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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing the implementation of Phase VII of the Lacey Act provisions. APHIS is finalizing the associated declaration requirement required by Congress for plant and wood products. In this phase, declarations will be required for all remaining plant product Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes that are not 100-percent composite materials. Implementation of Phase VII will begin December 1, 2024.

If an importer imports items that contain plant products, but do not currently file a Lacey Act declaration, they likely will need to file under Phase VII. Phase VII includes the broadest range of items, items as varied as industrial or medicinal plants, handbags, plywood, laminated wood, tools, matches with natural wood stems, products of natural cork, products of bamboo and rattan, footwear and more. Plant and wood products included in past phases include timber, some furniture, essential oils, wood cases and trunks, and woodwind instruments and their parts and accessories.
See also: Lacey Act Phase VII Implementation: Frequently Asked Questions and Plant Protection Today: Lacey Act Phase VII Is Coming (Apr 27, 2023)

Introduced on December 15, 2022 (117th Congress; 2021-2022), by Rep. Katie Porter [D-CA-45], this bill would create a coordinated domestic wildlife disease surveillance framework for State, Tribal, and local governments to monitor and respond to wildlife disease outbreaks to prevent pandemics, and for other purposes.

Plants for planting can carry a wide variety of pests that are more likely to become established in the U.S. because they are already on a suitable host. In some cases, the plants themselves are the pest. To ensure U.S. import regulations provide adequate protection against the risk posed by plants for planting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) established a regulated category called "Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis" (NAPPRA). NAPPRA allows APHIS to more fully protect U.S. agriculture from foreign pests while minimizing adverse economic and trade impacts. Under NAPPRA, plants for planting must undergo a pest risk analysis before APHIS will authorize the taxon for importation.

Before NAPPRA, APHIS' plants for planting regulations (also known as Q37) categorized imported plants as either prohibited (not allowed) or restricted (allowed under certain conditions). The regulations did not require a pest risk analysis prior to the importation of a new taxonomic group of plants. This differed from APHIS' fruits and vegetables regulations (Q56) where the importation of regulated articles is prohibited until APHIS completes a pest risk analysis.

Includes species listed as a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to import or transport between states without a permit.

The Aquatic Invasive Species Commission and key partners received input from and engaged in dialogue with key stakeholders, federal and state decision makers, and leading experts. Recommendations focus on modernizing marine fisheries laws, making strategic investments, and improving collaboration among federal, state, local, and tribal agencies. The purpose of this collaborative process was intended to assess the current threat from aquatic invasive species (AIS), explore gaps in public policy and funding, and offer recommendations for how AIS can be addressed more effectively at the federal, state, tribal and regional levels.
See also: The new report Report and Recommendations: Improving the Prevention, Eradication, Control and Mitigation of Aquatic Invasive Species (Feb 2023) [PDF, 908 KB]