Printable Version Compulsory declaration requirements announced for plants, trees and related products

APHIS (the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in the US) recently published a revised plan and schedule for the implementation of several changes to the Lacey Act. These changes require a new declaration for wild plants, trees, and products made from either of those two. The declaration has been required for these products since December 15, 2008, although its completion has initially only been deemed to be voluntary during the first phase of implementation. The revised plan clarifies several important elements of the changes, including the scope of the products that require declaration and the time period of the implementation phases.

The revised plan includes the following information:

1. Phase II is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2009, at which time the declaration will be required for all items named in Phase II. The declaration will be submitted electronically beginning with Phase II. APHIS states there will be no further changes to Phase II.
   
   
2. The declaration will be enforced only for “formal consumption entries” at this time. Therefore, while the new declaration will not be enforced for informal entries, personal importations, in-transit movements, etc, APHIS reserves the authority to require it at some future date.
   
   
3. The declaration is required only for the actual imported article, and is not required for “sundries” such as tags, labels, manuals, and warranty cards that accompany the imported article. 
   
   
4. Each implementation phase will be six months in length. Full enforcement is scheduled for October 1, 2010, at the completion of Phases III and IV.
   
   

The APHIS notice includes a complete list of commodities for which a declaration will be required, for each phase of implementation.  Phase II covers wood and articles of wood classified in Chapter 44 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the US. The data elements required in the new declaration can be found in APHIS form PPQ-505, available on the APHIS website from the link below. 

The responsibility for providing the new declaration lies with the US importer. However, the shipper will need to provide the US importer with all the necessary information required to prepare the new APHIS plant declaration. Since the declaration will become part of the data submitted to customs, the shipper should include all data required to make the declaration as part of the shipment documentation for any shipment that includes items covered by the scope of the new requirements. The shipper can either include the data required on the Commercial Invoice or on a separate sheet attached to the Commercial Invoice.

Customers should examine the new declaration to see if they can provide the necessary information on their current Commercial Invoices. If this is not possible they should seek the advice of their US counterparts to identify and decide on the best way to accommodate the new requirements. Customers impacted by this legislation should actively monitor the situation as US Customs still needs to clarify a significant amount of open issues via updates.

For additional information on the APHIS Revised Implementation Plan (Federal Register, 2/03/09), click on: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-2232.pdf

For further information about the Lacey Act, click on:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/lacey_act/