Cop20 - 20th session of the Conference of the Parties 2025
The international team present in Samarkand to defend pernambuco and its uses
From left to right: Lucineide Nery Estrela Cordeiro (lawyer, Brazil) Eugênio Estrela Cordeiro (lawyer, Brazil), wife of Pierre Guillaume, Pierre Guillaume (bow maker, Belgium), Edda Starck (academic, Germany/UK), Anke Gerbeth & Thomas Gerbeth (bow makers, Vienna, president of IPCI Germany), grandniece of Ana Cristina de Siqueira Lima, Ana Cristina de Siqueira Lima (president of FUNBRASIL, Brazil), Edwin Clément (bow maker, France, Secretary General IPCI France Europe), kneeling Jacques Carbonneaux (CSFI), Paul Sadka (bow maker, UK, IPCI France -Europe), Arthur Dubroca (bow maker, France, President IPCI France -Europe), Heather-Noonan (League of American Orchestras, USA), John Bennet (Alliance, EILA, IPCI USA)
15 December 2025 - Return of COP20 CITES, which took place in Samarkand from 24 November to 5 December 2025
At the 20th Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP20), the Parties decided to maintain pernambuco (Paubrasilia echinata) in Appendix II of the Convention, while adopting a new Annotation #10 specifically designed to respond to the realities of the music world.
This decision is the result of in-depth dialogue between CITES authorities and representatives of the music industry. It aims to protect the species in the long term, while ensuring the continued manufacture, use and circulation of bows.
The new Annotation #10, agreed by consensus in a specific working group and adopted in plenary session on 5 December, will come into force on 5 March 2026:
The following are subject to CITES permits: "All parts and derivatives, except finished musical instruments, finished musical instrument accessories and finished musical instrument parts for non-commercial trade only for the purpose of paid and unpaid performance, personal use, display, loan, competition, teaching, appraisal, or repair, provided that this does not change the ownership and that such transport is not for sale, transfer or disposal of the specimen outside of the owner’s usual State of residence. Zero quota for wild-harvested specimens (source code W) traded for commercial
purposes."
1 - This means that the trade in finished bows (outside the EU) will now be subject to CITES permits.
2 - The following are exempt from CITES permits: non-commercial movements of finished bows solely for the purposes of:
a) paid and unpaid performance,
b) personal use,
c) display,
d) loan,
e) competition,
f) teaching,
e) appraisal, or repair,
provided that this does not change the ownership and that such transport is not for sale, transfer or disposal of the specimen outside of the owner’s usual State of residence.
Important: Musicians must therefore be able to demonstrate during any customs inspection that the movement of their bow corresponds to one of the above exemptions.
Please note: this revision of Annotation #10 is accompanied by several decisions constituting a roadmap, which have been adopted in order to strengthen the requirements concerning existing stocks and traceability (roadmap to be presented to you at a later date).
The implementation of this ‘package’ (the revised Annotation #10 and these Decisions) will be closely scrutinised throughout the three-year period leading up to CoP21 (scheduled to be held in Panama in 2028), particularly during the CITES Plants and Permanent Committees, and then at the next CoP.
Its implementation must therefore be effective as soon as possible, and we will work with the relevant authorities without delay and without waiting for the European Regulation transposing these new provisions into EU law to enter into force next March/April. Official document
Summary of COP20 decisions
1. Overall logic: a comprehensive decision-making chain
Decisions 20.AA to 20.EE form a coherent and progressive mechanism, which involves:
- from the collection of information (20.AA),
- to its structured analysis (20.BB),
- to its scientific validation (20.CC),
- to its political translation (20.DD),
- and finally to the mobilisation of all the actors concerned (20.EE).
The objective is neither to ban bows nor to blindly protect existing practices, but to build a sustainable, legal and credible framework that reconciles:
- the survival of the species,
- the historical and cultural reality of bow making,
- and the legal security of international trade.
