Article 2 - The reptile trade and law enforcement in Norway and the Netherlands: time for a ban?

This article presents research on wildlife trafficking, more specifically the illegal trade in live reptiles and its enforcement in two countries: Norway and the Netherlands. Based on broad datasets that cover more than a decade and semi-structured interviews with police, customs, environmental authorities, food safety authorities and experts, the implications of the current regulation regime of wildlife trade through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and flora (CITES) are discussed. A specific problem connected to CITES is the emergence and persistence of parallel legal and illegal markets. The empirical findings of this study show that the regulatory framework invites the laundering of illegal, wild-caught reptiles into the legal trade, increasing the risk of extinction for many species. The laundering issues will be discussed in the Norwegian context, where a reptile ban was lifted recently, and in the Dutch setting, historically known as a reptile trade hub. An important question is, therefore, whether the existing regulation actually serves to protect species from extinction or whether it rather legitimises and encourages trade, leading to extinction. A ban on the trade of live reptiles is discussed, since research data suggest a ban would be easier to enforce than the current regulation regime.