In comments submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) requested that the agency delay its implementation of import declaration requirements for "other" essential oils under the Lacey Act.  

 

"Other" essential oils, a catchall category found at heading 3301.29.51.50 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), contains numerous essential oils which are exempt from import declaration under the Lacey Act because they are common food crops or cultivars. While exempted products can disclaim import declaration during entry, uncertainty exists around APHIS's nonexhaustive documentation of what plants are exempt. The Lacey Act import declaration requires disclosure of, among other elements, the country in which the subject plant material was harvested. AHPA's comments seek a delay in enforcement on the category to evaluate possible revisions to the HTSUS that would lessen the number of affected oils and avoid potential confusion about what oils are covered.

 

APHIS had previously deferred enforcement on the "other" essential oils category following discussions with AHPA and other aligned trade associations during the 2020 Phase VI enforcement rollout. The current Phase VII of import declaration implementation is intended to cover the wide range of smaller commodity categories not captured by previous implementation phases.