Elephant ivory is a major raw material for sculpture and carving, so many countries, aiming to protect their ivory markets, did not ban domestic storage or sale of ivory. "CITES never interfered with domestic trade in any country," says Marcus Phipps. Putting the elephant in Appendix I aimed to block smuggling, not to completely halt domestic trading.
相較於其他物種，巨大的象牙提供了龐大的雕飾品原料，各國為了保護象牙市場，並不禁止國內進行存貨買賣，「華盛頓公約不干涉國內市場」，斐馬克強調，將大象列入第一類，目的是要杜絕走私，而非完全禁絕。