APHIS Update on Lacey Declaration Metric Unit Enforcement, Next Phases
On July 1, 2010, APHIS began enforcing its requirement for plant material quantities to be reported using standardized metric units (such as kg, m, m2, m3), for both paper and electronic Lacey Act Amendment declarations for imported plants and plant products. According to sources, APHIS is not yet rejecting any entries when declarations are not in metric units, but may do so in the future. APHIS officials are also discussing which additional products should be listed as subject to enforcement for the declaration requirement itself (which is currently at Phase IV in terms of listed products).
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(See ITT's Online Archives or 04/18/11 news, 11041817, for BP summary where officials stated that there has not yet been any enforcement specific to the Lacey Act declaration requirements (e.g. scientific name and harvest country); however, the Justice Department is conducting ongoing investigations.)
Notification if not in metric units. APHIS sources have stated that those who are not using metric units of measure will receive notification to redo (and resubmit) the declaration using these units. To save APHIS time and expense, notification to a single filer will not be done declaration by declaration, but will reflect a group of declarations for that filer.
APHIS sources characterized this notification as the "outreach" stage for the metric unit of measure requirement.
(As Automated Broker Interface (ABI) programming does not support electronic resubmissions or corrections, resubmissions for declarations originally submitted electronically must be on paper.)
If problems, DOJ referral, "entry rejects" possible. According to APHIS sources, if APHIS encounters a lot of problems in its efforts to get a filer to use metric units, the next step would be to refer the problem filer to the Department of Justice for an investigation. In addition, at some future point in time, sources state that APHIS may start rejecting entries.
Case-by case. APHIS sources also noted that noncompliance with the metric requirement, and enforcement by entry rejection, etc. will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Next phases, report to Congress. With respect to the agency's enforcement of the Lacey Act declaration itself, sources state that there have been discussions on adding more products (in addition to those listed for Phases II through IV).
Sources also note that the agency is still working on its report to Congress on the Lacey Act and its declaration requirement for imported plants and plant products, adding that "it is requiring a lot of analysis." (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/29/11 news, 11032914, for recent BP summary of APHIS's request for comments regarding this report.)
(Note that no programming changes in ABI were required to support APHIS’ metric only requirement. Electronic declaration filers can select metric units among the choices that have been programmed.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 08/03/10 news, 10080329, for earlier BP update on APHIS' enforcement of the metric unit of measure requirement.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/01/10 news, 10063063, for BP reminder on the enforcement of the metric requirement beginning July 1, 2010.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 06/16/10 news, 10061646, for BP summary stating that there would be no new enforcement phases (expansion to additional products) of the Lacey Act declaration for the near term.)
(The Lacey Act (16 USC 3371 et seq.) combats trafficking in illegal wildlife, fish, or plants. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 amended the Lacey Act on May 22, 2008, by making it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce a broader range of plants, as well as plant products, with some limited exceptions, taken or traded in violation of the laws of the U.S., a U.S. State, or other countries.
In addition, the amendments made it unlawful to make or submit any false record, account or label for any false identification of, the plants and products covered by the Act. It also introduced the requirement for an import declaration for certain plants and plant products entering the U.S. Lastly, the amendments provide for both civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply.
Enforcement actions may be taken for any violations committed on or after May 22, 2008. However, the requirement to provide a declaration under the amended Act did not become effective until December 15, 2008. Moreover, enforcement of the declaration requirement is being phased-in by tariff number. The most recent enforcement phase, Phase IV, took effect on April 1, 2010.)