Ivory Act 2018 (Meaning of “Ivory” and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024

Considered in Grand Committee

17:57:00

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the Ivory Act 2018 (Meaning of “Ivory” and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024.

My Lords, this instrument amends the Ivory Act 2018 to extend the prohibition on dealing in ivory from an elephant to include ivory from the following four magnificent species: common hippopotamus, killer whale, narwhal and sperm whale. Walrus was included in the original consultation. However, the SI does not include walrus as it will continue to be protected under existing regulations on trade in seal products. The UK is committed to protecting these species, whose conservation status may be threatened by the trade in their ivory. All four species are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates their trade internationally. Hippopotamus and sperm whale are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list. The objective of this instrument is to help conserve populations of the four additional species. The Act will prohibit commercial activities concerning trade in their ivories in the UK. This will prevent transactions involving items made of ivory from these species contributing to markets, which then create a demand for ivory, driving poaching and the illegal trade. Extending the ban to these species will also make compliance and enforcement of the Act simpler and more effective, and will reduce opportunities for laundering ivory. It sends a strong signal that ivory should not be seen as a commodity for financial gain or as a status symbol. This instrument also amends the Schedule to the Ivory Prohibitions (Exemptions) (Process and Procedure) Regulations 2022 on prescribed institutions to correct the names of some of the institutions prescribed under the Act. Lastly, it amends the Ivory Prohibition (Civil Sanctions) Regulations 2022 to make consistent the references to service of notices relating to civil sanctions. I beg to move.

