50 CFR §23.45

1. (a)Purpose. Article VII(2) of the Treaty exempts a pre-Convention specimen from standard permitting requirements in Articles III, IV, and V of the Treaty when the exporting or re-exporting country is satisfied that the specimen was acquired before the provisions of CITES applied to it and issues a CITES document to that effect.
2. (b)U.S. and foreign general provisions. The following general provisions apply to the issuance and acceptance of pre-Convention documents:
   1. (1)Trade in a specimen under the pre-Convention exemption is allowed only if the importing country will accept a pre-Convention certificate.
   2. (2)The pre-Convention date is the date the species was first listed under CITES regardless of whether the species has subsequently been transferred from one Appendix to another.
   3. (3)For a pre-Convention Appendix-I specimen, no CITES import permit is required.
   4. (4)The pre-Convention exemption does not apply to offspring or cell lines of any wildlife or plant born or propagated after the date the species was first listed under CITES.
3. (c)U.S. application form. Complete Form 3-200-23 (wildlife) or Form 3-200-32 (plants) and submit it to the U.S. Management Authority.
4. (d)Criteria. The criteria in this paragraph (d) apply to the issuance and acceptance of U.S. and foreign certificates. When applying for a U.S. certificate, you must provide sufficient information for us to find that the specimen meets all of the following criteria:
   1. (1)The specimen was removed from the wild or born or propagated in a controlled environment before the date CITES first applied to it, or is a product (including a manufactured item) or derivative made from such specimen.
   2. (2)The scientific name of the species is the standard nomenclature in the CITES Appendices or the references adopted by the CoP (see § 23.23).
   3. (3)Live wildlife or plants will be prepared and shipped so as to minimize risk of injury, damage to health, or cruel treatment of the specimen.
   4. (4)For the re-export of a pre-Convention specimen previously imported under a CITES document, the wildlife or plant was legally imported.