Editing CITES (section)

===Implementation===
As of 2002, 50% of Parties lacked one or more of the four major CITES requirements - designation of Management and Scientific Authorities; laws prohibiting the trade in violation of CITES; penalties for such trade and laws providing for the confiscation of specimens.<ref name=Reeve>Reeve, Policing International Trade in Endangered Species: The CITES Treaty and agreement.  London: Earthscan, 2000.</ref>

Although the Convention itself does not provide for arbitration or dispute in the case of noncompliance, 36 years of CITES in practice has resulted in several strategies to deal with infractions by Parties. The Secretariat, when informed of an infraction by a Party, will notify all other parties. The Secretariat will give the Party time to respond to the allegations and may provide technical assistance to prevent further infractions. Other actions the Convention itself does not provide for but that derive from subsequent COP resolutions may be taken against the offending Party. These include:
*Mandatory confirmation of all permits by the Secretariat
*Suspension of cooperation from the Secretariat
*A formal warning
*A visit by the Secretariat to verify capacity
*Recommendations to all Parties to suspend CITES related trade with the offending party<ref name="cites_suspend">{{cite web |url= http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/ref/suspend.php|title=Countries currently subject to a recommendation to suspend trade|publisher=CITES|work=cites.org |access-date=13 February 2012}}</ref>
*Dictation of corrective measures to be taken by the offending Party before the Secretariat will resume cooperation or recommend resumption of trade
Bilateral sanctions have been imposed on the basis of national legislation (e.g. the USA used certification under the Pelly Amendment to get Japan to revoke its reservation to hawksbill turtle products in 1991, thus reducing the volume of its exports).

Infractions may include negligence with respect to permit issuing, excessive trade, lax enforcement, and failing to produce annual reports (the most common).