Official Luthiers Forum!

Remind me where cocobolo stands with CITES?

Is it lumped in with the recent exemption allowing us to ship guitars with EIR?

Thanks...

Yes. Up to 10kg per shipment of finished instruments is allowed without permit for all rosewoods, with the exception of Brazilian. Unfinished timber requires appendix II permit, and this is not available for all rosewoods, depending on species and country of export (eg., Mexico and Madagascar).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks Tim!

At one time "commercial" shipments were given different consideration than shipping personal property - has this changed?

CITES, as the name implies, is a convention on “trade”. The enforcement of agreed restrictions are the responsibility of individual countries who are party to the agreement. Most would interpret that “personal” movement means that the instrument is returning back to the country of origin and not sold while away from home (applies for example to trade shows). The onus is on the exporter to prove the status of the shipment. If a person is changing country of permanent residence, there are border procedures to recognize the shipment as personal effects.
Passports can be issued by some parties to facilitate movement for non-commercial purposes (performers).

We hear of all sorts of schemes (even on this forum) to get restricted material across a border for “personal sale”. That’s called “trade”. It violates CITES and in most countries is regarded as smuggling.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk