I called the APHA before Christmas to try to get some concrete info on the future of importing rosewood. The lady I spoke to (after navigating one of the most drawn out automated exchanges ever) was very helpful.
The CITES changes covering rosewood come in to effect worldwide on January 2nd 2017. From that date all exports of rosewood will require permits, issued by the local authority.
As of right now the EU has not ratified the requirements for importing into the EU or inter-state movements. They are expected to do this in the first two months of 2017. It is expected that there will be permit free inter-state movement. (Until this is clarified it was suggested to include a statement with any shipment providing evidence of either export permit from country of origin or statement that the wood was procured prior to January 1st) Anything arriving in UK after Jan 2nd must have either an export permit or documented proof it was exported prior to the new regulations.
Once the EU regulations are in force an import permit will be required in addition to the export permit from the country of origin. The permit takes approximately 15 working days to be granted and a copy of the export permit is required for the application. It was stressed that you should NEVER let shipments leave the country of origin without having the import permit in hand. New permits are required for every shipment. (There are already similar permits required for other species, and the permits appear to be approximately £75)
The above is just for importing into the EU. Remember, each country in the chain is going to require export and import permits, along with the fees (for Allparts – exported from source/India to Japan, exported from Japan to USA, exported from USA to UK).
This could fundamentally alter the way orders are placed going forward. Looking from the outside there are a number of permutations for streamlining the process for an international company such as Allparts but with no insight into their business structure it is impossible to predict if any would be practical.
All I can say is that as of now rosewood board necks will be scarce for a little while.
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