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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African Elephant Con-
servation and Legal Ivory Possession Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the ref-
erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201 
et seq.). 
SEC. 3. LIMITED EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN AFRICAN ELE-
PHANT IVORY. 
Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
the first sentence; 
(2) by inserting ‘‘and subsection (b) of this sec-
tion’’ after ‘‘2202(e)’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) EXEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act or subsection 
(a) or (d) of section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed to prohibit im-
portation or exportation, or to require permission of the 
Secretary for importation or exportation, of— 
‘‘(1) any raw ivory or worked ivory— 
‘‘(A) imported solely for purposes of be-
coming part of a museum’s permanent collec-
tion, return to a lending museum, or display in 
a museum; or 
‘‘(B) exported solely for purposes of— 
‘‘(i) display in a foreign museum; or 
‘‘(ii) return to a foreign person who 
lent such ivory to a museum in the United 
States; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(2) any raw ivory or worked ivory that was 
lawfully importable into the United States on Feb-
ruary 24, 2014, regardless of when acquired; or 
‘‘(3) any worked ivory that was previously law-
fully possessed in the United States.’’. 
SEC. 4. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND WILD-
LIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER 
IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE COUN-
TRY. 
Part I (16 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 2105. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND 
WILDLIFE SERVICE LAW ENFORCEMENT OF-
FICER IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE 
COUNTRY. 
‘‘The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary 
of State, may station one United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service law enforcement officer in the primary United 
States diplomatic or consular post in each African country 
that has a significant population of African elephants, who 
shall assist local wildlife rangers in the protection of Afri-
can elephants and facilitate the apprehension of individ-
uals who illegally kill, or assist the illegal killing of, Afri-
can elephants.’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE FISH-
ERMEN’S PROTECTIVE ACT OF 1967. 
Section 2202 of the African Elephant Conservation 
Act (16 U.S.C. 4222) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(g) CERTIFICATION.—When the Secretary of the In-
terior finds that a country, directly or indirectly, is a sig-
nificant transit or destination point for illegal ivory trade, 
the Secretary shall certify such fact to the President with 
respect to the country for the purposes of section 8(a) of 
the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C. 
1978(a)).’’. 
SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY. 
Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY.—Nothing in 
this Act or the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed— 
‘‘(1) to prohibit, or to authorize prohibiting, the 
possession, sale, delivery, receipt, shipment, or trans-
portation of African elephant ivory, or any product 
containing African elephant ivory, that has been law-
fully imported or crafted in the United States; or 
‘‘(2) to authorize using any means of deter-
mining for purposes of this Act or the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 whether African elephant ivory 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
has been lawfully imported, including any presump-
tion or burden of proof applied in such determina-
tion, other than such means used by the Secretary 
as of February 24, 2014.’’. 
SEC. 7. SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES. 
Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES.—Noth-
ing in this Act or subsection (a) or (d) of section 9 of 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) 
shall be construed to prohibit any citizen or legal resident 
of the United States, or an agent of such an individual, 
from importing a sport-hunted African elephant trophy 
under section 2202(e) of this Act, if the country in which 
the elephant was taken had an elephant population on Ap-
pendix II of CITES at the time the trophy elephant was 
taken. 
‘‘(e) RELATIONSHIP TO THE CONVENTION.—Nothing 
in this section shall be construed as modifying or repealing 
the Secretary’s duties to implement CITES and the ap-
pendices thereto, or as modifying or repealing section 8A 
or 9(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1537a and 1538(c)).’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 8. AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT FINAN-
CIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY AND REAUTHOR-
IZATION. 
(a) FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE
PRIORITY.—Section 
2101 of the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
4211) is amended by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) 
as subsections (f) and (g), respectively, and by inserting 
after subsection (d) the following: 
‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In providing financial assistance 
under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to 
projects designed to facilitate the acquisition of equipment 
and training of wildlife officials in ivory producing coun-
tries to be used in anti-poaching efforts.’’. 
(b) REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 2306(a) of the Af-
rican Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4245(a)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘2007 through 2012’’ and inserting 
‘‘2016 through 2020’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:03 Feb 10, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H697.IH
H697
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS