APHIS to Advise of Lacey Act Declaration Errors

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced they will begin notifying importers and customs brokers of errors found in Lacey Act declarations, as of October 1, 2018. Notification will be via email.

Under the Lacey Act importers of certain plants, plant products, and items that containing plant materials, are required to submit a declaration stating the imported plant’s scientific name, value, quantity, and country where the plant was harvested.

APHIS identified the below common errors:

  • misidentifying the species of imported wood or wood products,
  • listing unlikely country and plant species pairs,
  • submitting incomplete declarations, and
  • failing to file a declaration in a timely manner

Importers who receive a letter of non-compliance do not need to correct the declaration in question, but should take steps to correct future declarations. Repeated failures to correct errors may result in APHIS referring future violations for investigation or potential enforcement action.

APHIS will be available for questions about errors, and/or how to correct them.

APHIS also has online resources, including a lookup for plant genus and species, guidance for reporting plant products where it is difficult to identify to the species level, acceptable units of measure, and how to report groupings of certain plant species.

If you have any questions regarding APHIS advising of Lacey Act declaration errors, Livingston can help!  Please contact your Livingston account manager, or our U.S. Regulatory Affairs Group at usregaffairs@livingstonintl.com