Here is the short version I give importers who call our desk confused about the newest US plant-product rule. Since Phase VII of the Lacey Act took effect on 1 December 2024, a federal import declaration is required for almost every good that contains real plant material, from furniture to footwear, and since 1 January 2026 that declaration can no longer be filed on paper APHIS. If your bill of materials includes wood, bamboo, cork, or plant fibre and the product is not made entirely of composite material, you are almost certainly in scope now. We run a freight marketplace at GetTransport.com and do not file customs entries ourselves, so my job here is to explain what actually changed and hand you a checklist you can take straight to your broker.
What Phase VII changed, and who it swept in
Phase VII is the seventh and broadest step in a rollout that started back on 1 April 2009 APHIS. The Lacey Act itself dates to 1900, but the plant-declaration duty is younger. It came from the 2008 Farm Bill and applies to plants imported after the amendment took effect on 22 May 2008 CBP. Rather than switch everything on at once, APHIS phased the paperwork in by tariff chapter, beginning with raw timber in Chapter 44. Phase VI landed on 1 October 2021 APHIS. Then, in a Federal Register notice published on 31 May 2024, the agency announced the final step and set enforcement for 1 December 2024 Federal Register.
The scope test is easy to state and awkward to apply. Phase VII adds a declaration requirement for all remaining plant-product codes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule that are not 100 percent composite material Federal Register. Put plainly, if a finished article contains genuine plant matter and was not already covered by an earlier phase, it now needs a declaration. APHIS flagged roughly 450 HTS codes across 26 chapters when it made the change APHIS. That is why so many first-time filers are importers who never thought of themselves as being in the wood trade at all.
Here are the kinds of goods Phase VII pulled in that surprise people most:
- Furniture and its wooden parts under Chapter 94
- Tools with wooden handles, and matches with natural wood stems
- Footwear and handbags that use plant-based components
- Plywood and laminated wood not caught by the earlier timber phases
- Products of bamboo and rattan, and articles of natural cork
- Essential oils and certain industrial or medicinal plant extracts
If any of that describes your import mix, classification is the first thing to get right, because the declaration duty follows the HTS code. Our guide to finding and verifying an HS code is a sensible place to start before you assume you are clear.
The paper form is gone: filing electronically in 2026
This is the change that catches long-time filers off guard. As of 1 January 2026, APHIS no longer accepts the paper PPQ Form 505 or its continuation sheet, the PPQ 505B APHIS. For years a broker could staple a completed 505 to the entry package and be done. That door is shut. Every declaration now has to arrive through one of two electronic systems.
Route one: CBP's ACE, filed by your broker
Most commercial shipments go this way. The declaration data rides inside the entry through the Automated Commercial Environment, CBP's electronic filing backbone, using the APHIS Partner Government Agency message set CBP. Your customs broker owns that connection and transmits the data at the time of entry. You do not need an account of your own. What the broker needs from you is clean species and sourcing data, early, because the message set will not accept a blank where a scientific name belongs.
Route two: LAWGS, filed directly with APHIS
The second door is the Lacey Act Web Governance System, or LAWGS, a web portal APHIS runs as an alternative to ACE APHIS. It suits importers who file occasionally, or who want to lodge the declaration themselves rather than route it through a broker. Either channel satisfies the law. Paper does not, with one narrow exception: in a genuine emergency such as a system outage, APHIS may allow a paper filing, but only with prior approval from its Lacey Act staff. An unauthorised paper submission after the deadline is itself a violation of the Act APHIS.
What a Lacey Act declaration must contain
The data set has not changed with the move to electronic filing. What changed is that a missing field now blocks the transmission instead of sitting quietly on a form. Four core elements sit at the heart of every declaration, and none of them is optional CBP.
| Required element | What you provide | Practical note |
| Scientific name | Genus and species of each plant contained in the article | Genus in one field, species in the other; no common names |
| Country of harvest | Where the plant was harvested or logged | If unknown or mixed, list every country it may have come from |
| Quantity | Amount of plant material with its unit of measure | Should reconcile with the commercial invoice |
| Value | Declared value of the plant portion of the goods | Ties back to the entered customs value |
The scientific name is where I see the most trouble. A buyer knows the product is "oak" but has no idea whether the mill used Quercus robur or a substitute, and the factory is slow to answer. Chase that detail before the vessel sails, not while the container waits at the port.
When a special use designation is allowed
APHIS did build in relief for the hardest cases. Where a product contains composite material, or where you genuinely cannot identify the species after exercising due care, you may enter a special use designation, a SUD, in place of the Latin name APHIS. Composite materials are plant products broken down and re-formed in manufacturing, such as paper, particleboard, and medium-density fibreboard. A correctly applied SUD satisfies the scientific-name requirement. The phrase that carries weight there is "due care." A SUD is not a shortcut you reach for because the paperwork is inconvenient. It is for the material whose origin honestly cannot be traced.
