Review of Old Post: How Lacey Act Influence the Way you do Business

I was doing some housekeeping on my emails today and saw this post, which is quite an interesting way to understand how Lacey Act influence any timber related business, which includes guitars.

What is Lacey Act?

The Lacey Act of 1900, or simply the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3371–3378) is a conservation law in the United States. Introduced into Congress by Representative John F. Lacey of Iowa, the act was signed into law by President William McKinley on May 25, 1900.

The Lacey Act protects both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties^[1] for a wide array of violations, and most notably prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold. The law is still in effect, although it has been amended several times.

And when Lacey Act was related to timber or rather illegal logging? 

When they update the Lacey Act. Updated Lacey Act becomes worlds first ban on illegal logging. Washington DC, USA 'Importers of wood products may want to keep an eye on newly passed regulations in last months farm bill. New amendments added to the Lacey Act aim to cut down on illegal logging.  Depending on how strongly the new provisions are enforced, the law could have implications for the furniture industries supply chain. The legislation creates a requirement for importers to declare the species and country of origin of any plant or plant product, including wood.

Penalties range from $250 to in excess of $500,000 with a possibility of jail sentence for knowingly sourcing, or failing to exercise due care when sourcing, products that contain illegal timber or plants.

The amendments added by this years farm bill to the Lacey Act are intended to protect forests worldwide from deforestation and illegal wood products from entering the United States.

With the passing of the law, the U.S. became the first country in the world to prohibit the import, sale or trade of illegally harvested wood and wood products. The new law is more stringent that the European Unions voluntary Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade, which targets countries that contain nearly 60% of the worlds forests, namely Central Africa, Russia, Tropical South America and Southeast Asia.

Tho, there are several of loopholes in Lacey Act, but the most obvious one are

1. There are no regulation of tracing wood material that maybe listed as endanger species (current or in the future), for whether it has been used or preserved over a hundred years that may enter or re-enter in US. Some good wood material can be reuse and it do falls under the endanger species list as it can sustain for a long time. 
2. The limit of Lacey is to wood, or the first sale of a product. As it is, a guitar will have to pass Lacey for the rest of its existence. That means 40, 50, or 100 years from now if a guitar re-enters the US borders, the ‘importer,’ whether an individual or a business, will have to attest to its materials, (genus, species, and country of origin) which is impossible to do, and causes the buyer to break the law by not being able to do it. Yet, by requiring that of the buyer, the Lacey Act does not do a thing toward the goal of Lacey, but it does work to stop commerce of used and vintage musical instruments.

When we in forestry, timber and legality talks about Lacey Act, the first thing that comes in mind is the Gibson guitar raided and imposed with Lacey Act. However, this topic has been debated several times and actually I see it as a stepping stone to get other guitar makers to be responsible on knowing where they get their wood supply. As such, the article  (or Bob Taylor) explained

That said, here’s how Lacey has affected the way we do business at Taylor Guitars. It’s very simple. We now investigate the sources of our wood, and we ensure to the best of our ability that the wood was taken legally. We fill out the paperwork required and we present our business, as an open book. The cost isn’t so much for us. It’s not an unbearable added burden, and we’re happy to do the extra administrative work.  

In BBC news last October 2011 posted a value of USD 500,000 of rosewood was seized from Gibsons Guitar; the shipment from India to Dallas in June 2011. Last 2 years ago,  Gibsons Guitar has their shipment for Magadascar ebony wood confiscated under Lacey Act amendment.The shipment from India was also rosewood from plantation (as claimed), however it was made illegal to export out from India, hence has violated Lacey Act.

And, why  are rosewood and ebony important in guitar making?

"The wood that goes into guitars is crucial to the tone of the instrument," says Laurence Juber, an acoustic guitarist who lined up with Sir Paul McCartney in Wings.
"I can show you the difference in sound between Indian rosewood and Brazilian rosewood and ebony and maple."
 

Woods are not like electronic items, it can be kept, become better, depending on the type of wood, density and species. And for guitar making, with good quality wood such as rosewood, ebony and/ mahogany,  if it is well kept, the sound would be more "beautiful" as years goes by. 

Malaysia  often host the rain forest music events, where all environmentalists, foresters, music and nature lovers gathers to enjoy and feast beautiful musics, certainly do not want to find out that their musical instruments (guitars are the most favorites among all to carry around the globe) are made from illegal source!

Martin & Co, Mahogany Solid

*Picture for illustration purposes, not related to the post*