21 shall assist local wildlife rangers in the protection of Afri22 can elephants and facilitate the apprehension of individ23 uals who illegally kill, or assist the illegal killing of, Afri24 can elephants.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE FISH2 ERMEN’S PROTECTIVE ACT OF 1967. 

3 Section 2202 of the African Elephant Conservation 

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

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(g) CERTIFICATION.—When the Secretary of the In7 terior finds that a country, directly or indirectly, is a sig8 nificant transit or destination point for illegal ivory trade, 

9 the Secretary shall certify such fact to the President with 

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

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

12 1978(a)).’’. 

13 SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY. 

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

15 by adding at the end the following: 

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

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

18 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed— 

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

20 possession, sale, delivery, receipt, shipment, or trans21 portation of African elephant ivory, or any product 

22 containing African elephant ivory, that has been law23 fully imported or crafted in the United States; or 

24 ‘‘(2) to authorize using any means of deter25 mining for purposes of this Act or the Endangered 

26 Species Act of 1973 whether African elephant ivory 


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1 has been lawfully imported, including any presump2 tion or burden of proof applied in such determina3 tion, other than such means used by the Secretary 

4 as of February 24, 2014.’’. 

5 SEC. 7. SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES. 

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

7 by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(d) SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES.—Noth9 ing in this Act or subsection (a) or (d) of section 9 of 

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

11 shall be construed to prohibit any citizen or legal resident 

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

13 from importing a sport-hunted African elephant trophy 

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

15 the elephant was taken had an elephant population on Ap16 pendix II of CITES at the time the trophy elephant was 

17 taken. 

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

19 in this section shall be construed as modifying or repealing 

20 the Secretary’s duties to implement CITES and the ap21 pendices thereto, or as modifying or repealing section 8A 

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

23 1537a and 1538(c)).’’. 


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1 SEC. 8. AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT FINAN2 CIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY AND REAUTHOR3 IZATION. 

4 (a) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY.—Section 

5 2101 of the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

6 4211) is amended by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) 

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

8 after subsection (d) the following: 

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

10 under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to 

11 projects designed to facilitate the acquisition of equipment 

12 and training of wildlife officials in ivory producing coun13 tries to be used in anti-poaching efforts.’’. 

14 (b) REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 2306(a) of the Af15 rican Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4245(a)) is 

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

17 ‘‘2016 through 2020’’. 

Æ 


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