CITES

Sotheby’s is the latest auction house to pull the sale of rhinocerous horn artefacts from its auction.

The near-total ivory ban is expected to be extended to cover other ivory bearing species such as hippos, walruses and narwhals after the government announced it will hold a consultation.

The government will launch its Ivory Bill in parliament today in a move that environment secretary Michael Gove described as “one of the toughest bans on ivory sales in the world”.

An ivory sales ban has been launched by the UK government including a number of exemptions for certain items containing ivory.

How an ivory ban proposed by government will actually work is the focus for the art market, according to a panel of experts at The Courtauld Institute.

A debate over the government-proposed ivory trade ban in the UK will be heard in the House of Lords this week ahead of the closure of the government consultation on the topic on December 29.

The long-awaited government consultation on the trade in ivory in the UK is to be launched.

Michael Gove MP gave his first speech as environment minister today and has vowed to tackle the illegal ivory trade. However, he made no reference to a total ban on ivory.

The prospect of a total ban on the trade in ivory re-emerged this week after foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the government has “a commitment to an all-out ban on the sale of ivory in this country, and that is what we intend to pursue”.

Hong Kong’s bill to ban the domestic ivory trade does allow for the trade in antiques containing ivory, it has emerged.

An action group that campaigns for the protection of elephants staged a protest against the trade in antique ivory outside Art & Antiques Fair Olympia, on Saturday afternoon (July 1).