Defra Ivory Act consultation response document

The Government has published its summary of responses to the Ivory Act 2018 consultation that took place in May 2021.

Details can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/uk-ivory-ban-implementing-the-ivory-act-2018

Some changes to the implementation process have been made as a result of the consultation.  In summary the main points are:

  • There will be an "approximate 4 month" gap between the register of items comprising less than 10 per cent ivory opening for dealers to register those items and the ban coming into force (we argued for 6-12 months, but they have gone above their originally suggested 3 months).  This means that members with objects comprising less than 10 per cent ivory who wish to offer them for sale uninterrupted will have 4 months to get them registered.  If they are not registered by the day the Act comes into force you should withdraw them from sale and should only advertise and offer them for sale once you have added them to the register.
     
  • Additionally there will be an additional "grace period" of 28 days (beginning with the date the ban comes into force) to allow completion of any sales that were initiated before the new law came into force.  Consequently, for pre-Ivory Act sales of items comprising 10 per cent or more ivory that are not historically important you must have been paid and the goods have been delivered to the customer no later than 4 weeks after the Act comes into force. (BADA raised this issue with Defra and they have to some extent listened, but 28 days does not represent a very long period in which to obtain money from a slow-paying customer)
     
  • Defra will be publishing further "administrative guidance" (BADA has pushed for this, but the text has yet to be seen)
     
  • Defra has confirmed there will be flexibility in respect of who decides whether an item is pre-1947 or <10% ivory - they do not appear to rule out an experienced dealer, such as a BADA member, doing this themselves in respect own their own stock, but say there will be more information about this in the guidance
     
  • No change to the £20 and £250 fees for registration and exemption respectively
     
  • No change to the guidance parameters set out in the consultation for items of outstandingly high cultural, historical or artistic value (we felt these parameters were quite reasonable and flexible, although interpretation of the parameters will be up to the assessors appointed by the prescribed institutions, e.g. the V&A Museum and British Museum, etc)
     
  • Defra believes that the ability of the prescribed institutions to nominate an assessor who is not an employee will provide sufficient flexibility for cases where the necessary expertise in a specialism is otherwise unavailable (i.e. we hope that, as with export licences, the museums  may ask for the views of specialists outside the museum world, such as from members of the trade, when considering applications for the "important item" exemption certificates)
     
  • Guidance concerning appeals against rejected exemption certificate applications will be given in further awareness-raising measures (this was one of BADA's requests) 

Recent statements from Defra indicate that it expects the Act to be in force in the Spring of 2022.  There will be no further consultations and they say they will be bringing forward secondary legislation to implement the Act in line with the summaries given in the document published on 15 September.

Mark Dodgson
15 September 2021