16 U.S.C. § 4903
Section 4903 · Definitions
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 1 court decisions — leading case Organization of Professional Aviculturists, Inc. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2025)
Most recently applied in Organization of Professional Aviculturists, Inc. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (March 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In this chapter—
(1) The term “Convention” means the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, as amended, signed in Washington on March 3, 1973, and the Appendices thereto.
(2) The term “exotic bird”—
(A) means any live or dead member of the class Aves that is not indigenous to the 50 States or the District of Columbia, including any egg or offspring thereof; and
(B) does not include—
(i) domestic poultry, dead sport-hunted birds, dead museum specimens, dead scientific specimens, or products manufactured from such birds; or
(ii) birds in the following families: Phasianidae, Numididae, Cracidae, Meleagrididae, Megapodiidae, Anatidae, Struthionidae, Rheidae, Dromaiinae, and Gruidae.
(3) Each of the terms “import” and “importation” means to land on, bring into, or introduce into, or attempt to land on, bring into, or introduce into, any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(4) The term “person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity; or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the Federal Government, of any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State, or of any foreign government; any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State; or any other entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(5) The term “qualifying facility” means an exotic bird breeding facility that is included in a list published by the Secretary under section 4906 of this title.
(6) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior or a designee of the Secretary of the Interior.
(7) The term “species”—
(A) means any species, any subspecies, or any distinct population segment of a species or subspecies; and
(B) includes hybrids of any species or subspecies.
(8) The term “United States” means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
For termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, see note set out preceding section 1681 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.