20.AA – Basing decisions on actual data
Decision 20.AA assigns responsibility to the Parties (States) for providing essential baseline data, including:
- Existing or potential traceability systems → 20.AA c) i) A
- Opinions on a harmonised approach to traceability → 20.AA c) i) B
- Conversion factors for wood → bows → 20.AA c) i) C
- National stocks of wood and sticks → 20.AA c) ii)
- size of stocks (number/volume) → 20.AA c) ii) A
- date of collection → 20.AA c) ii) B
- import documents → 20.AA c) ii) C
- difficulties and possibilities for assessment → 20.AA c) ii) D
- Report on the number of bows that can be produced from stocks → 20.AA c) iii)
- Capacity of non-wild sources (plantations, farms) → 20.AA c) iv)
- Awareness-raising, demand reduction and search for alternatives → 20.AA c) v)
👉 Key message: CITES recognises that without realistic data, no proportionate decision is possible. → set of 20.AA a) to g)
20.BB – Structuring, comparing and analysing information
Decision 20.BB assigns the CITES Secretariat a technical coordination role:
Calls for information and data structuring
• Launch targeted calls for information (conversion factors) → 20.BB a) (direct reference to 20.AA c) i))
• Compile and disseminate the data collected → 20.BB b) → 20.BB c) i) (information from 20.AA c) ii) to v))
Traceability studies and analysis
• Analyse possible traceability mechanisms → 20.BB c) ii) A
• Compare existing and best practices → 20.BB c) ii) B
• Assess the cost and applicability of mechanisms → 20.BB c) ii) B
• Examine interoperability between separate systems → 20.BB c) ii) B
Technical tools
• Technical criteria for classifying bowwood → 20.BB c) iii)
👉 Key message: the traceability sought must be technically credible, economically realistic and internationally consistent.
20.CC – Ensuring scientific rigour
Decision 20.CC places the Plants Committee at the heart of the scientific process:
Overall scientific analysis
• Cross-analysis of results 20.AA, 20.BB and 20.EE → 20.CC a)
• Contribution to study specifications → 20.CC b) (reference to 20.BB c) ii))
Conversion factor
• Development of an average conversion factor wood → bows → 20.CC c)
• whole logs
• sawn wood
Source codes
• Assessment of the suitability of source codes for non-wild timber → 20.CC d)
• Recommendations if codes A or Y are unsuitable → 20.CC d) (second sentence)
👉 Key message: future policy choices must be scientifically defensible, particularly in view of the realities of bow making.
20.DD – Transformer l’expertise en orientations politiques
La décision 20.DD confie au Comité permanent le rôle de charnière politique :
Examen et intégration des travaux
• Examen des rapports issus de 20.BB et 20.CC → 20.DD a) (chapeau)
• Travail avec toutes les parties prenantes, y compris économiques → 20.DD a)
Recommandations à la CoP21
• Approche harmonisée de la traçabilité (archets, baguettes, bois) → 20.DD a) i)
• Distinction bois pré-Convention / stocks post-inscription → 20.DD a) i)
• Autres activités pertinentes issues de 20.AA à 20.EE → 20.DD a) ii)
Demande et substitution
• Campagnes de réduction de la demande → 20.DD b)
• Recherche et promotion de matériaux de substitution → 20.DD b)
👉 Message clé : c’est ici que se joueront les arbitrages structurants pour l’avenir de la filière.
20.EE – Mobilising all stakeholders, beyond States
Decision 20.EE explicitly extends responsibility to:
• the music industry,
• retailers and producers,
• NGOs,
• scientific and cultural institutions.
It encourages:
Financial and operational support
• Funding and comments for 20.AA and 20.BB → 20.EE a)
• Voluntary adoption of a harmonised approach to traceability → 20.EE b)
Conservation and alternative projects
• Combating illegal harvesting and trade → 20.EE c) i)
• Research into substitute materials for bows → 20.EE c) ii)
• Conservation of the species and restoration of its habitat → 20.EE c) iii)
• Creation of protected areas → 20.EE c) iv)
Awareness raising
• Raising awareness of the risk of extinction and the link with music → 20.EE d)
Scientific and technical research
• Silviculture of Paubrasilia echinata → 20.EE e) i)
• Quality of wood from trees planted for bows → 20.EE e) ii)
• Identification technologies (NIR, etc.) → 20.EE e) iii)
👉 Key message: the conservation of Paubrasilia echinata is presented as a collective responsibility, and not solely a regulatory one.
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