More Phases Planned as Lacey Act Declaration Requirements Take Effect for Pallets Oct. 1

As the sixth implementation phase of Lacey Act declaration requirements for plants and plant products approaches Oct. 1, officials with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reminded importers and exporters that more phases are to come before the agency meets its statutorily required goal of subjecting all plants and plant products to Lacey Act enforcement.

More phases are “absolutely on the horizon, phase seven and beyond,” said Karen Williams, lead compliance specialist for the APHIS Lacey Act Program. Another phase might even be announced “in the relatively near future,” she said, speaking during a Sept. 21 webinar hosted by the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association. APHIS could even decide that, instead of taking a phased approach to further implementation, as it has done since the relevant Lacey Act amendments in 2009, it will extend declaration requirements to all remaining plants and plant products at the same time, she said.

APHIS has thus far tried to take a “practical approach” in implementing the declaration requirements, Williams said. The agency started over 10 years ago with phases covering products made completely of large pieces of wood, which makes compliance easier and at the same time goes the furthest toward the agency’s goal of stemming the volume of illegal timber trade, she said.

The sixth phase of enforcement had been set to take effect in October 2020 before it was delayed until Oct. 1, 2021, in response to industry implementation concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers imports of essential oils under heading 3301, trunks and suitcases of heading 4202, oriented strand board of heading 4410, wood packaging of heading 4415, musical instruments of headings 9205, 9207 and 9209, and monopods, bipods and tripods of heading 9620 (see 2107010044).

Williams stressed that the declaration requirements for wood containers, including pallets, apply only to new wood containers imported into the U.S. as merchandise. Used wood containers and pallets, as well as containers and pallets imported “under load” as instruments of international traffic, do not require declarations, and are eligible for disclaims in ACE, she said.

APHIS has created two new “special use declarations” for identifying the type of wood in new wood containers not under load on Lacey Act declarations, when the importer cannot ascertain the genus and species of the wood even after exercising due care, Williams said. One covers hem-fir, including amabilis fir and western hemlock, and the other covers larch fir, including western larch and Douglas fir. Canadian pallet manufacturers are seeking the addition of a third special use declaration for hardwoods, though it’s unclear if APHIS will add it before phase six takes effect Oct. 1, said Scott Geffros of the Canadian Wood Pallet and Container Association.