Peruvian Timber Ban Maintained

Customs and Border Protection will continue to block illegally harvested timber imports from a Peruvian exporter at the direction of the US Trade Representative’s Office.

The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement includes an annex that allows USTR to take enforcement actions to halt the import of illegally harvested timber.

The Interagency Committee on Trade in Timber Products from Peru has directed CBP to continue to block any timber imports from Inversiones La Oroza SRL, a Peruvian exporter, based on illegally harvested timber found in its supply chain.

The action will continue until the Peruvian government demonstrates that Oroza has complied with all applicable laws, regulations and other measures of Peru governing the harvest of and trade in timber.

The United States will continue to engage closely with Peru to combat illegal logging and work toward improving forest sector governance, USTR said.

In 2017, the Timber Committee originally directed CBP to deny entry to any future shipments of timber products originating from Peru that were produced or exported by Oroza. That denial of entry order against Oroza was renewed on October 19, 2020. To date, the Peruvian government of Peru has

not provided additional information to demonstrate that Oroza is complying with all applicable laws, regulations and other measures of Peru governing the harvest of and trade in timber products.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore), ranking member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade, praised USTR’s action. “As illegal logging harms out most vulnerable forests and wildlife, intensifies climate change, and exploits Indigenous people, American consumers should not have to worry if they are unintentionally contributing to this destruction.”