The regulations in this part implement the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-440, 16 U.S.C. 4901-4916.

(a) The regulations in this part apply to all species of exotic birds, as defined in section 15.3.

(b) The provisions in this part are in addition to, and are not in lieu of, other regulations of this subchapter B that may require a permit or prescribe additional restrictions or conditions for the import, export, reexport, and transportation of wildlife.

In addition to the definitions contained in parts 10 and 23 of this subchapter B, and unless the context requires otherwise, in this part:

Documentation means a description of how scientific information was collected, including the methodologies used; names and institutions of individuals conducting the work; dates and locations of any study; and any published results or reports from the work.

Exotic bird 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, but does not include domestic poultry, dead sport-hunted birds, dead museum specimens, dead scientific specimens, products manufactured from such birds, or birds in any of the following families: Phasianidae. Numididae, Cracidae, Meleagrididae, Megapodiidae, Anatidae, Struthionidae Rheidae, Dromaiinae, and Gruidae.

Indigenous means a species that is naturally occurring, not introduced as a result of human activity, and that currently regularly inhabits or breeds in the 50 States or the District of Columbia.

Life cycle means the annual processes involved with breeding, migration, and all other non-breeding activities.

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.

Species means any species, any subspecies, or any district population segment of a species or subspecies, and includes hybrids of any species or subspecies. Hybrids will be treated according to the more restrictive appendix or category in which either parental species is listed.

Status means a qualitative measure of the vulnerability to extinction or extirpation of a population at a given time (e.g., endangered, threatened, vulnerable, non-threatened, or insufficiently known).

Sustainable use means the use of a species in a manner and at a level such that populations of the species are maintained at biologically viable levels for the long term and involves a determination of the productive capacity of the species and its ecosystem, in order to ensure that utilization does not exceed those capacities or the ability of the population to reproduce, maintain itself and perform its role or function in its ecosystem.

Trend means a long-term assessment of any change in the absolute or relative size of a species' population or habitat over time (e.g., increasing, decreasing, at equilibrium, insufficiently known).

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.

(a) The Office of Management and Budget approved the information collection requirements contained in this part 15 under 44 U.S.C. 3507 and assigned OMB Control Number 1018-0093. The Service may not conduct or sponsor, and you are not required to respond, to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. We are collecting this information to provide information necessary to evaluate permit applications. We will use this information to review permit applications and make decisions, according to criteria established in various Federal wildlife conservation statutes and regulations, on the issuance, suspension, revocation, or denial of permits. You must respond to obtain or retain a permit.

(b) We estimate the public reporting burden for these reporting requirements to vary from 1 to 4 hours per response, with an average of 2 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the forms. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of these reporting requirements to the Service's Information Collection Clearance Officer at the address provided at 50 CFR 2.1(b).