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Producing furniture for export at My Tai Co., Ltd. Photo V.H |
Vietnam’s wood exporters have to comply with the U.S Lacey Act, a new product origin barrier, when sending shipments to the U.S since April 1. Chairman of Binh Dinh Forest Products Association (FPA Binh Dinh), Nguyen An Diem, talks more about the issue.
Could you brief us on the U.S Lacey Act?
The Lacey Act is comprised of many issues. It now does three main things to address illegal logging and other illegal plant trade.
Accordingly, it prohibits all trade in plant and plant products, such as furniture, paper, or lumber, that are illegally sourced from any U.S state or foreign country. The Lacey Act requires importers to declare the country of origin of harvest and species name of all plants contained in their products.
Also, it establishes penalties for violation of the Act, including forfeiture of goods and vessels, fines and jail time.
What information must be declared?
The Lacey Act requires importers to provide a basic declaration to accompany every shipment of plants or plant products. The purpose of these declarations is to increase transparency about the timber and plant trade and enable the U.S. government to better enforce the law.
The declaration must contain: (1) the scientific names of any species used, (2) the country of harvest, (3) the quantity and measure, and (4) the value.
Do the declaration requirements apply to all plant products?
No. First, the law has special clauses for complex products which commonly utilize material from a variety of countries or species. If either the specific country or the specific species are unknown for a given shipment, the law allows declarations to contain the name of each likely species of plant, and/or each possible country of origin which must include the correct country.
Second, declarations for paper products made with recycled fibers do not need to name the species and source for the recycled material. Instead, they must list the average percent of the recycled content, as well as species and origin information for any non-recycled plant material also contained in the products.
Finally, importers do not need to declare plant-based packaging material such as cardboard or pallets, unless the packaging itself is what’s being imported. The government must review the implementation of the declaration requirement after two years.
Could you talk more about the penalties under the Lacey Act?
The Lacey Act offers serious penalties for illegal plant trade. With trade in illegally sourced wood, a corporation will be fined up to 500,000 USD and an individual will be fined 200,000 USD or they could be jailed for up to five years and forfeited all goods.
With false import declaration, the civil penalty is up to 10,000 USD, let alone possible prison for up to five years and forfeiture of goods.
What must wood exporters do to cope with the U.S Lacey Act?
Wood exporters in Binh Dinh need ask timber suppliers to follow the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes and FSC-Coc certification, helping them avoid buying unknown sourced wood.
Also, the exporters themselves must carry out policies and procedures to ensure legally sourced products.
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