18:00:00

My Lords, I start by declaring my interests, as in the register. I am the president of the British Antique Dealers’ Association, which is an honorary and, sadly, unpaid position. However, I am of course speaking on my own behalf, not on behalf of any outside body. I want to take this opportunity to review a little of the relationship that this statutory instrument has with the 2018 Act, as well as the way in which the two operate together. I hope that the Grand Committee will bear with me in this. I should start by saying that I hope we are all in favour of preserving wildlife, particularly endangered species and those threatened with extinction. We should all, therefore, be in favour of improving the Ivory Act so that it helps to achieve that aim. The concern that some of us have about the Ivory Act, had when that Act passed through your Lordships’ House in 2018 and now have about this statutory instrument is not about their noble objectives. It is about whether they work to achieve their aspirations, the all-encompassing way in which both the Act and the SI are drafted and the unintended consequences that they lead to, not least the destruction of items made of or containing ivory above the de minimis limit—in other words, low-value items of historic interest and often of great beauty, but not of museum quality, being put in landfill because they cannot be sold. The statutory instrument extends the definition of ivory to include whale teeth and narwhal tusks. I do not have a problem with banning the sale of modern products made from whale teeth and narwhal tusks, although I do not think there is much evidence that there is any market for modern items made from whale or narwhal. Historically, whale teeth were used by sailors to make scrimshaw in one form or another. Whale scrimshaw can be a tooth, which has patterns or pictures inscribed into it using a sailor’s knife or another sharp object. They are of great historic interest because they shed light on the often difficult and miserable lives of sailors in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They are of particular value because of their being works of art made by the poor and working classes, so little of which has come down to us as compared to the art of the aristocracy and the upper classes. They are folk art. They are not of great monetary value. A good early example will typically sell for £100 to £200 at auction. They can be faked but rarely are because they cannot be sold for enough to justify the work that goes into them. In any case, modern scrimshaw is easily distinguished from old. Narwhal tusks are rarely worked. Historically, they were mounted and displayed, sometimes whimsically as unicorn horns. Perhaps the most famous example is in Fishmongers’ Hall, used as a weapon to stop the terrorist on London Bridge in 2019. The Ivory Act allows a limited trade in some antique objects containing ivory, hence the Act’s exemptions—including one permitting trade in registered antiques with less than 10% ivory content. I understand that, under this exemption, some 19,000 elephant ivory items and portrait miniatures painted on ivory have now been registered under the Act. A further 325 items of outstandingly high historical value have exemption certificates. However, in stark contrast to elephant ivory, virtually all old objects in this statutory instrument are solid ivory, so scrimshaw cannot benefit at all from the Act’s de minimis exemptions. Nor are any of these items likely to be granted an exemption certificate for being of outstandingly high historical value, since they are folk art. So, for scrimshaw and old ethnographic objects, this statutory instrument means a 100% prohibition on sales to antique collectors—zero trade. If they cannot be sold, they will inevitably end up in landfill in time. Why are we doing this? There is virtually no import/export trade in whale teeth or narwhal tusks. For example, in 2022, there were no commercial imports of sperm whale teeth, while just two teeth were exported. Narwhal are not on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s endangered list. The major concern about the way the Act and the SI work comes down to the impact on historical objects of beauty and artistic merit made of ivory. We debated extensively in Committee on the now Act whether antique ivory objects had to be destroyed to stop modern ivory knick-knacks being made in China and Vietnam. The market in Asia is for modern ivory items, often from newly poached elephant tusks, not for antiques. One of the claims made to justify the draconian impact of the Act and statutory instrument is that it is impossible to tell whether the ivory came from an animal killed 100, 200 or 300 years ago or from one killed yesterday. However, now that we have experience of the working of the Act, it is clear that museum experts in antiques and specialists in the antiques trade can prove the age of ivory objects with or without using simple scientific tests. Indeed, the Act itself set up panels of experts to determine whether an ivory artefact of high artistic and historic importance was genuine and worth preserving. These panels seem to have no trouble distinguishing between old and new ivory. Now that it is well established that it is possible to tell the difference between old and new ivory, why can we not widen this vetting by a panel of experts to other ivory objects? It should be possible to allow them to be sold through licensed dealers and auction houses, for example. The other argument used to justify the Act and this statutory instrument is the more nebulous one: it is all about the United Kingdom’s soft power—that is, if we crack down on the sale of ivory, Asian countries will wake up to their responsibilities to save endangered species and follow the UK’s lead, apparently not having realised that they should do so until we showed them the way. The view that we are the moral leaders of the world seems weird, patronising and possibly colonial. How has our soft power worked? It has not had much influence on the European Union, which bans the import and export of ivory but allows it to be traded within the EU. That is very different from the UK, where the trade is completely banned. Dare I say, as a Conservative, that the EU’s response is much more logical and sensible than ours. As far as I can tell, ivory is also still freely available in much of Asia. That brings me to a few questions for the Minister. First, what assessment have His Majesty’s Government made of the impact of the Ivory Act on the poaching of elephants in Africa? Secondly, which countries have followed the UK in introducing a total ban on the trading of ivory items? Thirdly, what assessment have His Majesty’s Government made of the number, type and value of objects containing ivory that have been destroyed as a consequence of the Act? Finally, what assessment have His Majesty’s Government made of the number of narwhal tusks and whale teeth imported into and exported out of the UK in recent years? I know that this SI will pass but I hope that we can have a Government who understand our heritage in beautiful objects created down the ages, redolent of social and artistic history; and that such a Government can realise that saving the elephant, the whale and the narwhal can be done successfully without the destruction of hundreds of years of historic and beautiful art.

