International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 18-22 in case they were missed.
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.
Filing in ACE of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “core” partner government agency (PGA) message set data is about to be announced in a Federal Register notice coming in “March or April,” beginning a six- to nine-month informed compliance period before the new data becomes mandatory, Livingston International said in a client alert. The new electronic filing requirements will cover APHIS-regulated commodities, besides Lacey Act data, which is already mandatory in ACE, and will include PGA message set data from 18 paper licenses, permits, certificates and other documents, including health certificates, phytosanitary certificates and import permits. An update to the CBP and trade advanced interface requirements (CATAIR) for APHIS Core, issued in October 2016, “will be required and is expected that it will be reissued upon the announcement,” Livingston said.
ICE Homeland Security Investigations is looking into possible Lacey Act violations related to imports of African wood used by Roseburg Forest Products, an agency spokesman said. “Yes, there is an ongoing investigation," the spokesman said. "These type of global trade investigations are a priority for HSI.” The agency first confirmed the investigation to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Roseburg responded to the report in a March 18 statement and said it would cooperate with the investigators. The company said it first learned of the investigation through a call from HSI on March 11 about "Okoume veneer sourced from Gabon and the Republic of Congo." Roseburg said it is unaware of possible Lacey Act violations by two of its suppliers, Cornerstone Forest Products and Evergreen Hardwoods. "Roseburg will cooperate fully with the authorities’ investigation into Cornerstone and Evergreens’ supply chain practices," the company said. "While that investigation continues, Cornerstone and Evergreen have reassured Roseburg that they have ceased all shipments of Okoume veneer from Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Roseburg has ended the use of the veneer in question in the production of its products, and is no longer selling products manufactured with veneer provided by the named suppliers."
The Trump administration issued its Fall 2018 unified regulatory agenda, advancing its deregulatory program through “structural reforms as well as the practical work of eliminating and revising regulations,” according to the agenda’s introductory statement. The effect can be seen on the individual regulatory agendas of agencies that regulate imports and exports, with many putting out shorter lists that include the elimination of rules and the creation of new regulatory exemptions.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions highlighted U.S. efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade, including through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, during an Oct. 11 speech at the London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference. "We are tackling this problem head-on in our trade agreements," he said, according to prepared remarks. The new NAFTA "includes the strongest provisions to combat wildlife trafficking of any trade agreement in history," he said. The Justice Department will also be convening an "expert forum to focus on countering the illegal wildlife trade," Sessions said. He also spoke of the continued importance of the Lacey Act, which "remains among our nation’s most powerful weapons in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 10-14 in case they were missed.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will on Oct. 1 begin notifying importers and customs brokers when they submit Lacey Act declarations that contain errors, APHIS said in an emailed update. Importers who receive these letters of non-compliance “do not need to take action to correct the declaration in question, but they should take steps to correct future declarations,” APHIS said. “Repeated failures to correct errors may result in APHIS referring future violations for investigation or potential enforcement action.” Most notifications will be sent by email, it said. “Common errors include: misidentifying the species of imported wood or wood products, listing unlikely country and plant species pairs, submitting incomplete declarations, and/or failing to file a declaration in a timely manner,” APHIS said.
Importers lauded the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s proposal to create a de minimis exemption from Lacey Act declaration requirements, but called for the agency to allow flexibility in how products may qualify, in recently submitted comments on the APHIS proposed rule. But commenters criticized a proposed requirement for declarations to be submitted within three days after importation, instead urging APHIS to harmonize the timeline with other agencies’ import requirements.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service are planning to use a "certificate of admissibility" to comply with a court order to ban fish and fish products from Mexican fisheries that use gillnets near the endangered vaquita porpoises, the government said in an Aug. 3 filing. The Justice Department said there are "certain implementation challenges" due to the inclusion of two species of fish that are to be banned within the basket of provisions of a Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading that also include other species. A Court of International Trade judge recently approved a preliminary injunction (see 1807260039) that said the government must "ban the importation of all fish and fish products from Mexican commercial fisheries that use gillnets within the vaquita’s range."
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing a new de minimis exemption from Lacey Act declaration requirements for importers. Under the proposed rule, importers would not have to submit declarations for products with minimal amounts of plant material. The agency is considering setting thresholds based on either weight or volume at either the product or entry line level. APHIS is also proposing to codify certain declaration requirements in its regulations, including a deadline of three days after importation for the submission of declarations, and seeks comments on a separate exemption for composite wood products. Comments on both exemptions are due Sept. 7.