2022 New York Laws
ENV - Environmental Conservation
Article 11 - Fish and Wildlife
Title 5 - Fish and Wildlife Management Practices Cooperative Program; Prohibitions; Taking of Fish, Wildlife, Shellfish and Crustacea for Scientific Or
11-0535-A - Illegal Ivory Articles and Rhinoceros Horns.

§ 11-0535-a. Illegal ivory articles and rhinoceros horns.
1. As used in this section:
a.  "Distribute"  means  a  transfer  or  change in possession with an
  accompanying change in legal ownership.
b. "Ivory article" means any item containing worked or raw ivory  from
  any species of elephant or mammoth.
c.  "Raw  ivory"  means  any  elephant  or mammoth tusk, and any piece
  thereof, the surface of which, polished, or unpolished, is unaltered  or
  minimally carved.
d.  "Worked  ivory"  means any elephant or mammoth tusk, and any piece
  thereof, which is not raw ivory.
2. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision three of this  section,
  no  person  shall  sell,  offer  for  sale,  purchase,  trade, barter or
  distribute an ivory article or rhinoceros horn.
3. Unless  such  activity  is  prohibited  by  federal  law,  rule  or
  regulation, the commissioner may issue licenses or permits for the sale,
  offering for sale, purchase, trading, bartering or distribution of ivory
  articles or rhinoceros horns, provided that:
a. the ivory article or rhinoceros horn is part of a bona fide antique
  and  is  less  than  twenty  percent  by volume of such antique, and the
  antique status of such antique is established by  the  owner  or  seller
  thereof  with historical documentation evidencing provenance and showing
  the antique to be not less then one hundred years old;
b. the distribution or change of possession of the  ivory  article  or
  rhinoceros  horn is for bona fide educational or scientific purposes, or
  to a museum chartered by the board of regents pursuant to the  education
  law  or to a museum authorized by a special charter from the legislature
  of this state; or
c. the distribution of the ivory article or rhinoceros horn  is  to  a
  legal  beneficiary of a trust or to an heir or distributee of an estate;
  or
d. the  ivory  article  or  rhinoceros  horn  is  part  of  a  musical
  instrument,  including,  without limitation, string and wind instruments
  and pianos, and the owner or seller provides historical documentation as
  the department may require, demonstrating  provenance  and  showing  the
  item was manufactured no later than nineteen hundred seventy-five.