What is the U.S. Lacey Act and why is it important?

On May 22, 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a groundbreaking law banning commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products— including timber and wood products. The new law is an amendment to a 100-year-old statute, named the Lacey Act after the Congressman who first championed it. While the Lacey Act has long been one of the most powerful tools for the U.S. agencies fighting wildlife crime, its potential to combat illegal logging remained untapped to date. Now the Lacey Act sets a groundbreaking precedent for the global trade in plants and plant products, acknowledging and supporting other countries’ efforts to govern their own natural resources and putting in place powerful incentives for companies trading in these commodities to do the same.

What does the U.S.’s new law do to address illegal logging?

To address illegal logging and other illegal plant trade, the Lacey Act now does three main things:

• • prohibits all trade in plant and plant products (e.g., furniture, paper, or lumber) that are illegally sourced from any U.S. state or any foreign country.
• • requires importers to declare the country of origin of harvest and species name of all plants contained in their products.
• • establishes penalties for violation of the Act, including forfeiture of goods and vessels, fines and jail time.

How will the new Lacey Act provisions be implemented by the U.S. Government?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which has traditional responsibility for plant imports, will play the primary role in processing declarations. APHIS will share responsibility for investigating illegal plant cases with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which has a long history of expertise on Lacey Act trafficking cases. The Department of Homeland Security, which controls U.S. customs and monitors the borders through Customs and Border Protection, will support this work. If federal inspectors uncover or receive evidence of criminal activity, further investigation will occur. If there is sufficient evidence that the product is illegal, the shipment can be seized. At this point, the case may be referred to the Department of Justice and/or forfeiture proceedings may be initiated.