Registering Yachts Offshore and the New Lacey Act Amendment

Note: This video was filmed on April 7th, two days before President Trump changed his executive order placing onerous tariffs on goods imported from nearly 100 countries, and reducing them to 10% for the next 90 days. 

In this video, Todd Lochner, from Lochner Law, Admiralty Law, is interviewed by John Martimo from the Annapolis School of Seamanship, about why flagging offshore might be advantageous, and what is involved with it.  The interview was prompted by the April 2, 2025 imposition of high tariffs on foreign vessels, and while this bullet has been dodged for the time being, the interview is packed with good information.

The Lacey Act

Perhaps, the most startling thing to come out of this interview, was a little-known Federal Law that went into effect on Dec. 1, 2024 – The Lacey Act.  We quote from the World Resources Institute--

“The Lacey Act, initially enacted in 1900, is a United States law that bans trafficking in fish, wildlife, or plants that are illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold. Prior to 2008, the Lacey Act only applied to a narrow range of plants indigenous to the United States listed in an appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) or in any State conservation law. 

“The Act also did not prohibit trade in plants taken in violation of foreign law. However, in 2008, the Lacey Act was amended (Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, section 8204) which included the prohibition of trade in plants and plant products, such as timber and paper, harvested in violation of foreign law. This landmark legislation constituted the world’s first ban on trade in illegally sourced wood products.

“The Lacey Act is a fact-based statute rather than a document-based statute. This means that its prohibition applies to trade in illegally harvested plants and plant products, even if the person trading in these products has paperwork or certification purporting to establish their legality. In other words, only actual legality counts -- no third-party certification or verification schemes can be used to "prove" legality under the Act if the timber was illegally harvested.

There are two major components to the Lacey Act plant amendments:

• A ban on trading plants or plant products harvested in violation of the law; and
• Importers are required to file an import declaration identifying the scientific name, value, quantity, and country of origin of plant and plant products.

Enforcement of the import declaration requirement began on April 1, 2009, and products requiring a declaration have been phased in.

Revised Lacey Act Provisions (2024 updates)

On May 31, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced Phase VII of the Lacey Act enforcement schedule to begin implementation on December 1, 2024. Phase VII requires declarations for all remaining plant product Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes that are not 100 percent composite materials, such as furniture.

Penalties

"There are two types of penalties, civil and criminal, for Lacey Act violations. Penalties for violating the Lacey Act vary in severity based on the violator's level of knowledge about the illegal origin of the plant or plant product. Felony criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, may be imposed on those who traffic in plants or plant products that they know to be illegally harvested."

“Criminal or civil penalties may be imposed on an individual or company who failed to exercise “due care” to determine whether the plant or plant product was legally harvested. Due care means 'the degree of care which a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the same or similar circumstance."