My Lords, the Ivory Act 2018 and subsequent statutory instruments pertained only to ivory of elephant origin. Although those instruments covered the vast majority of ivory products, these new regulations extend the meaning of ivory to include the “tusk or tooth” of a hippopotamus, killer whale, narwhal or sperm whale. These species are listed under CITES, and although they compromise only a small amount of the broad definition of “ivory”, the amending regulations limit opportunities for laundering ivory under the guise of another species that is not prohibited. The regulations also mitigate the risk of poaching displacement—a lovely word I had not come across but which was in the Explanatory Memorandum—to non-elephant ivory-bearing species. The current legislation places the burden of proof on anyone accused of potential ivory trading to prove that the ivory is not from a prohibited species. It is very useful that specific institutions are named as able to provide expert advice to the Secretary of State. I wonder whether that could partly satisfy some of the noble Lord’s concerns. I note that walrus products are already covered under the assimilated EU regulations, as the Minister mentioned. The regulations sensitively recognise that certain indigenous communities, such as the Inuit, rely on subsistence hunting of some of these species for food and derive part of their income from the sale of ivory products as a by-product of this hunting. As I understand it, these regulations would not prevent UK tourists acquiring small amounts of ivory items made from the species covered by these regulations from these communities and bringing them back as personal possessions under CITES regulations—that is, with a permit and declaration at customs—but will prevent any degree of commercial trade and onward sale in the secondary ivory market in the UK. Can the Minister confirm my understanding of this permitted trade with indigenous communities? The miscellaneous amendments in the instrument will further strengthen the protection of endangered species around the world. I welcome them, although I have some sympathy with the noble Lord’s concerns.

My Lords, I very much concur with the remarks of my noble friend Lord Carrington of Fulham. I declare my interests as listed in the register. I will comment on the detrimental impact that extending the Ivory Act will have on the formation of collections of historical objects. Most museum collections in this country, whether quirky municipal ones or great national ones, were formed as a result of the philanthropy of community-spirited collectors. Those collectors may have spent their lives—and, I hasten to add, their own money—being passionate about and studying a particular branch of history, and acquiring historical artefacts or works of art to reflect their passion. After decades of forming a collection they may have wanted the public to have access to it, so they gave or sold it to their local museum. One such example of this is the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, which has a scrimshaw collection formed by Surgeon Captain AWB Livesey RN. The collection comprises etched sperm whale teeth from the first half of the 19th century, depicting subjects such as naval engagements from the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812 between Britain and America, the bombardment of Algiers to release Christian slaves in 1816, and the struggle of many countries in central and South America to achieve independence from Spanish rule. All these etchings were created from the perspective of the ordinary sailor, armed with a sharp blade and some lamp soot. Had Captain Livesey been alive today, this statutory instrument would have prevented him forming such a remarkable collection.

18:15:00

Then there is the Hull Maritime Museum, which houses the largest scrimshaw collection in Europe. Like the Scott institute, part of this collection was formed by a collector, in this case Kathleen Tizard, before being given to the museum in 1999. Ethnographic items, such as antique whale teeth—tabua—were by tradition used by Fijians as a marriage token. Unlike elephants, the whales from which these teeth were taken were hunted not for their ivory but for their meat or fat. Although elephant ivory is regarded as a commodity in China, sometimes purchased by weight, the same cannot be said for marine ivory items, such as sperm whale teeth. The Horniman Museum in London contains examples of tabua, and a large part of its collection was acquired by Frederick Horniman, a collector who used wealth earned from the tea trade to bring together artifacts that would educate the British about the lives of other peoples in remote corners of the globe.

In my few words today, I question the validity of extending the Ivory Act to species such as the sperm whale when the UK has virtually no international commercial trade in these items and when, unlike the trade in elephant ivory, there is no third country with an insatiable desire to acquire sperm whale teeth. I look forward to the Minister’s answers to the various questions and to my noble friend Lord Carrington’s concerns.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this SI. It is right that the common hippopotamus, the killer whale, the narwhal and the sperm whale are to be included in the category of protection for their ivory. I have to say that it has taken a long time to reach this point. In 2018, when we were discussing the Ivory Bill, the Minister’s predecessor on the Labour Benches, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, who I am delighted to see in her place, was tireless in trying to persuade the Government to include narwhals and other species in the categories to be classed as having ivory, but to no avail. The then Conservative Government were content to leave it at elephant ivory. The passage of the Bill was not easy, with the antique ivory lobby pressing hard for exclusions to the Bill. I began to wonder whether we would ever get the ban on elephant ivory through, but in the end we succeeded. I realise that the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, will not share my view. He referred to the destruction of items made of ivory that are of no antique value but are sent to landfill. He also referred to scrimshaw items made by sailors. I have some sympathy with his view on these items and I look forward to the Minister’s answer to his question about changing the policy on destroying ivory. The noble Baroness, Lady Rawlings, referred to historical antique ivory collections that may have been donated to museums and form part of history. This is a very valid argument. I note that a public consultation that took place between 17 July and 11 September 2021 overwhelmingly supported the measures we have before us. Paragraph 7.1 of the EM states: “Walrus ivory is not included in the extension of the Act under this instrument because it will remain prohibited subject to certain narrow exemptions under Council Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009”, which relates to the Windsor Framework. The Minister referred to this exemption, but I am slightly confused by it and would be grateful if she could explain exactly what it means in terms of protection for the walrus species. I am reassured that items containing ivory or made of ivory will be protected. I am also pleased that the burden of proof will lie with any accused to prove that the item is not ivory from an elephant or from the other four species covered in the SI. Scientific tests are to be used to determine the exact origin of the article and the age of the antique artefacts. I welcome that this debate has covered both sides of the argument and we have heard opposing views. Nevertheless, I fully support this SI.

