The next phase of Lacey Act implementation by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin Oct. 1, APHIS said in a notice released July 1. Phase VI subjects 27 new tariff lines to Lacey Act declaration requirements. The agency had originally planned the new requirements for October 2020 before delaying due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2008190010).
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.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will not begin enforcing its sixth phase of enforcement of Lacey Act declaration requirements July 1, but the agency expects no further delays to implementation (see 2008190010), the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update June 28. APHIS will publish a Federal Register notice “any day” now announcing that enforcement will begin “on Aug. 1, or 30 days after the Federal Register notice is published,” the NCBFAA said, citing APHIS officials who spoke with an NCBFAA committee.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam said businesses there don't know whether U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will conclude that Vietnam has been a trade cheat through currency manipulation but not put a tariff number on it; put a tariff number but not start collecting; or implement tariffs before the new administration takes over Jan. 20.
Witnesses from the furniture and cabinet sector in both Vietnam and the U.S. argued that Vietnam has greatly improved its governance over illegal imports of tropical wood and, to whatever degree illegal imports still exist, that wood is not then exported to U.S. buyers.
A number of U.S. trade groups questioned the evidence behind the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's assertions that Vietnam is importing illegal timber, and the assertion that those logs end up in exported products going to the U.S. The groups said in comments to the agency that the notice initiating the Section 301 investigation contained no citations for these claims. Both trade groups and companies asked for a virtual public hearing, and the right to rebut others' submissions.
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The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is no longer planning to begin Oct. 1 enforcement of Lacey Act import declaration requirements on 29 new tariff lines, the agency announced recently in an email. The delay “will give the trade community time to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for this change,” it said. The agency said in March it planned to implement the sixth phase of Lacey Act import requirements in October (see 2003300011).