CBP & APHIS Officials Report No Real Enforcement of Lacey Declaration Yet

Each Possible Scientific Name & Harvest Country Required if Species Varies & Is Unknown

APHIS officials stated that the most important aspect of the amended Lacey Act for importers is that they make sure their shipments are obtained legally and that information on their Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) 505 declaration¹ is true and accurate. APHIS stated that the declaration does not require information on legality or the "chain of custody" and does not establish standards or require certification.

APHIS recognizes that importers are, for the most part, dependent on exporters for declaration information; therefore, APHIS mostly looks for the specific scientific name of the wood (genus, species) and the country of harvest on the declaration, and does not consider value and quantity to be critical factors. In cases where the species varies and is unknown, APHIS notes importers should identify each species that may have been used to produce the product and each country from which the plant may have been harvested, which can result in lengthy documentation.

APHIS is Reluctant to Add Certain HTS Codes to Declaration Requirements

APHIS states it is reluctant to add certain HTS codes to the Lacey requirements due to the difficulty many companies will have in identifying the genus and species of the plants contained in their products and that may potentially require declaration (e.g. pressed wood). APHIS will not add any additional HTS codes to the Lacey declaration requirements without first giving at least six months prior notice. Currently, most of the HTS headings that the Lacey Act enforces declaration requirements upon deal with fairly easily identifiable genus and species, and do not include overly complicated products. Officials stated they advocate that any additional HTS codes be focused on those commodities that would have the greatest likelihood and risk of being illegally logged as appropriate for the Act.

No Enforcement Specific to Lacey Declaration Yet, but Ongoing Investigations

APHIS officials noted that no real enforcement specific to the Lacey Act declaration has taken place at this point in time, but the Justice Department is conducting ongoing investigations. APHIS is doing minimal amount of analysis, can point to where countries coming from, working with CBP to request information.

Reviewing Comments on Definitions, also Working on ANPR

APHIS has recently completed a review of comments relative to the common crops and cultivars proposed rule that needs to go through inter-agency process. It is currently working on an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to address other aspects of the Lacey Act, such as regulatory flexibility. However, these still require a lot of work.

¹The PPQ declaration requires basic information about the shipment, including the scientific name of the plant, value, quantity, and the name of the country in which the plant was harvested. APHIS is accepting the PPQ 505 electronically and in paper form.

(See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/14/11 news, 11031460, for BP summary of APHIS requesting comments on its review of the Lacey Act declaration requirements.

See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/06/10 news, 10070615, for BP summary of 52 groups recommending a second set of business friendly changes to Lacey declaration.)

CBP Trade Symposium presentation on the amended Lacey Act is available here.