The law does not apply to ivory items that are possessed if you do not intend to trade them. There was a transition period for ivory transactions that began before June 6. Low ivory items created before 1947. Ivory must be an integral part of this item and the volume of ivory must be less than 10% of the total volume of material from which the item is made. You are also trading ivory when you organize or facilitate the ivory trade for someone else, even if you are not directly involved in buying, selling, leasing, importing or exporting an ivory item. Items that meet the above exceptions or date from before 1918 and have exceptionally high artistic, cultural or historical value must be registered through the “Specify the ivory you wish to sell or rent” service. “This law is a significant improvement over previous ivory regulations and we welcome that, but of course we have some caveats about not including ivory species other than elephants, for example,” said Frankie Osuch, head of policy support at Born Free. By banning only elephant ivory, the demand for ivory from other animals such as walruses and hippos will increase. The new guidelines outline what is covered by the law regarding trade in ivory products of all ages, not just those made after a certain date. IFAW and other groups have worked tirelessly for many years to ban the ivory trade to protect threatened elephant populations from further culling of their tusks.
After the ivory law was passed in December 2018, there was another three-and-a-half-year delay before the law came into force. With some exceptions, ivory added after the relevant date (1918, 1947 or 1975) must have been removed from the elephant before 1975 and added only for restoration purposes. Another factor that we must also be aware of is the possibility of changing the rules for other types of ivory, with the exception of elephant teeth and tusks. In 2021, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) launched a consultation to extend the ivory ban to narwhals, hippos, walruses, orcas and sperm whales. This includes ancient artwork such as scrimshaw tusks and teeth as well as narwhal tusks. The results of the consultation are still pending, but if the ivory law is extended, we could find that even all ivory becomes worthless in the widest use of the term. At the moment, everything is a bit of a waiting game. In the case of standard exempt articles manufactured before March 3, 1947 with a volume fraction less than 10% by volume, the article is exempt only if all the ivory is an integral part. This means that ivory cannot be removed from the item without difficulty or damage to the item. According to Two Million Tusks, a non-profit organization dedicated to elephant conservation, about 790 pieces of ivory were donated by British auction houses in the last week of May alone. At least 143 items sold, bringing in £64,000 (£84,000). In the previous two weeks, ivory sales to auction houses reached £61,306 and £30,492 respectively.
Some examples of common items and their ivory volume percentage: Under the UK`s Ivory Act 2018, the import, export and trade of items containing elephant ivory will be banned in the Kingdom from Monday, regardless of age. And all offenders face fines of up to $315,000 (£250,000). A commercial use certificate, known as an Article 10 certificate, may be required for an ivory specimen you are planning: “With up to 20,000 elephants poached per year for ivory jewelry that no one needs, this ban could not have come too soon. It is now crucial that the ban is effectively enforced and that those who try to circumvent it face the full force of the law. This has been promised as world-leading legislation and needs to be demonstrated, but it is a day to celebrate elephant conservation and we hope it will inspire other countries to close their own national ivory markets as well. The 2018 Ivory Act simply bans the ivory trade. This includes buying, renting and selling in the UK and also prevents the export from the UK and the import of ivory items for sale or hire. You also can`t buy an ivory item from the UK and export it. However, nothing prevents people from possessing ivory or giving or bequeathing coins, and items can be exported and imported as long as they are for personal use. Of course, you need to know the rules and regulations of other countries as well as the EU (if this is true).* The impact on antique ivory items will be considerable, and items made entirely of ivory or made in a certain proportion will become worthless on the open market.
These documents do not need to be insured or included in inheritance or inheritance tax assessments. You may not be able to determine the exact percentage of ivory volume, for example if the item has an irregular shape or if the depth of the ivory insert is difficult to determine. However, it is your responsibility to evaluate the item and take reasonable precautions to draw a conclusion about its volume as a percentage of ivory. Ivory traders could continue to sell elephant tusks by disguising their products as walruses or narwhal derivatives under a new ban, activists warned.