The Lacey Act is the federal protection act of the United States. It was originally developed in 1900 to protect wildlife. The act was amended in 2008 to cover plants and plant products, including timber. In the wood flooring industry, the Lacey Act deals with illegal logging. It prohibits the import, sale or trade of illegally harvested timber and other forest products in the United States. Lacey said all wood flooring imported into the United States must include an import declaration form. Whether a product must be accompanied by a declaration is determined by three questions:
- Does it contain plant materials? Wood is considered to be a plant material, so the answer is yes.
- Is this the official registration? If it is imported into the United States rather than by hand, the answer is yes.
- Is the HTS code in the detailed list of plant and plant product declarations?
For wood flooring, potential HTS coded products may include unprocessed wood; longitudinally sawn wood; veneers; plywood or veneers. If you include these products, the answer is yes. The import declaration must include: the expected date of arrival; the entry number; the container number; the bill of lading; the intermediate number; the name and address of the importer; the name and address of the buyer; and must also meet the appropriate defence standards of the Lacey national consensus, including the forest from which it originated.
