Statutory guidance

Licence to sell animal specimens taken before October 1981 (CL07)

Get a licence to sell dead specimens of protected species legally taken from the wild before 30 October 1981.

Applies to England

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You can sell dead specimens of certain protected species with this licence, as long as they were legally taken from the wild before 30 October 1981.

This licence permits you to:

sell animals listed under schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations for scientific and educational purposes
sell animals listed under schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (but not also schedule 2 of the 2010 regulations) for any purpose

You must register to use this licence and meet all its terms and conditions. To register, email wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk with:

You must keep written records for at least 2 years after each sale. Your records need to show:

who you got the specimen from
who you sold the specimen to
the specimen’s species, the cause of death (if known) and when and where it was taken from the wild
confirmation that the specimen was taken legally from the wild

You must be able to show these records to Natural England if requested.

Published 31 December 2013
Last updated 1 January 2024 + show all updates

1 January 2024
There is an update to this licence for 1 January 2024.
1 January 2023
Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2023.
1 January 2022
Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2022.
1 January 2021
Annual licence update
17 November 2020
Accessible version of licence added - HTML.
1 January 2020
Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2020
1 January 2019
Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2019
1 January 2018
Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2018
1 January 2017
Annual licence update 2017.
1 January 2016
Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2016.
1 January 2015
Added updated class licence. New version valid from 1 January to 31 December 2015.
31 December 2013
First published.