IKEA Official Criticizes U.S. Lacey Act

(Heath Combs — Furniture Today)

Declaration requirements said “unrealistic”

A compliance officer at a U.S. distribution facility for Swedish retailer IKEA said the requirements for import declarations in the Lacey Act, passed last year to combat illegal logging, are unrealistic.

Amendments to the act require importers to declare the origin and species of wood used in their products.

Enforcement for some products affected by the amendments was to have begun on Dec. 15 but was postponed until April 1. Enforcement for wood furniture will begin on July 1.

A comment period for federal rulemaking on the amendments ended this week.

Christopher Smith, a compliance specialist with Ikea Wholesale Inc. in Westhampton, N.J., said in comments posted on a federal Web site that record-keeping requirements in the revised Lacey Act will overwhelm supply chains and cause the cost of wooden goods to skyrocket, unless the regulation is narrowed.

Smith outlined suggestions and challenges to the supply chain for vertically integrated retailers in an 11-page letter.

He said the law would require Ikea to transmit 33.6 billion lines of data over the course of a year if the company were to track wood species from the its network of 1,380 suppliers of components and finished goods in 54 countries.

“Trying to trace this information to certify compliance all the way through the supply chain to the harvesting of each and every tree is unrealistic,” Smith said. Read more here and click here to read Smith’s letter.