APHIS Revises Schedule for Phase-in of Lacey Act Declaration Requirements

February 3, 2009

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has republished a notice revising its plan to phase in enforcement of the new import declaration requirements under the amended Lacey Act. APHIS had intended to publish this notice on January 23, 2009, but withdrew it from the Federal Register in light of the White House’s January 20, 2009 memorandum requesting a moratorium on all new federal regulations. APHIS is now going forward with publication of the notice.

In the notice, APHIS is easing some of the import declaration requirements by revising the timeframe for implementation and clarifying the scope of the requirements. Under APHIS’ original plan, the declaration requirements of the Lacey Act became effective on December 15, 2008, with enforcement to be phased in over three three-month periods beginning April 1, 2009. The revised plan would lengthen each phase of enforcement from three to six months, with complete enforcement beginning on September 30, 2010. The initial phase of enforcement will still begin on April 1, 2009.

The revised phase-in schedule also provides an affirmative list of products that fall within each phase of the declaration requirement. In general, products would be phased-in based on their level of complexity and the amount of processing that goes into producing them. For example, phase II (the first enforcement phase) contains minimally processed products such as wood in the rough or sheets for veneering, with phases III and IV containing respectively more complicated products.

In the notice, APHIS also states that it will conduct studies to inform its implementation of the amended Lacey Act. These studies may result in APHIS extending the declaration requirement to additional Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings not included in the current phase-in schedule. If additional subheadings are identified to require a declaration, APHIS intends to provide at least six months notice to industry to facilitate compliance before enforcing the requirement.

In addition, APHIS will only enforce the declaration requirement for formal consumption entries. For now, APHIS does not intend to enforce the requirement for informal entries, including foreign trade zone and warehouse entries.

APHIS intends to collect the required declarations through the Automated Commercial System (ACS).  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is currently modifying ACS to collect the required information, a process it expects to complete by April 1, 2009.

To view a copy of APHIS’ proposed phase-in schedule, click here.