My Lords, His Majesty’s Official Opposition are in favour of any measures to preserve the rich tapestry of species on this planet, particularly those threatened with extinction. However, we have some concerns, not with the objective of this SI and the Ivory Act more broadly, but with some of the consequences of its drafting. The SI extends the definition of ivory to include whale teeth and narwhal tusks. Although we agree with the banning of selling of modern items manufactured from these sources, there is no modern market for whale teeth or narwhal tusks. Old pieces of art, such as inscribed sailor’s knives or mounted narwhal tusks, will fall foul of these regulations and will have to be landfilled. As we have heard already from my noble friends Lady Rawlings and Lord Carrington, there is virtually no import or export trade in whale teeth or narwhal tusks. In 2022, there were no commercial imports of sperm whale teeth, and just two teeth were exported. Narwhals are not on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s endangered list. While it could be argued that this legislation is an important aspect of our soft power, it is debatable whether this soft power has worked. It has not had much influence on the EU, which bans the import and export of ivory but allows it to be traded within the EU. Will the Minister please clarify to the Committee what outcomes she foresees from this decision? Will she outline why these measures have been implemented and say whether she can see that they may have unforeseen and unintended consequences?

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to the debate and for raising important points. As described earlier, extending the Act to these four species demonstrates UK leadership in support of international conservation efforts, setting an example at home to encourage similar actions globally. It makes the existing ban more effective and adds protections to four species that will complement those already in place internationally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. I was involved with this the first time around, back in 2018, and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, said, it seems to have taken an awful long time to get here. I wonder whether, like me, she had a stuffed narwhal on her desk—which my grandchildren have now chosen to play with. From our perspective, it is good to see these regulations in front of us. This measure is part of a comprehensive package of UK leadership to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and reduce poverty, including through our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which has allocated £57 million to 173 projects across 60 countries. These projects are reducing demand for illegal wildlife products, strengthening law enforcement, establishing effective legal frameworks and promoting sustainable livelihoods. I turn to answer some of the questions, and hope that we do not have another vote in the middle this time. I will look first at the consultation and stakeholder engagement that took place ahead of this. There was a call for evidence in 2019 and a public consultation from 17 July to 11 September 2021 on extending the Act to other species. The consultation received 997 responses and a clear majority supported an extension to these species. The previous Government published their response to the consultation in May last year. There is a conservation risk to each species as exhaustible natural resources, which includes the trade in their ivory, both legal and illegal, and how this relates to their conservation status and other threats that they face. There was a clear demonstration in the proportion of respondents who supported this option and the comments submitted that commercial exploitation of species that are endangered or accepted as being in need of protection from the threat posed by trade in their parts violates public morality. So that was the consultation and its outcomes. The noble Lord, Lord Carrington, asked specific questions around the effectiveness of the Act. One was how many elephants had been saved to date. This is a cross-cutting policy, so it is not possible to say what impact the Ivory Act alone has had. For example, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund is a grant scheme that funds actions to tackle illegal wildlife and poverty reduction in developing countries. These projects contribute to reducing the demand for illegal wildlife products, strengthening enforcement and establishing effective legal frameworks, and promoting sustainable livelihoods through innovative approaches, partnerships and evidence-based interventions that protect endangered species, including elephants. So I cannot be specific, but it does play a role. The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, asked for more information about why we are not extending it to walrus. As I said, walrus were included in the original consultation but are not now, because they continue to be protected under existing regulations on the trade in seal products. Under these regulations, seal products, including walrus ivory, can be imported and placed on the UK market for sale only in very limited circumstances and subject to strict conditions. You can bring seal products to Great Britain and sell them only if they qualify under the Inuit and other indigenous communities exemption and have a seal catch certificate. This is an attestation document that proves that the item is exempt and that the seal products are certified as coming from a traditional hunt carried out by the Inuit or other indigenous communities. The hunt must be carried out for and contribute to the subsistence of the community, and must consider the welfare of the animal. I hope that goes some way towards answering the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Rawlings, around the fact that we work with indigenous communities on these pieces of legislation. Further questions from the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, were to do with trade and why we decided to add these species. The main problem is that international trade in these species needs to be regulated to ensure that it does not threaten the species’ survival. The UK is also a net exporter of ivory from these species, and we are concerned that it fuels global demand and the market for these ivories.

