The ACF China Co – Millstone Trading

28 April 2010

Preparing for the Lacey act – more paperwork for furniture importers.

Posted by Roger under: Industry News & Events; Shipping & Ocean Freight .

If your in the furniture industry and dealing with American customers, yet haven’t yet heard of the Lacey act, get ready – you soon will. Though around for quite some time, it was amended in May 2008 and makes it a federal crime to trade in illegal wood products. Under a phased in process, industry sectors will have to declare both the scientific name and the country of origin (IE where the wood was harvested) for any wood elements used in the said imported products. While this has already been applied to sawn timber, wood flooring and other wood products, the next phase, starting on April 1st, 2010 will apply to the following HTS headings (The phase after that is Sept. 30, 2010 which will include additional furniture related categories):

• Ch. 44 (Wood & Articles of Wood
• Ch. 66 (Umbrellas, Walking Sticks, Riding Crops)
• Ch. 82 (Tools, Implements)Ch. 92 (Musical Instruments)
• Ch. 93 (Arms and Ammunition)
• Ch. 94 (Furniture, etc)
• Ch. 95 (Toys, Games, & Sporting Equipment)
• Ch. 97 (Works of Art)

Essentially this means that your broker will need to file an additional form specifying the wood species used (by latin name) and the country of origin (where the wood came from – not where it was used). For example, a teak chair would need to be specified as Tectona grandis. For now, failure to submit a declaration will not result in prosecution or delay clearance until after the phase in period (Packing materials do not have to be declared). For an industry with complicated supply chains, particularly those dealing in hardwoods this may prove to be a headache, especially  for medium sized and smaller suppliers who are sourcing materials through middlemen.  Ikea has called it unrealistic and said they would need to transmit 33.6 billion lines of data to the government over the course of a year. But don’t tell that to Gibson Guitars who became one of the first casualties of the Lacey Act, when they were raided last year over imports of rosewood from Madagascar.

How this plays out in practicality will remain to be seen, however for those importing “one-off” consolidated pieces via a freight forwarder or packing company, an immediate headache will be hunting down the scientific names of each wood species. For look-ups of the latin names of commonly used wood species try the Integrated Taxonomic Information System website or the PLANTS Database on the USDA website.

More information:

• Register for a white paper on the Lacey Act on Furniture Today’s website
• Lacy Act page from the USDA website.
• A good article on the Lacey Act from the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America

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