The purpose of the Act is to promote the conservation of exotic birds by:   assisting wild bird conservation and management programs in the countries of origin of wild birds; ensuring that trade in species of exotic birds involving the U.S. is biologically sustainable and is not detrimental to the species; limiting or prohibiting imports of exotic birds when necessary to ensure that wild exotic bird populations are not harmed by removal of exotic birds from the wild for trade, or exotic birds in trade are not subject to inhumane treatment; encouraging and supporting effective implementation of the Convention. § 4902.

Selected Definitions. Convention:  Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Exotic bird:  any live or dead member of the class aves that is not indigenous to the 50 states or the District of Columbia, including any egg or offspring thereof, and does not include (i) domestic poultry, dead sport-hunted birds, dead museum specimens, dead scientific specimens, or products manufactured from such birds, or (ii) birds in the families phasianidae, numididae, cracidae, meleagrididae, megapodiidae, antidae, struthionidae, rheidae, dromaiinae, and gruidae. Import and importation:  to land on, bring into, or introduce into, or attempt to land on, bring into, or introduce into, any place subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Person:  any entity subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Qualifying facility:  an exotic bird breeding facility that is included in a list published by the Secretary under the Act. Secretary:  the Secretary of the Interior or a designee. Species:  a species, subspecies, or distinct population segment of a species or subspecies, including hybrids of a species or subspecies. U.S.:  the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. § 4903.

List of Approved Species. The Act directs the Secretary to publish, by October 1993, and periodically thereafter, a list of species of exotic birds that are listed in an appendix to the Convention and not subject to an import prohibition or suspension under the Act. The list is to include species that are regularly bred in captivity, with no wild-caught specimens in trade, or are bred in a qualifying facility and non-captive bred species for which the Secretary determines the Convention is being effectively implemented. For each non-captive bred species, the Secretary must find that:   each country of origin for which the species is listed is effectively implementing the Convention; a scientifically-based management plan has been developed; the plan is being implemented and enforced; the methods of capture, transport and maintenance minimize the risk of injury and damage to health, including inhumane treatment. § 4905.

Moratoria on Imports of Exotic Birds Covered by Convention. The Act prohibits importing an exotic bird identified as a category B species in Report of the Animals Committee adopted by the 8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. A species is subject to the prohibition until the Secretary determines that the countries of origin have taken appropriate remedial measures to eliminate the threat of trade to the conservation of the species and includes the species on the Secretary’s published list.

The Secretary may suspend the importation of exotic bird species listed in an appendix to the Convention and, if applicable, remove the species from the Secretary’s published list if the Secretary determines that trade in the species is detrimental to the species, there is not sufficient information on which to base a judgment that the species is not detrimentally affected by trade in the species, or remedial measures recommended by the Standing Committee of the Convention have not been implemented and the suspension might be necessary for conservation of the species. A species is subject to the import suspension until it is included on the Secretary’s list.

The Act prohibits importing an exotic bird of a species listed in an appendix to the Convention unless the Secretary includes the species on the published list. § 4904