Timeline of Plans to Implement Ban on Domestic Trade in Ivory

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for National Development whether he can provide an update on the timeline of the Ministry's plans to implement a ban on domestic trade in ivory.

Mr Speaker, as indicated in our previous reply to Mr Louis Ng, the Government is presently studying the implementation of a domestic ban on the sale of ivory in Singapore. There are many stakeholders to engage, as well as operational details that need to be worked out as part of this study. AVA will provide further updates and make an announcement on this matter when ready.

Sir, I appreciate I have asked this before, but it has actually been a year since I last asked this question. Can I also ask the Senior Minister of State whether Singapore is studying how Hong Kong has implemented their domestic ivory ban, considering that Hong Kong has a far larger ivory market and has given three years for the full stock disposal?

Sir, I think different countries have got different domestic concerns and different market structures. So, it will not be so easy to transpose what is practicable in another jurisdiction to Singapore. But if the Member is concerned about the proliferation of the ivory trade, be assured that, actually, since the prohibition and international ban in 1990, there are no commercial import and export of ivory in Singapore unless there are explicit permits given by AVA. So, this current review pertains to how we want to even tackle any pre-Convention stocks that are in Singapore to be managed by domestic businesses. And I think as we engage the local businesses, we hope to be able to make the announcements soon.

Sir, can I just ask how soon, so I would not keep asking the same question again?

Soon – when all the details for operationalising this have been finalised and our stakeholder engagement has been completed.