Permit order: the mistake that costs the most
For an Appendix I specimen, the import permit must be obtained before the export permit. The reverse order results in an automatic refusal, and there is no way to recover from it without starting over.
Most files that fail do not fail over a missing document. They fail over the order in which the documents were requested.
The rule
For a specimen listed under CITES Appendix I, the management authority of the country of origin cannot issue the export permit until the import permit already obtained in the country of destination has been presented. This is written into Article III of the Convention, and it is not an administrative formality: it is the very mechanism by which CITES controls trade in the most threatened species.
A seller who applies for their export permit first gets a refusal. That refusal is not a pause in the process, it is a reset to zero: you have to wait for the buyer to obtain their import permit, then resubmit a complete export application.
Why the mistake is so common
Because it runs counter to commercial intuition. In an ordinary sale, it is the seller who prepares the shipment and the buyer who waits. Here it is the opposite: nothing can begin on the seller's side until the buyer has done their part, and the buyer is often the one who knows the procedure in their own country least well.
This is also why an export sale file should never start with price negotiation. It should start with a simple question put to the buyer: where do things stand with your import permit?
The deadlines no one announces
The time it takes to obtain an import permit depends entirely on the management authority of the country of destination. There is no single standard timeframe, and no platform can guarantee you one. What to keep in mind when planning:
- A CITES export permit is valid for six months from the date it is issued. If the rest of the file takes longer, it expires and everything has to start over.
- Health tests have a window of thirty days, the clinical examination seven days. These two clocks are the last to start, never the first.
- A file aimed at a specific date, an auction or the opening of a season should therefore be planned backwards from that date, starting with the import permit.
What this page does not do
It does not replace consulting your national management authority, nor that of the destination country. Rules change, practices vary from one country to another, and a particular case may have its own answer. Always check with the official source before taking any step.