THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA GAUTENG DIVISION HAS ADMITTED THE EMS FOUNDATION AS A RESPONDENT TO INTERVENE IN A LEGAL CHALLENGE BROUGHT BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN PREDATOR ASSOCIATION AND TEN OTHERS

In brief the Court has admitted the EMS Foundation as a respondent, which provides us with full procedural rights, where our arguments will directly shape the final outcome. We are grateful to our legal team as this is a significant Judgement. The Court explicitly recognised that EMS Foundation raises a core legal issue in this important matter.

The Court has accepted that the EMS Foundation raises a “triable” and central question: Is the Minister actually legally obliged to set quotas for the export of lion bone at all? This reframes the case from: “Why hasn’t the Minister set quotas?” to “Does the Minister even have a duty to set quotas?”

This is a jurisdictional/legal threshold issue. CITES language is permissive, not mandatory.  No obligation exists unless trade is intended.  

We must remember that South Africa is moving toward phase-out of the industry and thus Constitutional and environmental duties override commercial framing.

In our opinion the Court has effectively created a dual axis of opposition: the NSPCA who considers welfare enforcement and the EMS Foundation who is presenting legal, policy and a constitutional challenge.

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