Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000

PART IV

Wildlife Conservation and Protection

Chapter I

Protection of Flora, Wild Birds and Wild Animals

Amendment of section 21 (protection of flora) of Principal Act.

29.—Section 21 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (3), by the substitution of the following for paragraphs (a) and (b):

“(a) cut, pick, collect, uproot or otherwise take, injure, damage, or destroy any specimen to which this section applies or the flowers, roots, seeds, spores or other part of such specimen,

(b) purchase, sell, keep for sale, transport for sale or exchange, offer for sale or exchange or be in possession of any such specimen whether alive or dead or the flowers, roots, seeds, spores or any part, product or derivative thereof,”,

(b) in subsection (5), by the substitution of the following for paragraph (a):

“(a) to cut, pick, collect, uproot or otherwise take flora of a species specified in the licence and which is of a species to which an order under this section for the time being applies or the flowers, roots, seeds, spores or other part of a specimen of the species so specified,”,

(c) in subsection (6), by the substitution of the following for paragraphs (a) and (b):

“(a) sold a plant whether alive or dead or the flowers, roots, seeds, spores or any part, product or derivative of a plant, which is of the same species as the plant, flowers, roots, seeds, spores or any part, product or derivative of a plant, as the case may be, to which the alleged offence relates, and

(b) claimed, either expressly or by implication and whether by advertising or otherwise, that the plant, flowers, roots, seeds, spores or any other part, product or derivative sold came from or was wholly or partly grown in a particular place, and the place is in an area to which an order under this section applied at the time when the alleged offence was committed,”,

(d) in subsection (7), by the insertion of “, seeds or spores” after “roots”, and

(e) by the insertion of the following after subsection (8):

“(8A) In order to control the trade and collection of wild flora the Minister may make regulations providing that a person shall not, save under and in accordance with a licence granted in that behalf by the Minister and on payment to the Minister of the prescribed fee (if any), cut, pick, collect, uproot or otherwise take, injure, damage, or destroy any specimen of a species of flora which is of a species specified in the regulations or the flowers, roots, seeds, spores or other part of such specimen or cause to be cut, picked, collected, uprooted or otherwise taken, injured, damaged or destroyed any such specimen.

(8B) Where the Minister is satisfied that it is in the interests of the conservation of any species of wild flora so to do, the Minister may be regulations prohibit, or control in such manner as the Minister considers appropriate and specify in the regulations, the trade, collection, purchase or sale of that species or any part, product or derivative thereof for such period as may be so specified.”,

and the said subsection (7), as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(7) In any proceedings for an offence under this section, it shall be a defence for the defendant to show that the plant, flowers, roots, seeds or spores or other thing to which the alleged offence relates was lawfully imported.