Bill Hiking Import Compliance to Avoid Deforestation Reintroduced
A bill that would ban the importation of commodities grown or produced on illegally deforested land was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., are the co-sponsors in the House; Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., are the co-sponsors in the Senate.
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The bills are similar, but not identical, to the versions introduced in 2021 (see 2110070050). This version has an advisory committee on how to implement the law, as well as adding a trusted trader program for importers who have a track record of compliance, supply chain traceability and transparent due diligence systems.
The last version included $30 million to launch the program; this bill doesn't include extra funding.
The Fostering Overseas Rule of Law and Environmentally Sound Trade (Forest) Act was introduced Nov. 30.
The bill identifies palm oil, cattle (beef and leather), cocoa, and rubber as high-risk commodities, and said that one year after the law passes, importers would have to document their due diligence to ensure they didn't purchase goods that were produced on illegally deforested land.
The government would have to identify countries that don't have adequate protection against illegal deforestation for the production of commodities that are likely to be exported to the U.S., and publish that list. Then, the government would have two years from identifying those countries to publish an action plan of how those countries could improve their own protection of tropical forests. High-risk goods from those countries would be banned unless importers told CBP the point of origin and full supply chain of the commodity and its steps to assess and mitigate the risk that the good originated at an illegally deforested site, or disclose "all possible points of origin that could have contributed to the supply chain of the covered commodity, if mixing or points of aggregation exist within the supply chain; and steps taken to assess and mitigate the risks that any possible points of origin were subject to illegal deforestation ... ."
Penalties collected from importers who violated the law could be used to help countries eliminate illegal deforestation, the new version of the bill says.