The Lacey Act declaration on wooden goods
The Lacey Act prohibits trade in illegally sourced plant material and requires an import declaration naming the species and the country of harvest. Wooden tableware under HTS heading 4419 has been subject to the declaration requirement since December 2024, so a first shipment without that data will be held.
What the declaration contains
Why it reaches tableware
The declaration requirement has been extended by phases to additional HTS headings over time. Wooden tableware and kitchenware under 4419 entered the list in December 2024, which brought wooden cutlery into scope for the first time.
The practical failure mode
The species is usually known; the country of harvest often is not, because it sits with a sub-supplier. That single missing field is what holds a shipment, and it cannot be resolved at the border — it has to be obtained before shipping.
How it overlaps with EUDR
The US and EU requirements ask for overlapping data: species and country of harvest appear in both. A supplier that collects the information once can satisfy both, which is a reason to gather it properly rather than per shipment.
Penalties rest on due care
Enforcement weighs whether the importer exercised due care. Documented requests to suppliers and retained responses are what evidence that, which makes the paper trail as important as the answer.
Frequently asked
- Does bamboo require a declaration?
- It depends on the classification the goods enter under. Bamboo articles can fall under headings within scope, so it should be confirmed with the broker.
- Is an FSC certificate sufficient?
- It supports due care but does not replace the declaration. The declaration fields still have to be completed.
Last updated: 2026-09-13