World’s Toughest Ban on Ivory Will Move Forward in UK as Court Rejects Challenge From Dealers

The UK instituted the world’s toughest ban on ivory last year which eliminated all sales of ivory and rankled collectors and dealers. Antique dealers sued in court to be able to continue to sell existing ivory and argued that the ban violated European law. The high court in the UK, however, struck down that argument earlier this week and said the UK’s ban is fully legal, as The Guardian reported . The ivory trade leads to illegal poaching and the slaughter of nearly 20,000 African elephants every year, according to The Sun . However, the Friends of Antique and Cultural Treasures Limited (FACT) — a group of dealers and collectors — argued that the law was unnecessarily overbearing and impinged on their rights to collect and sell cultural heritage objects, as The Art Newspaper reported . The collectors also argued that trading cultural heritage objects does not support or influence the market for illegally poached ivory. Conservation groups countered that if the ban were watered down at all, it would breathe new life into the illegal poaching trade, as The Guardian reported . "I welcome today’s ruling by the high court which upholds the UK’s commitment to ban the […]

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