Together with a group of music stakeholders from around the world, Pearle* signed this statement to give input to the CITES Standing Committee, to be held online from the 5th to 7th of May.

The CITES Musical Instrument Certificate (MIC) is essential in the context of international touring activities and the need for professional musicians, ensembles, orchestras and music groups to travel with their musical instruments which have been legally crafted decades and even centuries ago.

A number of these instruments contain small amounts of ivory, shell, reptile skin, and rosewood or other materials regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

In the statement on CITES MICs, music stakeholders therefore ask CITES parties to consider simplified procedures, a uniform implementation of the personal effects exemption, an electronic permit system, the extension of the validity period from three years to ten years and a permit exemption when instruments are transported by cargo under an ATA carnet.