The Minister is, I think, getting slightly confused about what I asked. I was not asking whether ivory is being exported; clearly, it is not now, because it is banned. But narwhal tusks are not banned and there is no evidence that they are being exported or imported. Also, the evidence we have is that, in 2022, no sperm whale teeth were imported and two were exported. What I am saying is that, distinct from the ivory market—we can probably dispute that—the products covered specifically by this SI are exported or imported in such small quantities as to have no effect on international trade at all.

I thank the noble Lord for his comments. I still think that there are issues around the fact that these species are endangered. We should be covering them in existing legislation that could have an impact on them in future. It is important that that is covered. The noble Lord asked about exemptions, so let me come on to them. If an item is 100% ivory, it can be kept or follow the exemptions in Section 2 of the Act, of which I am sure he is very aware. Several other countries have closed their domestic ivory markets so, again, it is not just the UK looking at this as an action. I should say that I have some information about narwhal ivory, which has just come through—apologies. In the 10 years between 2009 and 2019, commercial imports and exports of narwhal ivory totalled 33 items, while those of sperm whale ivory totalled 203 items. I hope that helps clarify the matter. It might be helpful, as this issue came up a bit, for me to remind noble Lords what the exemptions to the ivory ban are. There are five exemptions, which will apply to all species once this instrument has gone through: musical instruments made before 1975 with less than 20% ivory by volume; items made before 3 March 1947 with less than 10% ivory by volume; portrait miniatures made before 1918 with a total surface area of no more than 320 square centimetres—and we have another vote.

18:32:00

Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.

18:42:00

My Lords, I was just going through the exemptions to the Ivory Act and had just finished talking about portrait miniatures. Also exempt are items a qualifying museum intends to buy or hire and items made before 1918 that are of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value. I mention that because it has come up quite a lot during the debate, and for clarification because it is some years since the Act came into play. The noble Lord, Lord Trees, asked a specific question about people going on holiday, small items and so on. This fits with the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Rawlings, about indigenous peoples. To be clear, the Act bans imports for the purposes of dealing. Individuals who are visiting communities outside the UK can purchase items from them directly and bring them into the UK as personal possessions as long as they meet the requirements under CITES. That provides clarification on that point. With that, I hope I have answered most questions; I will check and come back to noble Lords if I have not.

I think the Minister said that narwhals are an endangered species, but we believe that they are not endangered; there are around 80,000 mature adults in their population. If the Minister could come back to us at some point, it would be much appreciated.

I clarify that all four species being added to the Act are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. I hope that helps to answer the noble Earl’s question.

Motion agreed.

Committee adjourned at 6.45 pm.