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Lacey Act amendment puzzles wooden furniture exporters
Vietnam’s wooden furniture exporters are now as nervous as cats on hot bricks because a new American law aimed at curbing trade in illegal timber will take effect as of April 1, 2010. The exporters told Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon that they still do not know what they have to do to obey the law.
Experts of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Vietfores) and officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) are hurriedly translating the Lacey Act into Vietnamese.
What must we do?
Under the amended American law, all the importers of timber products to the US must declare the names of the wood used in a product and its origin. US agencies will have the right to seize the commodities and ships, impose fine and arrest people when they discover people violating Lacey Act.
That is all that Vietnamese enterprises know about Lacey Act, while awaiting more detailed guidance about what they have to do to continue to export products to the US market. Tran Quoc Manh, General Director of Sadaco, Deputy Chairman of HCM City Association for Handicraft and Wood Industry (HAWA) said that to date, no Government agency has released any document guiding Vietnamese enterprises to implement the law. Meanwhile, Vietnam and the US have not reached agreement on which Vietnamese agency will be assigned to grant the certificate on origin of exports to the US after April 1.
Nguyen Ton Quyen, Chairman of Vietfores, said that the association is hurriedly translating the Lacey Act into Vietnamese. Meanwhile, MARD has promised to join forces with Vietfores and other relevant ministries to set up a national task force to assist Vietnamese enterprises to implement the Lacey Act and the FLEGT (The EU’s directive on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade; new provisions like those in the Lacey Act will take effect from January 2012 - VNNB).
Quyen said that the translation is expected to be completed by early April 2010. In May 2010, Vietfores will organize training courses where it will provide necessary information to enterprises to be applied when materials are purchased and when finished products are exported to the US market.
However, “it is not easy to fulfill the requirements”, Quyen admitted. To date, Vietfores still has not got in hand necessary documents relating to the Lacey Act as it applies to Vietnam’s wood industry, even though the association has requested partner law firms to provide them.
Enterprises are like cats on hot bricks. . .
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Every year, Vietnam exports about one billion dollars’ worth of wooden furniture products to the US, and 600 million dollars’ worth to the EU. These two markets consume some 50 percent of the total exports of the wood industry.
Vietfores says there are some 2500 wooden furniture enterprises nationwide. Six hundred make products for export, but only 190 of them have the Forest Stewardship Council certificate.
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According to Trinh Phan Hong Minh, Chief Representative of SAA Products, a Hong Kong firm that specializes in wholesale marketing of wooden furniture, only 50 percent of Vietnamese enterprises can meet the requirements of the Lacey Act and the FLEGT directive. “This will cause difficulties when we seek suppliers in Vietnam,” Minh said, adding that SAA Products will only purchase products from big enterprises which have FSC certificates.
Many enterprises fear that export consignments which are on the way to the US will not satisfy the Lacey Act, and they will be forced to bear many additional costs if the ships carrying these consignments reach port after April 1.
“The implementation of the amended law, if it cannot be carried out in a good way, may become a variation of the ‘ask-and-grant mechanism’ which could paralyse the export of wooden furniture of Vietnam.
Manh, the HAWA chief, thinks that it would be better to let Vietfores to grant certificates on timber origin to its member companies. HAWA has proposed that the State accept the temporary measure while waiting for the official guidance about the implementation of Lacey Act.
In the HAWA scheme, certificates will be issued to member enterprises based on the relationships between Vietnam’s timber association and foreign associations.
For example, if Vietnamese enterprises import timber from New Zealand, the New Zealand Timber Association will issue the Vietnamese enterprises a certificate of origin. When the consignment arrives in Vietnam, the Vietnam Timber Association, after considering the certificate provided by the New Zealand association, will certify that the timber comes from sustainable forest plantations.
Vietfores: Don’t be too worried
Vietfores has told its members that though in principle the Lacey Act is valid from April 1, it is very likely that the US will extend the time to prepare for its implementation to the year’s end. According to Chairman Quyen, the US has not sent an official request to Vietnam that it obey the Lacey Act from April 1.
Quyen said that the association has not got the forms of declaration about the origin of products that Vietfores asks its partners in the US to provide
“If the export consignments cannot get customs clearance after April 1, Vietfores and the MOIT will intervene to help them get clearance,” Quyen said.
Until such time as Vietnam has guidance documents to implement the Lacey Act, MOIT will intervene with US agencies if Vietnamese enterprises meet troubles.
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According to the Environment Investigation Agency, an unofficial online source (http://www.eia-global.org/lacey/P6.EIA.LaceyReport.pdf), to address illegal logging and other illegal plant trade, the Lacey Act now:
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; and.
establishes penalties for violation of the Act, including forfeiture of goods and vessels, fines and jail time. (VNNB)
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VietNamNet, TBKTSG
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