CITES change r.e. rosewood

Joyful Uke · Nov 1, 2019

Just saw this, which might be of interest to someone:

According to cites.org, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls. CITES' Appendix I put strict controls on Brazilian Rosewood while Appendix II implemented controls on other species of rosewood.

Recently CITES announced that finished musical instruments would be exempt from Appendix II, which will allow us to resume international shipping of musical instruments containing rosewood except for Brazilian.

CITES also issued another recent notification announcing the effective date of this exemption, which is now November 26, 2019.

https://cites.org/sites/default/files/notif/E-Notif-2019-055_0.pdf

Kenn2018 · Nov 1, 2019

Thanks for posting this. Good to know.

hobblecreek · Nov 2, 2019

Thanks for the post. One less thing to have to potentially deal with during travel abroad, this is good news indeed.

Reentrantaining · Nov 2, 2019

It's about time that common sense prevailed on this topic. Rosewood makes for a very fine tone-wood, especially in acoustic guitars. I own several guitars made with Indian and/or madagascan rosewood and they are all excellent instruments. It would be a real shame if instruments made of rosewood could no longer be imported/exported as was looking increasingly likely under the old CITES regulations.

Ukujiji · Nov 4, 2019

Thank you for this information.

hoosierhiver · Dec 18, 2019

Sadly, USDA agents in the US seem to be the last to know. Australia has already updated their webpage concerning CITES, but to find out anything about it in the US, you've got to go to Reverb.

quiltingshirley · Dec 18, 2019

Does Brazilian Rosewood look that different than other Rosewoods? How could they tell just looking at a small instrument like a uke?

Just curious since I find it difficult to tell whst I’m looking at — like the various spruce.

hoosierhiver · Dec 18, 2019

quiltingshirley said:
Does Brazilian Rosewood look that different than other Rosewoods? How could they tell just looking at a small instrument like a uke?

Just curious since I find it difficult to tell whst I’m looking at — like the various spruce.

From my experience, most customs agents couldn't tell mahogany from rosewood, they go purely by the paperwork.

Swiftsailor98 · Dec 18, 2019

hoosierhiver said:
From my experience, most customs agents couldn't tell mahogany from rosewood, they go purely by the paperwork.

Trying to understand it all... Is this just a restriction on shipping, or if I travel internationally and take my uke that has Indian rosewood back and sides, must I have paperwork I need to show that I have a finished musical instrument with Indian rosewood and not Brazilian rosewood? Where do I get said paperwork?

hoosierhiver · Dec 19, 2019

Swiftsailor98 said:
Trying to understand it all... Is this just a restriction on shipping, or if I travel internationally and take my uke that has Indian rosewood back and sides, must I have paperwork I need to show that I have a finished musical instrument with Indian rosewood and not Brazilian rosewood? Where do I get said paperwork?

Finished musical instruments are now exempt from CITES (with the exception of Brazilian rosewood). It is not likely that a regular customs agent would go after your ukulele while you are traveling. Technically, it might be wise to be able to prove it's not Brazilian rosewood in case you get someone who is over eager, but in reality, the law was made to stop rosewood furniture and logs, not musical instruments which only use a very small amount of the wood. To get CITES certificates for vintage instruments is a hassle, it requires a permit/account and then you must purchase certificates that can be applied to individual instruments or commercial shipments. You can't get CITES certificates for non-CITES woods. It is unlikely that customs would intervene if you carry a ukulele onto an airplane.

Swiftsailor98 · Dec 19, 2019

Great! Thanks for the quick explanation.

glennerd · Dec 19, 2019

I'm imagining it would be a bigger issue when buying a new ukulele on a trip or shipping a sale/purchase, but certainly another reason to get a travel ukulele if it causes you fitful sleeps.

Swiftsailor98 · Dec 20, 2019

Ironically, I had a travel ukulele (an Eddy Finn) and I traded it in while on travel to London for an upgrade that has solid Indian rosewood back and sides. No issues returning to the States, but I was curious if on future international travel I had to think about having documents (or have a screenshot of the brand's website) to verify it's Indian not Brazilian rosewood.

Thanks for the discussion.

CITES change r.e. rosewood

Joyful Uke

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