CITES and African Blackwood

The CITES Conference of the Parties was held in Geneva August 17-28, 2019. The conference is held every 3 years to discuss the trade rules on wildlife and plantlife that are threatened by trade linked to overharvesting, overfishing, and overhunting.

In 2016, CITES put in place permit requirements for all dalbergia spp. (rosewoods, palisanders, and bubingas), which includes African Blackwood used to make bagpipes. The permit requirements took effect in January 2017 and since that time, CITES permits have been required to ship any products containing African Blackwood across international borders. Ex. a permit is required for a bagpipe manufacturer in Scotland to ship a set of bagpipes to Canada.

This year, the conference "amended the Appendix II listing of rosewoods and related tree species to ensure that small finished items, including musical instruments, parts and accessories, could be carried across borders without the need for CITES permits."

Annotation #15 for Dalbergia spp. (rosewoods) will now read:

"All parts and derivatives, except:
a) leaves, flowers, pollen, fruits, and seeds;

b) finished products to a maximum weight of wood of the listed species of 500g per item;

c) finished musical instruments, finished musical instrument parts, and finished musical instrument accessories;

d) parts and derivatives of Dalbergia cochinchinensis, which are covered by annotation #4;

e) parts and derivatives of Dalbergia spp. originating and exported from Mexico, which are covered by annotation #6."

We have not yet confirmed when the new amendment will be effective, but this is great news for pipers! We will send out any additional information that we receive in regards to the amendment.