The aim of the project is to develop a fully operational and robust data collection workflow for the long-term monitoring of the import of exotic animals and wild meat into Belgium and of the associated health risks. We aim to increase the knowledge of the scale and diversity of the (illegal) trade in exotic animals and wild meat, and of its associated pathogens. We propose to establish a centralized database of the incoming exotic animals and derived products imported into Belgium; to enable the sharing of this database among the different federal public services, agencies and other stakeholders; to set up optimized in-field protocols for data gathering and biological sampling; and to set up workflows for laboratory pathogen testing and species identification. In this way, an efficient and durable work programme for monitoring the import of legal and illegal exotic animals and animal products will be established. Such a strategy will enable future evaluations the impact of implemented measures concerning border controls and sensitization, and to have an evidence-based assessment of the risk of emerging infectious diseases through this trade. For this multidisciplinary project we partner with experts from various scientific institutions: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Royal Museum for Central Africa (animal taxonomy and diversity), Sciensano (zoonotic pathogens), Biology Department - University of Antwerp (disease ecology and tissue databases). We will be further advised by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (biological databases) and Belnet (federal database IT). Furthermore, we will invite experts from thec onservation agencies Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and Traffic to be part of the Follow-up committee. Naturally, the relevant federal public services and agencies (customs, FASFC, FPS Health,...) will be closely involved in all discussions.