Ok. I'll admit this was "borrowed" from elsewhere but it's a free country.
It is important to remember that CITES only came into being in 1973, prior to that there was free trade. However, it is important to bear in mind that Testudo hermanni & marginata are only CITES II in respect of proper [global] CITES. Therefore for most of the world the trade in wild collected animals is permitted. It is only in the EU where the conservation status is artificially raised to Annex A, [i.e. Appendix I]. Slovenia became signatory to CITES in 2000, before that it was free trade, and only acceded to the EU in 2004. No Testudo species are native to Slovenia, so all stock would have been imported.
EC CITES has higher ‘requirements’ – stricter measures, than global CITES. It gets very complicated. Global CITES has Appendix I – the most protected., not trade in wild caught specimens. Appendix II, regulated, i.e unregulated trade could threaten the species; trade is regulated by quota. Appendix III, least threatened by trade.
EU CITES has Annex A, unusually Appendix I [but not necessarily], i.e no trade in wild caught specimens. Annex B, usually CITES II, regulated trade in wild specimens and Annex C –and Annex D – not on CITES at all.
For example, T. hermanni in terms of global CITES can be traded as wild caught specimens outside of the EU. However, within the EU they are regarded as protected and there is no trade in wild caught specimens.
Does this actually protect the species? Within the EU it prevents trade, but globally it does not. Put it this way a country has an export quota under CITES of say 1,000 specimens. The EU will not accept the quota as it raises the protection status [artificially]. So instead of 500 specimens going into the EU and 500 to the rest of the world, 1,000 goes to the rest of then world and 0 to the EU. The conservation benefit if this is bugger all!!!!
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