Article By: Rick Walker, Vice President, TradeInsights, LCB/CCS

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published an official notice of the Lacey Act Phase VII implementation – to begin Dec. 1, 2024. Comments on the Phase VII list of products will be accepted until July 30.

This means importers must file a Lacey Act declaration at entry for additional products spanning 25 chapters of the HTS, from water skis to bamboo furniture to pinball machines and hundreds of items in between. With only six months before the Lacey Act declaration is required, importers will need to act quickly to identify the supply chain for each piece of plant material in products falling in these newly added HTS codes.

The Lacey Act declaration requires the scientific name of the plant material, its value and quantity, and the name of the country from which it was harvested.

For those interested, the International Wood Products Association, through a grant from the USDA, is offering free in-depth training on the Lacey Act. Information about the free training can be found here.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.