Do you know what the Lacey Act is.
Today’s blog has been written by Ryan Melowic, Senior Director of Procurement Process Improvement at SafeSourcing.
According to the World Resources Institute, “On May 22, 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a groundbreaking law banning commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products—including timber, wood, and paper products. The law is an amendment to the Lacey Act of 1900, named after the congressman who first championed it”.
“To address illegal logging and other illegal plant trade, the amended Lacey Act does three main things:
1. Prohibits all trade in plants and plant products—including furniture, paper, and lumber that are illegally sourced from any U.S. state or foreign country;
2. Requires importers to declare the country of origin of harvest and species name of all plants contained in their products (a provision that is currently being phased in); and
3. Establishes penalties for violations of the law, including forfeiture of goods and vessels, fines, and jail time.”
A company can hold FSC certificates, but that does not mean that all of its products are necessarily FSC certified. Companies can choose which product lines to certify. These may include all the products they sell, or just a small percentage. An FSC certificate for one product line guarantees nothing about other non-certified product lines manufactured and sold by the same company.
SafeSourcing does the due diligence to ensure its supplier database is packed full of quality suppliers. The Lacey Act is an example of one of the many requirements that SafeSourcing tracks. For more information on how SafeSourcing can help you with insuring certified suppliers, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.
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