CITES CoP20
New annexes since 29 June. For most animals nothing changes.
The EU has rewritten the annexes of the wildlife trade regulation. Search for it and you find lists of hundreds of taxa and no answer to the only question that matters: does this affect my animal. Here are the changes that could plausibly reach a terrarium, and what follows from each.
10
changes with terrarium relevance. The rest of the regulation covers species nobody here keeps.
2026-06-29
In force since 29 June 2026, the third day after publication in the Official Journal.
Two dates, and the gap between them is unanswered
The decisions of a conference of the parties take effect in international law ninety days after the meeting. The EU follows with a regulation of its own, and here that was 29 June. In between lies a period where the new annexes applied internationally while EU law still carried the old ones. What governs an acquisition from that window appears in neither text, and we found no reliable statement on it. Anyone who bought an affected animal in that period should put the question to their authority rather than trust an interpretation found online. For the German reporting duty the 29th of June is what counts, because it attaches to the EU annexes and not to the convention.
What changed
Pick your state and each row says what to do. Without a state the deadline cannot be given, because federal law names none.
| Taxon | Change | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| Grammostola roseaChilenische Rosenhaar-Vogelspinne | Newly in Annex B Recital 6 | The duty covers vertebrates only. |
| Kinixys homeanaStutzschwanz-Gelenkschildkröte | Up-listed from Annex B to A Recital 4 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateMarketing only with an EU certificate |
| Phyllurus amnicola | Newly in Annex B Recital 6 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a state |
| Phyllurus caudiannulatus | Newly in Annex B Recital 6 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a state |
| Conolophus spp.Drusenköpfe | Up-listed from Annex B to A Recital 4 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateMarketing only with an EU certificate |
| Amblyrhynchus cristatusMeerechse | Up-listed from Annex B to A Recital 4 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateMarketing only with an EU certificate |
| Bitis harenna | Newly in Annex A Recital 3 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateMarketing only with an EU certificate |
| Bitis parviocula | Newly in Annex A Recital 3 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateMarketing only with an EU certificate |
| Pelophylax lessonaeKleiner Wasserfrosch | Newly in Annex B, with delayed implementation Recital 6 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateNot yet applicable; the regulation defers implementation. |
| Pelophylax ridibundusSeefrosch | Newly in Annex B, with delayed implementation Recital 6 | Report to the authority · deadline once you pick a stateNot yet applicable; the regulation defers implementation. |
The case every guide will get wrong
The Chilean rose tarantula (Grammostola rosea) has been in Annex B since June. The obvious conclusion is: report it now. That is wrong. The reporting duty under § 7 BArtSchV covers vertebrates, and a tarantula is not one. What changes for it is marketing, not reporting. The difference costs nothing if you know it and a form if you do not.
Delayed implementation means: not yet, and not everywhere
Four water frogs and several marine species appear in the regulation with the note “mit verzögerter Umsetzung”. The recital the table above is drawn from names no date for it, and we could not establish one: the consolidated annex is too large to quote reliably here. If your species is affected, look it up in the linked annex under its scientific name, where the remark sits. And importantly: what is deferred is the European marketing consequence, not the German reporting duty. That one turns on protection under German law and may well apply already.
Common questions
- I have kept such an animal for years. Do I have to do anything now?
- The reporting duty attaches to a holding and its changes, and a species newly added to an annex was not reportable before. Whether that produces a duty to report existing holdings appears in no norm we could find; some authorities have handled it that way in the past and others have not. Call before you skip it: a superfluous report costs nothing.
- Do I now need a proof of origin retroactively?
- The proof duty under § 46 BNatSchG applies once a species is specially protected, and it expressly allows proof that you held the animal BEFORE it was placed under protection. Anyone with the original receipt is covered. Anyone without one should ask the breeder or dealer now, while somebody still remembers.
- May I still sell an up-listed animal?
- Annex A prohibits sale, purchase and commercial use, and the authority may lift that case by case with a certificate. In practice: the certificate first, the listing second. Offering an animal that moved from B to A overnight is no longer lawful without one, even if your report dates from the old regime.
- How do I find out which annex my species is in?
- The consolidated text of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on EUR-Lex carries all four annexes and shows its consolidation date at the top, currently 29 June 2026. What decides is the scientific name, down to the subspecies: for several species one subspecies is listed and another is not.
These details come from the recitals of the regulation linked below. Whether your species is affected turns on the scientific name down to the subspecies, and in case of doubt your authority decides. KeeperLog records what you declare and verifies nothing.
This is a reading of published sources and not legal advice. What applies to your animal is decided by your responsible authority.
An up-listing reaches the record, not your memory.
Species, origin and every arrival and departure with its date, in one place. When an annex changes you know within a minute which of your animals are affected.