Preparing for a safari hunt before leaving is very important, however, educating yourself for the return of your trophies is equally as important. Arming yourself with as much information as possible will guide you to successful planning to ensure the safe return of your trophies and avoid any unfortunate situations that may risk loss of your treasured trophies and the large financial investment that you have made.
Over the last 24 months, there have been several significant changes in Federal Regulations, which affect the importation of hunting trophies. Release of imported trophies requires processing by multiple government agencies. Some of the changes are revisions to existing regulations while others are new regulations, which are a result of increased security for all imported shipments entering into the United States.
Individuals who have not imported a trophy shipment in more than 2 years need to be aware of the changes in several regulations. One that has impacted trophy shipments is the US Fish & Wildlife Service ’s revision to their CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulations published August 23, 2007, which went into full enforcement in the spring of 2008. The most significant revision to this regulation is the change of the definition of a “Hunting Trophy”. The new definition for a trophy is “raw or tanned parts of a specimen what was taken by a hunter, who is also the importer, exporter, or re-exporter, during a sport hunt for personal use. It may include the bones, claws, hair, head, hide, hooves, horns, meat, skull, teeth, tusks, or any taxidermied part, including, but not limited to a rug or taxidermied head, shoulder or full mount. It does not include articles made from a trophy, such as worked, manufactured or hand-crafted items for use as clothing, curios, ornamentation, jewelry or other utilitarian items.” This means that if you choose to have taxidermy work done overseas, the mounted trophy, rug or any item that falls under the “trophy” definition, would require a CITES permit indicating a purpose code “H”. If you elect to have articles “worked” or “made-up” into any item that does not meet the trophy definition, then the purpose code must indicate “P” for personal item.
Some examples of made-up articles are gun bags, brief cases, ice buckets, stools and painted elephant ears. Trophy shipments that are not coded properly are subject to seizure. There are also exceptions which affect certain species and when the items are made into different articles, the CITES Appendix classification changes, therefore requiring an U.S. Fish & Wildlife Import Permit which would not otherwise be required if imported as a hunting trophy. Elephant bone or tusk and Rhino, which are “worked”, require a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Import Permit. For example, an elephant leg bone that is scrimshawed, carved, etched or made into a utilitarian item, will require a U.S. Import Permit in addition to the CITES export permit with a “P” purpose code. Certain species require a US FWS Import Permit whether the article is a hunting trophy or made-up articles from your hunted animals. The most common are leopard and bontebok. It is important to understand that US FWS holds the hunter liable for the accuracy of documentation and compliance of their imported trophy shipment.
Another revision to the U.S. CITES regulation is the implementation of increased inspection fees effective January 8, 2009. The Service increased certain fees in order to recover more of the costs of inspecting shipments of wildlife and wildlife products. The Service stated that without the fee increase, the agency would be forced to cut back on inspection services. A $37.00 “premium fee” is charged for imports or exports of species protected under Federal Law when a permit is required. This fee will also apply to non-commercial import and export transactions including trophy shipments that consist of protected game species. Therefore, if a shipment contains species which require a CITES Permit and/or a U.S. Import Permit, then the premium inspection fee must be paid at the time of entry. The premium fee is due for each USFWS Declaration filed, so if a shipment contains CITES species that include hunting trophies with a purpose code of “H” and made-up articles with a permit coded “P”, then 2 declarations are filed and the $37.00 fee must be paid for each. The premium fee will increase each year, rising from $37.00 in 2009 to $93.00 in 2012. The fee schedule is as follows:
2009: $37.00
2010: $56.00
2011: $74.00
2012: $93.00
Now, we change gears and move to another regulation implemented by U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), which will impact trophy shipments transported by ocean cargo. To help prevent terrorist weapons from being transported into the U.S. via ocean vessels, CBP has issued an interim final rule effective January 26, 2009 to require Importer Security Filing (ISF or 10+2 Rule) information from importers and additional information from ocean carriers for all cargo arriving into the United States via ocean vessel. These regulations specifically fulfill the requirements of the Safe Port Act of 2006. There is currently a 12 month delayed compliance period from the effective date to allow the industry to comply with the new requirements, however, effective January 26, 2010, mandatory compliance will be in effect.
CBP has required transmission of certain data elements by ocean carriers for all shipments arriving in the U.S. via ocean vessel. The new final rule will require transmission of information from importers and additional information from carriers before it is brought into the U.S. The importer is liable for 10 data elements and the carrier 2 additional data elements (10+2). This information is required for personal/non-commercial shipments arriving into the United States by ocean vessel, including sport hunted trophy shipments and personal items such as curios and souvenirs.
The data elements must be submitted to CBP by way of a CBP-approved electronic data interchange system and is identified as necessary to improve the agency ’s ability to identify high-risk shipments in order to prevent smuggling and ensure security. Filing is required no later than 24 hours before cargo is loaded on board a vessel destined for the United States. Planning will be imperative to identify where the data will come from; how it will be collected and received; ensuring the timeliness of receipt to the transmitter and understanding the preparation time required before transmission. It is also important to understand that 24 hours really means 3-4 days prior to loading. Failure to file the 10+2 data elements timely will result in a substantial penalty and a “Do Not Load” message. The penalty will be issued to the party causing the shipment to be sent to the U.S. — which is you, the Importer.
Planning is essential when preparing for a hunt, so please take time to consult with your customs broker to ensure that you have all up-to-date information not only for regulations pertaining to importing hunting trophies, but also regulations that may be in effect for Homeland Security or any other government agency. In these days and times, the old saying “better safe than sorry” is all too true.