CITES II and Galanthus - Currently with APHIS
William Aley (Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:22:13 PST)

Times are different now. There is The Department of Homeland Security.
Those are the folks in dark blue that protect our borders. APHIS and
other government agencies like Fish and Wildlife and Public Health are
no longer working at the entry points of the USA.

That being said, USDA requires all propagative plant material to have
a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country. There are a
few exceptions - (small lots of seed permits and experimental
permits) CITES material would be documented on the Phyto as well as
with the CITES documents. It is up to the exporting country to
determine the necessity of CITES documents.
In the situation you described below, this is how it works today..
Your would be better off contacting the US CITES representative at
APHIS HQ in Riverdale, MD. The folks at the Plant Inspection Stations
are good, but they are only validators and enforcement officers.
Much has changed in 10 years.
USA and APHIS as the enforcement agency for USA must follow the laws
of CITES. In reality there "should" be no exceptions. It is an
international agreement, USA has agreed to participate with CITES and
ESA. For the most part this is the enforcement element that everyone
notices the most. It seems unfair when an individual is traveling with
a few rare plants and the government "seizes" them for no apparent
reason and then "destroys them" contrast this to whole suppliers of
rare plants.

So what really happens?
When the plants are presented or discovered at the ports of entry in
the USA. Certain documents are necessary to allow those plants to
enter. As mentioned the Phyto is the most important document. For rare
plants, a CITES document. Because the US is currently busy funding a
freedom operation to the folks in the middle east, government
resources are limited and now importers myst pay a small fee for an
CITES import permit $70 which is every two years (don't be too
concerned- because in the very near future, the price will triple to
about $350 for all import permits- Thanks be to George).
If you don't have the documents- the government has to follow some
specific guidelines to process the plant material.
1. the importer is provided 21 days to obtain the necessary documents
from the exporting country. The plants sit in a not so nice place
(usually depending of the plant inspection station it's as good as
they have) at least it's not anything like where the plants were
growing prior to being transported to the USA.
After this period of time, the importer should be contacted to verify
that they have produced the documents or the plants will be sent to
the country of export or to a rescue center.
Usually 15 days is the grace period for this.
If the importer fails to obtain the documents. USA will contact the
country of export and offer the material back to that country. The
exporting country must pay for freight costs only. 99% of the time
this is rejected. Then the plants are referred to Fish and Wildlife
who looks art the address of the importer and follows a list of
available rescue centers. They try to make the the rescue center NOT
the same as the address or State of the importer. Too many folks at
botanical gardens pulled fast ones and eventually the government
figured it out.
Then, now almost 60 days after the initial import into the USA, the
plants are off to a rescue center. They arrive often very tired and in
bad shape. Definitely not happy plants.

But this doesn't mean you can't import. You just have to be aware of
what the rules are and know who to contact.

Remember the official documents. Those need to be obtained before the
plants leave the country by the appropriate government official. Not
every government is good at posting their information on the web, so
you may have to research. Sometimes difficult when in Burma and your
skill in either Gurma, Fulani, Dejula, or Tuareg is a little rusty
trying to find out who and communicate to their government CITES
representative may pose some problems.
I'd recommend ordering plants on line or doing a lot of research
before you travel.
Have your permits in place before the plants or money are exchanged.
Be prepared to work with people who may not know as much about what
you are trying to do as you know. Often regulatory people have to do a
lot of things and sometimes they just don't know what it is you are
trying to accomplish. It's bad, it's unfortunate- but think about all
the things someone expects you to do and how much do you know about
all the things you don't do an a daily basis.

Word of caution, trying to fool people will work for a while, but when
you run into someone as smart- or smarter than yourself, you may have
to explain your actions and if you have a history, often the
Government is not so forgiving and challenges all that you've done in
the past as probably not so innocent. They are the Department of
Homeland Security and doubt and paranoia are part of the corporate
psyche.
APHIS is still in charge of policy- For now.
some contact information:

CITES Program Coordinator
(APHIS headquarters in Riverdale Md)
301-734-5312

East Coast CITES Specialist
(Jamaica, NY)
718.553.1732

West Coast CITES Specialist
(San Francisco, CA)
650.876.9093

Permit information
hhttp://aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/…

A link to the manual used to regulated CITES plants- slow to download
but this is what the government uses
http://aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/…

Plant Inspection Info (large pdf document) with current information
http://aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/…

Bill

On Dec 22, 2007, at 8:55 AM, Judy Glattstein wrote: