APHIS Still Working on Lacey Declaration Definitions, Report to Congress
Sources at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service state the agency is still working to issue its final rule that will define two categories of products that are exempt from the Lacey Act Declaration -- common cultivars and common food crops. In addition, the report to Congress on the declaration is still under review, but the agency is “getting close” to completing it. APHIS’ top priority right now is to complete its report to Congress.
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Rule to Define Terms to Exempt Commercial Scale Plants, Etc.
In August 2010, APHIS proposed to define the categorical exemptions for common cultivar and common food crop to include plants grown on a commercial scale (e.g. cotton, tomatoes, soybeans), and to apply to entire species and hybrids of a plant. A separate list of examples of plant taxa or commodities that would qualify for such an exemption was also proposed to be issued separately, with a request process for expanding the list of any overlooked items. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/04/10 news, 10080415, for BP summary of proposed rule.)
Report to Congress to Evaluate Lacey Act Declaration, Impact of Amendments, Etc.
The 2008 Lacey Act Amendments require APHIS to include certain information in its report to Congress, including (partial list):
- An evaluation of the effectiveness, in terms of enforcement, of each type of information the import declaration requires, including the (1) scientific name of any plant contained in the importation, (2) value of the importation, (3) quantity and unit of measure of the plant, and (4) name of the country from which the plant was taken.
- An evaluation of the enforcement effectiveness of listing each plant species that may have been used (if the species used varies and is unknown), and/or each country from which the plant used may have been taken (if the plant is commonly taken from more than one country and the country of harvest is unknown).
- An evaluation of the enforcement effectiveness of the average percent content requirement, without regard to the species or country, for paper or paperboard products containing recycled content.
- An assessment of the potential to harmonize the above requirements with other applicable import regulations in existence as of the date of the report.
- Any recommendations for legislation that would assist in the identification of plants that are imported into the U.S. in violation of the declaration requirement.
- An analysis of the impact of the 2008 Act’s plant import, export, etc. prohibitions and the declaration requirement on the cost of legal plant imports and the extent and methodology of illegal logging practices and trafficking.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/28/11 news, 11022808, for BP summary on APHIS’ request for comments on its review of the Lacey Act declaration, which will be detailed in its report to Congress.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 06/30/11 news, 11063014, for BP summary of APHIS’s ANPR to create a ‘de minimis’ declaration exception for small quantities, how to deal with products that contain composite plant materials, the use of species groupings, etc.)