The de minimis exception, and its limits
Not every trace of plant matter drags a product into the regime. A de minimis exception exists, but it is narrow, and importers read it too generously. It applies only where the plant material makes up no more than 5 percent of the total weight of the individual product unit, and where the total plant weight in that entry line does not exceed 2.9 kilograms Federal Register. Both tests have to pass. A wooden button on a shirt might qualify. A wooden chair does not. When in doubt, our view is to file rather than assume the exception covers you, because the cost of an unfiled declaration dwarfs the effort of filing one.
What non-compliance actually costs
People hear "declaration" and picture a paperwork slap on the wrist. The Lacey Act is not built that way. It carries civil penalties, criminal exposure, and a forfeiture provision that does not care whether you meant any harm.
On the civil side, a person who simply fails to file the required declaration can face an administrative penalty of up to $250, while a knowing violation or a knowingly false statement can reach $10,000 APHIS. The criminal tier is heavier. For a violation without aggravating factors, an individual faces up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, and a corporation up to $200,000 on the same alternative-fine basis APHIS. Where a filer knew the goods were taken illegally, the offence can rise to a felony under the statute, with fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years 16 U.S.C. 3373.
The part that unsettles clients most is forfeiture. The Act's civil forfeiture works on strict liability, so plant products imported in violation of the declaration rule can be seized whether or not the importer knew anything was wrong APHIS. You can be entirely honest, miss a declaration, and still lose the cargo. That is a very different risk profile from a late-filing fee, and it is why I treat the Lacey declaration as an entry element rather than an afterthought. Working out which party on the transaction owns that liability is worth doing in advance; our importer of record responsibilities guide lays out who carries the duty when the goods clear.
The pre-entry checklist we walk shippers through
After enough of these conversations, the failure points repeat. Here is what I flag before a covered shipment moves.
- Classify first. Confirm the HTS code and check whether it sits among the Phase VII flagged codes. The declaration duty attaches to the code, so a sloppy classification hides your obligation from you.
- Get the species data at the source. Ask the factory for the genus and species and the country of harvest in writing, before shipping. This is the field that stalls entries.
- Decide your filing channel. Route it through your broker in ACE, or file it yourself in LAWGS. Pick one and brief whoever transmits it.
- Test the de minimis claim honestly. Only lean on the 5 percent and 2.9 kilogram thresholds if the goods truly meet both. If they are close, file.
- Reserve the SUD for real uncertainty. Use a special use designation for composite material or genuinely untraceable species, not for data you could have chased down.
- Keep your records. Supplier declarations and a bill of materials back the claim if APHIS or CBP asks later.
We issue none of these declarations and we file none of these entries. As a marketplace, we connect shippers with vetted carriers, forwarders, and licensed brokers, and we help you get the paperwork logic straight before a covered box leaves the yard. If you want to line this up against the other US filing mandates that hit the same shipments in 2026, our companion piece on the CPSC eFiling mandate covers a near-identical shift from paper certificates to data transmitted at entry.
Frequently asked questions
Who has to file a Lacey Act declaration under Phase VII?
Any importer bringing in a product that contains real plant material and falls under an HTS code flagged by APHIS, unless the goods are entirely composite material or qualify for the de minimis exception. Since Phase VII took effect on 1 December 2024, that now includes furniture, footwear, plywood, tools with wooden handles, and many other everyday goods that earlier phases did not touch Federal Register.
Can I still file a paper PPQ 505 form in 2026?
No. As of 1 January 2026, APHIS no longer accepts paper PPQ 505 or 505B forms APHIS. You file electronically through CBP's ACE system, usually via your customs broker, or directly through APHIS' LAWGS portal. Paper is allowed only in an approved emergency such as a system outage, and an unauthorised paper filing after the deadline breaks the Act.
What information does the declaration require?
Four core data points: the scientific name of each plant, given as genus and species; the country where the plant was harvested; the quantity of plant material; and its value CBP. Where the species cannot be identified after due care, or where the goods contain composite material, a special use designation can stand in for the Latin name.
What happens if I get the declaration wrong?
Penalties range from a civil fine of up to $250 for a simple failure to file, up to $10,000 for a knowing violation or a false statement APHIS. Serious knowing violations carry criminal exposure and, under the statute, felony fines up to $250,000 and up to five years in prison 16 U.S.C. 3373. On top of that, goods imported in breach are subject to strict-liability forfeiture, so they can be seized even when the importer had no idea anything was wrong.