Rosewood CITIES question

komedy

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I just heard that I cannot ship international if my ukulele has rosewood. is that true? and does it also include Canada as well?
 
There have been a number of threads on this, so you might want to read those. I'll summarize what I believe to be the case; namely, rosewoods of all types were moved to Appendix II of CITES restrictions without any annotation allowing exceptions. Some woods have annotations that allow "worked" parts of particular woods to be shipped, such as a carved neck, but not a neck blank. As of now, there are not annotations permitting exceptions for rosewoods. This means that rosewood cannot be shipped internationally, for you that includes Canada.
 
My understanding is the same as Eddie's. As a matter of fact, I recently tried to order an ukulele with rosewood parts across international borders and was denied to do so.
 
My understanding is the same as Eddie's. As a matter of fact, I recently tried to order an ukulele with rosewood parts across international borders and was denied to do so.

That really sucks for those of us outside the US. How do vendors in Europe or the US get rosewood containing ukes from Asia? I think I recall reading that there is a fee for each instrument? (I should really not have sold that rosewood/spruce baritone.)
 
UN? Legal Format? It's always seemed a lot simpler than that to me and I've actually spent time in the lumber trade in Central America.

Maybe you're on to something I didn't know about, so please give me a bit more information. Let's start with who are the lumber monopolies, these one or two people who are getting rich, and how does CITES help them do it?
 
sorry read some treads and still confused.

so basically shipping anything with rosewood internationally is illegal, but international to usa is legal to ship?

also were can I find a link on the rosewood cites.

thank you
 
sorry read some treads and still confused.

so basically shipping anything with rosewood internationally is illegal, but international to usa is legal to ship?

also were can I find a link on the rosewood cites.

thank you

You can ship with in your country without the necessary paperwork. It is when you ship an item made from rosewood to a different country that you need documentation stating the wood was legally harvested. It is NOT illegal to build a ukulele from rosewood or to ship one internationally. But to ship one internationally (out of country) you must have applied for and received the proper paper work. This entails producing a document of origin proving the wood was legally harvested.
 
Wow interesteing read... how does one prove it was legally harvested?

Curious what happens if someone does ship a guitar or ukulele.with rosewood to someone internationally?
Is the shipment just taken away, will.i get a fine, will i see jail time?
 
Countries that are part of the EU count as one country for the purpose of this regulation, if I understand correctly. So shipping a rosewood containing instrument from Spain to Germany, or the U.K. (for now) to France, doesn't require paperwork.
 
Curious what happens if someone does ship a guitar or ukulele.with rosewood to someone internationally?

They can confiscate it, like smuggled drugs. I suppose there are ways to get it back, likely expensive, tedious, drawn out ways ... (considering how much of a pain dealing with customs offices can be even if you are just regularly importing something and getting charged through the nose for every little thing).
 
Im was going to send a ukulele to my brother in asia, so do i just include a copy of the cite certificate in the box with the ukulele or do i just show it to the post office?
 
I have been waiting for a guitar stand to be shipped inside of Canada for about two months now. According to the dealer, this is delayed because the stands that they ordered were included with a larger shipment that also included some items with rosewood, and the whole load was (and maybe still is) held at the U.S. border. So yeah I would not take the risk of shipping anything rosewood across borders right now. Hopefully the hype will settle down soon and some reasonable transaction will be possible again.
 
yeah I still cant figure out if I need to include the cites certificate with the ukulele or just show it to the post office?
 
I would think you have to include it with the ukulele as someone will likely inspect it overseas, or at the US border, and that postal worker can't help you. You may also want to have a copy to show at the post office.

Remember earth first... as soon as we can rid the earth of the human race the environment will be safe. Something to look forward to... lol.

John
 
No such thing as a "CITES Certificate".

Look at the link in post #15 from lfoo6952(?). Not sure who that is, but that's the info you need (nice work, lfoo!)
 
US Fish and Wildlife April 17, 2017 publication:

Beginning January 2, 2017, all imports into the United States of items that do not qualify for the exemptions under these listings must be accompanied by CITES permits or certificates issued by the country of export/ re-export.

Not sure what that certificate is, but it is cited in a government publication.

John
 
Hello John,

Again, no "CITES" permits. The language from Fish & Wildlife could easily confuse someone who hasn't dealt with this before, no doubt. But what they're referring to is actually the second part of the statement: "certificates issued by the country of export / re-export". In other words the permit issued to cut a tree under CITES Appendix restriction. CITES is not a legal authority, but a cooperative NGO and doesn't issue logging permits in a sovereign nation.

You can pretty much forget about ever getting your hands on those permits, but if you'll read the info in lfoo's link above (I won't re-write it all - it's there!) you'll see that there are simplified procedures for acquiring an export permit (along with a fee).

This is for U.S. export only, other countries procedure will vary, and most do not enforce the (voluntary) CITES guidelines as strictly as the U.S.
 
Dirk,

Thanks for the info. I'm not involved in any of this other than curiosity. I don't plan on importing or exporting anything, although I need to be cognizant when I travel outside of the US.

John
 
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