I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3210 

To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to limit the application 

of that Act with respect to plants and plant products that were imported 

before the effective date of amendments to that Act enacted in 2008, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 14, 2011 

Mr. COOPER (for himself, Mrs. BONO MACK, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to limit 

the application of that Act with respect to plants and 

plant products that were imported before the effective 

date of amendments to that Act enacted in 2008, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retailers and Enter5 tainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘RELIEF Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Amendments to the Lacey Act Amendments 

4 of 1981 were enacted as part of the Food, Conserva5 tion, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110– 

6 246). 

7 (2) The 2008 amendments were intended to 

8 level the playing field for American businesses en9 gaged in the responsible harvest, shipment, manu10 facture, and trade of plants and plant products 

11 whose prices had been undercut by a black market 

12 fueled by irresponsible and illegal taking of protected 

13 plants around the globe. 

14 (3) The 2008 amendments were overly broad 

15 and their enforcement as enacted could criminalize 

16 actions of a good-faith owner, purchaser, or retailer 

17 of a plant or plant product, subjecting them to pen18 alties that include forfeiture, fines, and imprison19 ment. 

20 (4) Sanctions for violating the 2008 amend21 ments should be proportional to the act in violation. 

22 An individual who is not in the commercial shipping 

23 business should not be held to the same standard of 

24 compliance under that Act. 

25 (5) Individuals fear that they risk incurring 

26 those penalties by merely owning or traveling with a 


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1 vintage musical instrument, antique furniture, or an2 other wood product. 

3 (6) The Department of the Interior and De4 partment of Justice have stated ‘‘people who un5 knowingly possess a musical instrument or other ob6 ject containing wood that was illegally taken, pos7 sessed, transported or sold in violation of law and 

8 who, in the exercise of due care would not have 

9 known that it was illegal, do not have criminal expo10 sure.’’. 

11 (7) It is necessary to clarify the 2008 amend12 ments so that legally harvested new plant products 

13 can enter the market place. 

14 (8) Declaration requirements for plant products 

15 imported or manufactured prior to May 22, 2008, 

16 are unreasonable since the sourcing of plant prod17 ucts was not previously required by law. 

18 (9) Federal law enforcement officials should not 

19 engage in overzealous enforcement action under the 

20 2008 amendments. 

21 (10) It is important to ensure that the appro22 priate agencies have the necessary funding to imple23 ment the current phases of the declaration require24 ment before considering any future phases. 


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1 (11) The appropriate agencies have the respon2 sibility of providing a publicly accessible database so 

3 that everyone can be notified of the foreign laws of 

4 countries as they apply to the importation of plants. 

5 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF PLANTS AND PLANT PRODUCTS 

6 UNDER LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1981. 

7 (a) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF ACT TO CER8 TAIN PLANTS AND PLANT PRODUCTS.—The Lacey Act 

9 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.) is amended 

10 by redesignating section 9 as section 10, and by inserting 

11 after section 8 the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 9. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION TO CERTAIN 

13 PLANTS AND PLANT PRODUCTS. 

14 ‘‘This Act does not apply with respect to— 

15 ‘‘(1) any plant that was imported into the 

16 United States before May 22, 2008; or 

17 ‘‘(2) any finished plant or plant product the as18 sembly and processing of which was completed be19 fore May 22, 2008.’’. 

20 (b) LIMITATIONS ON APPLICATION OF PLANT DEC21 LARATION REQUIREMENT.—Section 3(f) of such Act (16 

22 U.S.C. 3372(f)) is amended— 

23 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘that is en24 tered for consumption (as that term is defined in 

25 part 141.0a of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations, 


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1 as in effect on the date of enactment of the Retailers 

2 and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and En3 forcement Fairness Act)’’ after ‘‘plant’’; and 

4 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Paragraphs 

6 (1)’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(B)(i) In the case of a plant product that is derived 

9 from a tree, a declaration under paragraph (1) or (2) is 

10 not required to include information referred to in subpara11 graph (A), (B), or (C) of that paragraph unless the plant 

12 product is solid wood. 

13 ‘‘(ii) The Administrator of the Animal and Plant 

14 Health Inspection Service shall issue regulations that de15 fine the term ‘solid wood’ for purposes of this subpara16 graph’’. 

