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CITES - What every bass player should know
- Thread starter Turnaround
- Start date
Where would the the priority to prepare and distribute educational material on finished wood species identification for border agents fall?
I'm imagining trying to explain "oh, no, this is Indian Rosewood"...
Still, it's a step.
One of the local builders here in Tokyo, posted on his FB page something to the effect (from what I could understand, using Google Translate) that the changes in Japan come into force on November 26th.
The link to the corresponding web-page at japan customs is below:
2019年11月26日より、ワシントン条約の改正附属書が発効します （METI/経済産業省）
D
Old rules still apply in the EU for the foreseeable future as far as I can tell. Meaning import/export permits are still required for rosewood. Which is turning into a huge problem now that some countries have apparently stopped issuing export permits (a copy of which is required to apply for an import permit...).
How the #¤%¤ am I supposed to import anything containing rosewood if I can't get a copy of the export permit that's required in the application for the import permit??? This is turning into more or less exactly the mess I predicted a couple of pages ago.
How the #¤%¤ am I supposed to import anything containing rosewood if I can't get a copy of the export permit that's required in the application for the import permit??? This is turning into more or less exactly the mess I predicted a couple of pages ago.
Well, I've been looking for OFFICIAL PUBLISHED CONFIRMATION weeks now on all the Canadian Government websites ( OZ had it published ages ago, dunno why us alleged "world leaders in telecommunication technology" are so friggin slow ...)... still nothing anywhere obvious!
Anyway - as was stated on the previous page - I did get confirmation today from the actual person in charge of issuing CITES certificates, to wit:
As of November 26th, 2019 the CITES permitting requirements for finished musical instruments, finished musical instrument parts and finished musical instrument accessories with rosewood have been lifted (all rosewoods except for Brazilian rosewood, which hasn’t changed since 1992).
Canada will no longer be issuing CITES permits for rosewood instruments, nor will we be expecting or requiring CITES export permits from other countries for these instruments.
Anyway - as was stated on the previous page - I did get confirmation today from the actual person in charge of issuing CITES certificates, to wit:
As of November 26th, 2019 the CITES permitting requirements for finished musical instruments, finished musical instrument parts and finished musical instrument accessories with rosewood have been lifted (all rosewoods except for Brazilian rosewood, which hasn’t changed since 1992).
Canada will no longer be issuing CITES permits for rosewood instruments, nor will we be expecting or requiring CITES export permits from other countries for these instruments.
D
I talked to Thomann today and they say the changes will be implemented in Germany (so presumably the entire EU) on December 15th. Not an official source but I don't think Thomann would tell customers this unless they were 100% sure. Great news! (But I still want to see it from an official source before ordering anything).
Hopefully, Thomann is nothing like GC when it comes to knowing what they are talking about.
Woohoo! Congrats! That is really good news on a bunch of levels.
If you don't mind, can I ask how much you paid for it? I'm asking because I'm looking at a couple basses in Japan, and might pull the trigger on one of them if GAS gets the better of me. (Not that customs in Canada and the U.S. are in any way related...)
The price varies, sometimes wildly depending on who is listing it. I bought this one from a private sale, so no shop tax or profit margin built into it (or cleaned / setup for that matter) and imported it myself, paid about $250 on top for shipping / handling / packing fees.
The guitar itself was extremely reasonably priced - I was looking for a player grade guitar however and I put the elbow grease into it to clean it up (which was the plan).
A good example of a PB70 should be 50-65,000 yen.
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If you are in the US, be aware that there is still nothing on the US Fish & Wildlife Service's CITES page that recognizes these recent changes.
Meanwhile Euro-Govs developed some gear-passports or certificates concerning protected woods, theet, shells & horns (zool.) this can count on small parts like inlays and dots also.
musical-instruments
The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers CITES in the US, has been issuing musical instrument passports for a few years. Despite the relaxation of the rules regarding rosewoods other than Brazilian rosewood, the passports are still useful for international travel in cases some customs officer somewhere wrongly thinks that your Indian rosewood or pau ferro fingerboard is actually Brazilian rosewood. Also, tortoiseshell (the real stuff) and elephant ivory are still covered by CITES, and there are some older acoustic guitars and high-end basses that contain those materials
More info about the M.I. passports:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
League of American Orchestras
More info about the M.I. passports:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
League of American Orchestras
Common sense says that there should be no problem importing into the United States something that was originally built in California.
But then again, I guess common sense has not played a major role in this whole issue anyway, has it?
But then again, I guess common sense has not played a major role in this whole issue anyway, has it?
Well, if common sense would be base of the laws, and these would be used and respected therefore ... but it's somehow futile to talk good ol' times and yesteryears; a fool to be counting on.Common sense says that there should be no problem importing into the United States something that was originally built in California.
But then again, I guess common sense has not played a major role in this whole issue anyway, has it?
Consider the German authorities (ab)using the laws in a rather destructive manner, as mentioned: even small part as dots or inlays could be reason to confiscate gear, that also could count for THC or other positive swabs depending on a**hole factor of some cops.
