15 July 2009

 

 

 

A coalition of importers, non-governmental organizations and domestic producers has developed a list of clarifications to the recent Lacey Act amendments that they want Congress and the Obama administration to make to ensure that the intent of those changes can be upheld without undue harm to businesses.

 

The 2008 Farm Bill amended the Lacey Act to require imports of certain plants and plant products to be accompanied by an import declaration containing the scientific name of the plant, the value of the importation, the quantity of the plant and the name of the country from where the plant was harvested. The coalition letter states that this requirement has the potential to ensure that businesses all along the supply chain – harvesting operations, manufacturers, brokers, importers, retailers – become a part of the solution to the problem through joint action but that the following additional clarifications are needed to facilitate its smooth implementation.

 

Blanket Declaration. Qualified importers who regularly import the same plant product from the same sources should be able to file a blanket Lacey Act declaration for each such product. To qualify, importers would have to meet the following criteria.

 

            • participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism

            • maintain a continuous bond

            • identify their products to the sixth digit of the Harmonized

            Tariff Schedule

            • identify the foreign supplier of the product

            • provide, throughout the duration of the blanket declaration, the

            estimated annual quantities, by quarter, of the product to be

            imported<