17 (c) CIVIL FORFEITURES.—Section 5(d) of such Act 

18 (16 U.S.C. 3374(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(d) CIVIL FORFEITURES.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub21 section (d), civil forfeitures under this section shall 

22 be governed by chapter 46 of title 18, United States 

23 Code. 

24 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON INNOCENT OWNER DE25 FENSE NOT APPLICABLE.—The limitation set forth 


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1 in paragraph (4) of section 983(d) of title 18, 

2 United States Code, does not apply with respect 

3 to— 

4 ‘‘(A) any imported plant acquired by a per5 son who satisfies the requirements for treat6 ment as an innocent owner set forth in para7 graph (1) and paragraph (2) or (3), as applica8 ble, of such section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) any plant or plant product acquired 

10 by a person who satisfies such requirements.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. REDUCED PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN FIRST OF12 FENSES. 

13 Section 4 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 3373) is amended 

14 by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f), and by 

15 inserting after subsection (d) the following: 

16 ‘‘(e) CIVIL PENALTY FOR FIRST OFFENSES INVOLV17 ING PLANT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sub19 sections (a) and (d), any person who violates sub20 section (a), (d), or (f) of section 3 with respect to 

21 any plant and who in the exercise of due care should 

22 know that the plant was taken, possessed, trans23 ported, or sold in violation of, or in a manner unlaw24 ful under, any underlying law, treaty, or regulation 


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1 may, for the first such violation, be assessed a civil 

2 penalty by the Secretary of not more than $250. 

3 ‘‘(2) OTHER CIVIL PENALTY PROVISIONS

4 APPLY.—Except as provided in paragraph (3), para5 graphs (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) of subsection (a) 

6 shall apply with respect to an offense for which a 

7 penalty may be assessed under this subsection. 

8 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT AS SINGLE OFFENSE.—Not9 withstanding the second sentence of subsection 

10 (a)(4), all violations by a person for which a penalty 

11 may be assessed under this subsection that arise 

12 from a single act or omission shall be treated as a 

13 single offense.’’. 

14 SEC. 5. REVIEW AND REPORT. 

15 Section 3(f) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 3372(f)) is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘Not later 

18 than 2 years after the date of enactment of this sub19 section,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of enactment of the Retailers and En21 tertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement 

22 Fairness Act’’; and 

23 (2) in paragraph (5)— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date on which the Secretary completes 


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1 the review under paragraph (4), the Secretary’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘Not later than 180 days after 

3 the date the Secretary completes the review 

4 under paragraph (4), the Director of the United 

5 States Fish and Wildlife Service’’; 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 

7 at the end of subparagraph (B); 

8 (C) by striking the period at the end of 

9 subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(D) an evaluation of the feasibility of cre12 ating and maintaining a publicly available data13 base of laws of foreign countries from which 

14 plants are exported.’’. 

15 SEC. 6. FUNDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PLANT DEC16 LARATION REQUIREMENT. 

17 The head of each Federal agency responsible for im18 plementing the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 

19 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.) shall, from amounts otherwise avail20 able, allocate sufficient amounts to implement section 3(f) 

21 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 

22 3372(f)), including for processing of all declarations filed 

23 under that section. 


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1 SEC. 7. STANDARD CERTIFICATION PROCESS FOR PLANTS 

2 AND PLANT PRODUCTS. 

3 The Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 

4 Service, the Administrator of the Animal and Plant 

5 Health Inspection Service, and the head of each other 

6 Federal agency responsible for implementing the Lacey 

7 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.) shall 

8 issue regulations to establish a standard certification proc9 ess under that Act for plant and plant products (as those 

10 terms are used in that Act) legally harvested, imported, 

11 or manufactured after May 22, 2008, that considers indi12 vidual item certification and individual manufacturer, im13 porter, and retailer certification for purposes of sale and 

14 resale. 

15 SEC. 8. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION REVIEW. 

16 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall— 

18 (1) conduct a review of competitiveness in the 

19 domestic market for raw materials for the manufac20 ture of musical instruments and the impact of the 

21 amendments made by this Act to the Lacey Act 

22 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.) on 

23 such competitiveness; and 

24 (2) submit to Congress a report containing the 

25 results of the review. 

Æ 


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