Guides / Compliance
The Lacey Act Declaration on a Plywood Import
September 21, 2026
The Lacey Act makes it an offence to trade in illegally harvested plant material, and it requires a declaration on certain wood imports into the United States. For plywood buyers the practical question is narrow: what goes on the form, and where does it come from.
What is declared
Four pieces of information for the wood in the product:
- Scientific name of the species, genus and species, not a trade name
- Country of harvest, where the tree was cut, not where the panel was pressed
- Quantity of the plant material
- Value
Your customs broker files it with the entry. Your job is to hold data that is true.
Why plywood makes this harder than it looks
A single panel can contain several species. Face veneer, core veneer and back can all differ, and a mill buying veneer on the open market may not track them separately unless a customer asks.
Two consequences:
- Ask for a species list per product, not per supplier. The same mill can run different cores on different lines
- Mixed core means several entries. If the core is a mix of plantation species, all of them belong in the declaration
Country of harvest is not country of origin
This is the line buyers get wrong most often. Country of origin on the invoice refers to where the product was made. Country of harvest refers to where the tree grew.
A panel pressed in Vietnam from imported veneer has Vietnam as origin and something else as country of harvest. That distinction matters here, and it matters again for duty exposure, which is a separate question described in CARB P2 and TSCA Title VI.
How to collect it without a scramble
Put it in the enquiry, not in the shipping instructions:
| Ask for | Format |
|---|---|
| Face veneer species | Scientific name |
| Core veneer species, all of them | Scientific names |
| Back veneer species | Scientific name |
| Country of harvest for each | Country name |
| Written confirmation per shipment | Signed statement referencing the invoice |
A mill that supplies this in a day has supplied it before. A mill that pushes back is telling you its veneer chain is not mapped, which is also what the EU asks about in EUDR for plywood.
Keep it with the file
Hold the species statement with the invoice, packing list and certificates for each shipment. If a question comes years later, the file is your answer, and reconstructing it from memory is not possible.
Most of the same species and harvest data is also asked for under the EU, UK and Australian rules; see the plywood legality data sheet.
One caution
Enforcement scope and the product categories that require a declaration have been phased in over time and can change. Your customs broker has the current list for your tariff code and your port. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Who files the Lacey Act declaration?
The importer of record, normally through the customs broker at entry. The mill does not file it. The mill supplies the underlying data, which is why the request has to reach the factory long before the container is booked.
What does the declaration contain?
The scientific name of the species, the country where the wood was harvested, the quantity and value of the wood, and the product description. Mixed species panels need each species listed.
What happens if the species is wrong?
It is a false declaration, and the consequences fall on the importer rather than on the mill. That is the reason to ask for the species in writing at enquiry stage and to sample check rather than to copy what was on the last invoice.
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