A coalition of music products manufacturers is pushing for clarification on a broad federal law that is threatening those associated with the music industry, including musicians, antique dealers, and instrument manufacturers.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) announced on Oct. 31 the formation of an Import Export Task Force to advocate support on Capitol Hill for the Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness (RELIEF) Act, which amends the existing Lacey Act and its impact on their industry.
The Lacey Act was implemented over a hundred years ago to prohibit trade of and to protect wildlife (including fish) and plants that were illegally harvested or sold. In 2008, an amendment was passed that expanded the list of plants and woods in an attempt to limit illegal logging, imposing severe penalties on buying and traveling with such goods.
NAMM says they recognize the Lacey Act as necessary and beneficial. The unintended consequence is the 2008 revision’s direct impact on musical instruments containing now-prohibited woods—instruments manufactured before 2008.
“The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is a 110-year-old trade association representing the interests of manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of musical instruments,” said NAMM chairman Kevin Cranley, in a letter to President Obama posted on the NAMM website. “Many of NAMM’s nearly 9,000 member companies are being negatively impacted by the Lacey Act, a well-intentioned law, but one with unintended consequences that we feel are damaging to our industry and the economy.”
The RELIEF Act is calling for amendments to Lacey to guarantee “laws are implemented fairly,” stating innocent “buyers of such products before 2008 should not be punished,” according to an overview published on the group’s site.
“NAMM members care deeply and are committed to the ecologically sustainable use of tone woods for the production of musical instruments,” Cranley continued “We understand that long-term success depends upon future availability of these materials to build and sell the iconic instruments that have defined America’s popular music traditions.”
The impact of the 2008 Lacey Act revisions was felt by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in August, when Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided offices and factories in Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., seizing wood, guitars, and company files.
Agents also seized guitars and wood in a previous raid in 2009. Gibson has challenged the government on this issue, claiming overly zealous laws and policies are at play. The guitar manufacturer is trying to reclaim seized property in a lawsuit titled “United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms.”
“The wide range of interpretation possible in the law and lack of regulatory clarity has resulted in great difficulty in compliance,” continued Chairman Cranley. “The confusion is due in large part to the law’s ambitious scope, including enforcement of the laws from all other countries that are the source of these natural materials.”
The RELIEF Act was put forward Oct. 20 by Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, with support from Reps. Mary Bono Mack of California, and Marsha Blackburn, also of Tennessee.
“In theory, anybody who travels outside the country or even across the state line with an old guitar right now would be in legal jeopardy,” Cooper said, in a statement on his website. “The RELIEF Act protects guitar pickers and small businesses, and it treats them fairly.”
“All too often we find that the regulations coming from bureaucrats in Washington have unintended consequences on the manufacturers, dealers, and consumers of goods and services in this country,” Blackburn said, adding that she supported RELIEF “to provide some much needed certainty for businesses such as iconic guitar makers, their employees, and musicians who depend on these instruments for their livelihood, by ensuring the rules are fair and consistent.”
Tennessee is home to two of the biggest cities in music and entertainment: Nashville and Memphis.
Members of the task force include representatives from iconic instrument manufacturers, such as C.F. Martin and Taylor guitars. The task force will join Cooper in meetings with Congress Nov. 2–3, to discuss compliance with the Lacey Act and impact on the industry, as well as the RELIEF proposal.
NAMM is a nonprofit association representing over 9,000 companies in a $17 billion global music products industry, and is well established in the music industry. Its annual product show is one of the largest in the world.
The group recently joined the Lacey Act National Consensus Committee, a coalition of industries impacted by the new 2008 logging revisions. Companies involved with the Lacey Committee include the Forest Stewardship Council, National Wood Flooring Association, National Wildlife Federation, and the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
The recent addition of NAMM into the committee broadens the base of manufacturers seeking balance between industry regulation, trade, and environmental law.
