|
Edwynn -> RE: Enviro-Nazis Raid Guitar Shop (8/29/2011 5:45:20 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sanity
An opinion piece, in the WSJ, quoting experts:
quote:
John Thomas, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and a blues and ragtime guitarist, says "there's a lot of anxiety, and it's well justified." Once upon a time, he would have taken one of his vintage guitars on his travels. Now, "I don't go out of the country with a wooden guitar."
The tangled intersection of international laws is enforced through a thicket of paperwork. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act require that anyone crossing the U.S. border declare every bit of flora or fauna being brought into the country. One is under "strict liability" to fill out the paperwork—and without any mistakes.
It's not enough to know that the body of your old guitar is made of spruce and maple: What's the bridge made of? If it's ebony, do you have the paperwork to show when and where that wood was harvested and when and where it was made into a bridge? Is the nut holding the strings at the guitar's headstock bone, or could it be ivory? "Even if you have no knowledge—despite Herculean efforts to obtain it—that some piece of your guitar, no matter how small, was obtained illegally, you lose your guitar forever," Prof. Thomas has written. "Oh, and you'll be fined $250 for that false (or missing) information in your Lacey Act Import Declaration."
Consider the recent experience of Pascal Vieillard, whose Atlanta-area company, A-440 Pianos, imported several antique Bösendorfers. Mr. Vieillard asked officials at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species how to fill out the correct paperwork—which simply encouraged them to alert U.S. Customs to give his shipment added scrutiny.
There was never any question that the instruments were old enough to have grandfathered ivory keys. But Mr. Vieillard didn't have his paperwork straight when two-dozen federal agents came calling.
Facing criminal charges that might have put him in prison for years, Mr. Vieillard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, and was handed a $17,500 fine and three years probation.
And what does the little moron ed offer, nothing other than his own worthless opinion... [:D]
No, the idiot law professor's ignorant opinion goes towards explaining why he is a law professor rather than actually practicing law.
The reality of both the biggest name pop stars and everyday professional and amateur musicians hauling formerly legally harvested but later outlawed wood in their guitars is the FACT.
Everyday, numerous flights per day.
Ask the law professor how many people have had their guitars confiscated at customs. Go ahead, ask him.
PS
Forgot to mention also, that op-ed piece refers to the smuggling of the ivory keys that were in fact from pianos other than what was listed on the import sheet and in fact hidden under the crates in secret compartments are all what the writer euphemistically refers to as "didn't have his paper work straight."
http://egyptianfish.org/content/440-pianos-atlanta-georgia-and-illegal-ivory
"The invoice accompanying the U.S. Customs and Border Protection entry packet declared ten of the eleven pianos in the shipment as having “no ivory keys.” No CITES permits or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declarations accompanied the shipment. Two pianos had the keyboards removed and five pianos had the individual keys removed. Investigators noted that two piano keyboards were located in the bottom of a crate under furniture and personal effects. The individual keys were located in a crate under a tray of marking pens. The keyboards and individual keys were positively identified to be covered with elephant ivory, which requires a permit to be imported or exported."
Aw man, just a little paper work screw-up, you know?
|
|
|
|
