Farm Bill Provision Affects Musical Instruments, Other Products

Beginning July 1, 2009, imported musical instruments containing wood or other plant material will need to be accompanied by an import declaration disclosing the scientific name of the wood or plant (including genus and species), the country of origin of the plant material, the quantity of the plant and the value of the product.

The new requirement was contained in an amendment to the federal Lacey Act making it illegal to import or possess any wood or plant product (with some limited exceptions) that is taken or harvested in violation of the laws of the country of origin.  The amendment was added to the omnibus farm bill signed by President Bush in early summer.

Filing of the import declaration is being phased in over a number of months as Customs and Border Protection activates an electronic filing system.  Beginning December 15, 2008 and continuing until the electronic filing system is available, importers may voluntarily file a paper declaration, though it is expected that few will opt to do so.

NAMM is representing this issue with key sdministration officials seeking to gather additional information and to point out potential problems for the music industry with implementation of the new requirement.  Among the still-unresolved issues are whether an import declaration must be filed for personal imports, for re-import of instruments (e.g., those taken out of the country for a concert and then brought back), imports which arrive via commercial carrier such as FedEx, UPS, etc., and how to deal with importation of vintage or antique instruments where certain required data may not be known.