​On 26 April 2019, the CITES Secretariat announced the postponement of the 18ᵗʰ meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18), originally scheduled to take place from 23 May to 3 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka, as well as the associated 71^st and 72^nd meetings of the Standing Committee. The Secretariat continues to monitor the security situation in Colombo closely through the Sri Lankan authorities and the United Nations Department of Safety and Security. Delegates may wish to note the following at this stage:

Credentials

The deadline of 16 May for the submission of credentials no longer applies and Parties may continue to send credentials for CoP18 participation. An amended deadline for new credentials or amendments to those already submitted will be announced when the new dates for CoP18 are known.

Registration fees of observers

For the time being, the UN financial system does not allow us to make refunds of received payments of registration fees from observers, namely international and national NGOs and private sector. The registration fees received to date will be treated as a credit in our accounting and may be applied for future meetings of the Conference of the Parties, Standing Committee, Animals and Plants Committee. Please also note that the CITES Secretariat is unable to contact each CoP18 participant individually, and the best way to stay informed about future steps is to check the CITES website regularly and to subscribe to receive email alerts at: https://www.cites.org/eng/newsletter/subscriptions.