47 Groups Recommend "Business Friendly" Changes to Lacey Act Declaration, Etc.

Consensus Statement to be Given to Congress

The consensus statement will be submitted to the Congressional committees overseeing the Lacey Act Amendments, where it may trigger another Congressional letter¹ to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection recommending changes to the Lacey Act Declaration.

Highlights of the 47 groups' consensus statement includes the following:

Blanket Declaration Option for C-TPAT Importers, Etc.

Qualified importers who regularly import the same plant product from the same sources should be allowed to file a blanket Lacey Act declaration for each such product.

Applicants for blanket declarations would need to participate in Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), maintain a continuous bond, identify the products to the sixth digit level, identify the foreign supplier or suppliers, provide estimated annual quantities by quarter, and identify the deliver to party.

"Species Groupings" at Genus Level, Unless Otherwise Specified

For the declaration, plant species should be grouped according to the current state of scientific knowledge and technical capacity. Such species groupings should be to the genus level, unless otherwise specified. These groupings should be used only when it is not technically feasible, by reasonable and practical methods, to obtain and provide species-specific information.

Declaration for Engineered Composites, Manufactures Should Not be Mandatory

Declarations for particleboard (HTS 4410) and fiberboard (HTS 4411) should not be mandatory until the Administration determines it is feasible and practical to collect the required information. Likewise, the declaration of country of harvest or species for particleboard or fiberboard components of manufactured products within other HTS categories (e.g. Chapter 94) should not be mandatory until the Administration determines it is feasible and practical to collect the required information. The same principle should apply to other equivalent engineered composite materials, defined as materials made of sawdust and/or wood scraps or other manufacturing byproducts, and glue or other binding agents.

Declaration May be Mandatory for OSB and "Solid Wood" Portion of Plywood

Products such as oriented strand board (OSB) may be mandatory in the declaration's phase-in schedule, provided that sufficient advanced notice is provided to importers. In addition, plywood is currently scheduled to require a declaration on October 1, 2009 and is feasible to be subject to the declaration requirement, to the extent that it contains solid wood components.

If a particular plywood product is comprised of both solid wood components and composite components, only the solid wood components would require a declaration of species (or species grouping) and country of harvest. The same methodology would apply to other types of products that contain both solid wood and composite material components.

In addition, a clarification that the Lacey Act declaration requirements currently apply only to "solid wood" components of products (as well as paper within Chapters 47 and 48) should be included in the notes of the HTS.

Limit Current Phase-In Schedule to "Solid Wood," Etc.

For the duration of the current phase-in schedule, importers should only need to declare the products and/or components thereof that are comprised of solid wood and, in specified cases, paper and paperboard.

Limit Future Phases for High-Value Woods to Products with "Essential Character" of Wood

In the later phases of the phase-in schedule, products that contain high-value endangered woods, such as foliage and branches, musical instruments, sporting equipment and additional furniture products, that have an essential character of wood, should also be declared.

Timing and scope. Beyond April 2010, declarations for imports of new products should not be mandatory sooner than one year after initial notice is given in the Federal Register. In addition, phases should be implemented by date of manufacture (the date of final assembly or processing of the product to be imported).

Also, it is not appropriate to cover all HTS categories within the phase-in schedule, and the question of additional product coverage should be considered during the statutorily required review, and in subsequent reviews.

"Solid Wood" Products and Parts Prioritized by NGOs for Future Phases

Nongovernmental organizations have prioritized the following solid wood products and components from additional HTS categories for future iterations of the declaration phase-in:

Ch. 6 (foliage and branches)

Ch. 66 (umbrellas, walking sticks, riding crops)

Ch. 82 (tools)

Ch. 92 (musical instruments)

Ch. 94 (furniture, prefabricated buildings)

Ch. 95 (toys, games, & sporting equipment)

Ch. 96 (brooms, pencils, buttons)

Ch. 97 (works of art)

The intention would be for importers to only declare the products and/or components thereof that are comprised of solid wood, until the Administration considers the inclusion of composite materials in the declaration requirement in light of various factors, including advances in the feasibility and practicability of collecting the required information.

Lacey Act Amendments Should be Prospective

The Lacey Act amendments should be prospective only, and should not apply to any parts, components, or final products that were manufactured before the Lacey Act amendments were enacted. The date of manufacture for such products is the date of final assembly or processing of the product to be imported.

Recycled Wood Products

Content composed of recycled or recovered wood products should be treated in the same manner as recycled or recovered paper products for purposes of the declaration requirement-that is by declaring the percent content.

¹These same groups support the full implementation of the November 2008 letter from Congress, which resulted in a revised enforcement phase-in plan for the Lacey Act Declaration. However, not all of the recommendations in the November 2008 letter were implemented by the Administration, and the Consensus Statement underscores that the 47 groups would like the remaining changes implemented too.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 11/12/08 news, 08111205, for BP summary of the November 2008 Congressional guidance letter. See ITT's Online Archives or 02/03/09 news, 09020305, for BP summary of APHIS' revised enforcement phase-in plan.)

Consensus Statement available at http://www.troutmansandersnews.com/marcom/news/TS-Intl_Trade_2009-07-17.pdf