Revisiting Those New European Union Regulations For Trophy Shipments

In our October issue (page 10) we gave hunters a heads up on new European Union rules governing trophy shipments. Original word of these regulation changes came from The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC), an organization based in Europe. And that may be where some possible misunderstandings arose, since the press release was intended for a European audience but immediately went global on the web. It is now clear that the original press release issued by CIC dealt ONLY with trophies being imported into EU countries, NOT with trophies being transshipped through the EU to other non-EU countries. What is not clear at this point, is how, or even if, the new regulations affect trophies transiting the EU in a shipment or in a hunter's personal baggage. It appears there may be no effect at all as long as the trophy does not clear customs, but we can't yet say that for certain. It will largely depend on how various EU agencies interpret the new regulations. We surmise that any operation cleared to ship trophies to the EU should have no problem transshipping trophies through the EU. However, the situation is still potentially fluid. Needless to say, we are seeking clarification and will issue an Email Extra bulletin on the subject as soon as we have something more concrete to share. In the meantime, however, the new regulations absolutely DO affect trophies being imported into Europe, and our European subscribers should take note and prepare accordingly. If you have any recent experience with bringing trophies to the EU or through the EU to other destinations, please contact us with specifics so we can share the information with your fellow subscribers.

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