Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill: HL Bill 119 of 2022–23

The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill is a private member’s bill sponsored in the House of Lords by Baroness Fookes (Conservative). It is due to have its second reading in the Lords on 16 June 2023, having completed its House of Commons stages in March 2023.

The bill would prohibit the import into Great Britain of hunting trophies from animal species listed in annex A or B of a piece of retained EU law referred to as the ‘Principal Wildlife Trade Regulation’. The government describes these lists as “broadly equivalent” to the lists of species in appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) that are either threatened with extinction or in which trade is controlled to prevent over-exploitation. Currently, hunting trophies from these animals can be brought into Great Britain if they have the required import and/or export permits. Permits are generally only granted where it can be shown that the import would not have a harmful effect on the conservation status of the species.

The bill was amended during its passage through the House of Commons to remove a power that would have allowed the government to make regulations to change which species were covered by the ban. A new requirement was also added for the secretary of state to establish an advisory board on hunting trophies. This was in response to concerns raised by some that expert opinions differ on what the impacts of a hunting trophy ban might be. For instance, there are disagreements on whether trophy hunting contributes to the funding of some conservation work.

The bill has government support. The Conservative manifesto for the 2019 general election contained a commitment to ban imports from trophy hunting of endangered animals.

The government has produced explanatory notes to accompany the bill, although they have not yet been updated to reflect the changes made to the bill in the House of Commons. The government also produced an impact assessment in 2021 assessing a ban on the import of hunting trophies (although not assessing this bill specifically).