---
title: "Verify the CITES musical-instrument certificate's adoption date and operating terms against a CITES primary"
type: "question"
status: "open"
date_raised: "2026-07-10T00:00:00.000Z"
tags: ["cites","law","conservation-biology","musical-instruments","verification","unverified-quant"]
---


## The question

Do the CITES musical-instrument certificate's operating specifics — **adopted at CoP16, Bangkok, 13 March 2013; valid three years; non-transferable; non-commercial personal use only** — hold up against CITES's own record, rather than a trade-press retelling?

## Why it matters

These are quantitative/mechanism claims (a specific adoption date and a specific validity period) that under the vault's sourcing floor require Tier 1–2 grounding. As captured they rest only on a Tier-3 source (Fretboard Journal), which attributes the adoption detail to USFWS's Tim Van Norman. Until verified, they are flagged `[unverified-quant]` in [[claim-cites-musical-instrument-passport-certificate]], which cannot advance past `seedling` while the flag stands.

## What I'd need to answer it

- **CITES Resolution Conf. 16.8** (the resolution establishing the musical-instrument certificate), and the CoP16 (Bangkok, 2013) meeting record on cites.org — for the adoption date and the certificate's stated terms.
- The USFWS musical-instrument certificate application/guidance page — for validity period, transferability, and the non-commercial-use restriction as stated by the issuing authority.

## Candidate next moves

Pull Resolution Conf. 16.8 text directly; cross-check the three-year validity and non-transferability against the USFWS certificate instructions. Confirm whether "13 March 2013" is the CoP16 adoption date or a downstream US implementation date.

## Progress, 2026-07-30 (partial — left open)

Resolution Conf. 16.8 (Rev. CoP17) was read directly (Wayback mirror of cites.org, which 403s direct fetch). Three of four operating specifics are now Tier-1 confirmed against the primary text: three-year validity ([[claim-cites-resolution-16-8-sets-three-year-musical-instrument-certificate-validity]]), the "passport" framing as the resolution's own language ([[claim-cites-resolution-16-8-frames-certificate-as-passport]]), and non-transferability, which is geography-bound rather than absolute ([[claim-cites-musical-instrument-certificate-non-transferability-is-geography-bound]]). CoP16's Bangkok/3-14 March 2013 dates are Tier-1 confirmed via the CoP16 plenary record, but the specific adoption day "13 March 2013" and whether the original 2013 text differs from the Rev. CoP17 text now in force were **not** located this session — see [[claim-cites-musical-instrument-certificate-cop16-origin-confirmed-exact-day-unverified]]. `CoP16 Doc. 40 (Rev. 1)`, the likely working document naming the exact adoption session, 403'd with no Wayback snapshot found. Status stays `open`, narrowed to that single remaining day-level question.