The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has posted a “filled-out” sample of its August 2011 PPQ 505 Form (Lacey Act Declaration) for imported plants and plant products. The sample involves certain solid wood chairs.
Lacey Act
The Lacey Act and subsequent amendments make it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, or acquire any plant, fish or wildlife obtained in violation of U.S., tribal or foreign law, as well as any injurious wildlife. The law is administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CBP. APHIS has been implementing Lacey Act declaration requirements since 2009. Lacey Act declarations may be filed by the importer of record or its licensed customs broker, and include information on imported item's species name, value, quantity, and country where it was harvested.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for September 6-9, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
According to press sources, an analysis of online traffic from Twitter and Facebook after two Gibson Guitar factories were raided by the Justice Department due to alleged violations of the Lacey Act found that 62% of traffic was against the raids. The other 18% of such traffic was neutral with regard to the raids (such as reporting), and 20% provided jokes. The Justice Department has suggested that Gibson's use of wood from India which is not finished by Indian workers is illegal due to the Department's interpretation of an Indian law. Gibson states it has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of any wrong doing. This was the second time federal agents have raided Gibson facilities.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for August 29 -- September 2, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
Officials at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have made available a “Lacey Act Updates” presentation, which provides an overview of the 2008 Lacey Act Amendments, and what the agency views as the challenges and common problems in completing the Lacey Declaration (PPQ 505) for imported plants and plant products.1
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.
On August 25, 2011, Gibson Guitar Corp. issued a press release to announce that the Justice Department has raided and temporarily shut down two Gibson facilities in the Department's enforcement of the Lacey Act Amendments. According to Gibson, the Justice Department has suggested that Gibson's use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for August 22-26, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is advising the trade of future changes to the ABI Harmonized Tariff Extract reference file and to the ABI HTS Query transaction records to display new output records that will identify tariff numbers that have PGA (Participating Government Agency) indicators associated with the tariff number. CBP is also providing the formats for the new record identifiers, for trade programming purposes.
The July 2011 edition of the Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney’s Bulletin includes an article on efforts to enforce the 2008 Lacey Act Amendments, such as the declaration requirement (PPQ 505) for imported plants and plant products. The article provides examples of enforcement efforts to date in cases involving forfeiture, false labeling, and trafficking, but states that so far, Lacy Act Amendments enforcement has been slow and minimal.