Falcon passport, Fitri, the CITES office at Souq Waqif: the Gulf's authorities, country by country

Why the Gulf is handled differently

The five CITES documents common to every falcon export (see the dossier "Which documents are required to legally export a falcon to the Gulf") are not enough once the bird has arrived in the Gulf. Each country adds its own authority, its own digital platform and, for some, its own circulation document for the bird once it is on its territory. This dossier goes through it country by country.

United Arab Emirates: the MOCCAE falcon passport

The CITES authority is the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE). Beyond the standard CITES import/export permit, the UAE has set up a separate document: the falcon passport, issued through a dedicated online service. It is not a substitute for the CITES permit, it is a circulation document specific to the bird, used in particular for its repeated movements within the region (competitions, change of owner, trips to and from hunting grounds). The precise cost and timeframe details are not published openly on the official website; they must be confirmed directly with MOCCAE.

Saudi Arabia: the Fitri platform

The competent authority is the National Center for Wildlife (NCW). Authorisations go through a dedicated digital platform, Fitri (eservices.ncw.gov.sa). The underlying regulatory framework, the Executive Regulation for Trade in Wildlife Species, is published, but the precise form, cost and processing time could not be extracted from the public pages at the time of this research.

Qatar: a CITES office opened at the Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital

The authority is the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC), Wildlife Development Department. Qatar has a recent and notable feature: in March 2025, a dedicated CITES office opened directly at the Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital in Doha, specifically to issue import, export and transit permits for falcons. This physical desk complements a general online service launched in 2024. Among the Gulf countries covered by this research, it is the only one to have set up a reception point specifically designed for this sector.

Kuwait and Bahrain

In Kuwait, the management authority listed by the CITES Secretariat is the Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAF), with the Environment Public Authority also involved on the environmental side. No procedural detail was found in the public sources consulted: direct contact with PAAF is required before starting any process.

In Bahrain, the authority is the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE), through an online system called "e-Environmental Licenses." The form, available in English, asks for the identity of the applicant and the exporter, along with several supporting documents: identity card, commercial register, CITES licence and information on the birds concerned. Compliance with IATA standards is required for live animal transport. Cost and timeframe are not published.

What remains unclear, and is stated as such

Precise timeframes and costs could not be verified online for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain: the official pages exist but do not detail these elements publicly, often because they are only communicated once a file has actually been submitted. This dossier would rather say so than put forward an unverified figure. Direct contact with the relevant authority remains the only reliable source on this specific point.

The common thread to remember

Despite these differences in name, platform and office, the principle stays the same everywhere in the Gulf: the CITES import permit must be obtained before the bird departs, and it comes on top of (not instead of) any country-specific circulation document, such as the UAE's falcon passport.