here is some info on the problems at gibson - both the first raids and the most recent ones. and apparently LMI (who supply gibson, and a lot more of the industry) are now being investigated too. so it will now start to affect most other US guitars makers:
Re quoted from Duke of Pearl - Chuck Erikson. He is also having issues due to the lacey act
2009 involves woods illegaly logged in protected Malagasy forests, which had been "seized in place" at Roger Thunam's yard by the government under orders not to be sold or moved -- but Gibson's man on the scene told the factory that although illegal he could get them into the "gray market" by laundering them through the German wood broker Nagle (whose owners also own Luthiers Mercantile). The woods themselves, not the Gibson company, are named as the defendant, but since wood has no personal rights no charges need to be filed. Meanwhile, Gibson is refusing to sign interrogatory documents stating that the seized wood really did originate in Madagascar and their lawyers keep filing stays of motion, a defense tactic which prevents the courts from bringing charges on the company. If Gibson does admit the woods origin, they'll lose their claim to get them released. The courts are getting tired of this game, and may overrule and proceed with charges, since the delays are now at the point of interfering with a criminal investigation.
The 2011 raids are about legally harvested woods, but supposedly due to a series of paperwork errors the shipment intended for LMI as the consigneee (who were in turn selling them incrementally to Gibson) was mistakenly declared as going to Gibson as the consignee, and since Gibson was already being investigated this discrepancy understandably triggered the most recent raids and confiscations. The 10mm thick fingerboard blanks left India under tariff code 9209 (parts for musical instruments) as approved my India's Ministry of Trade in "clarification letters", but were intended to enter the U.S. as 4407 items (sawn wood or logs over 6mm thick, a product classification which India has made illegal to export). Switching tariff numbers on a shipment isn't kosher, but to make things even worse a new employee at the brokerage arbitrarily changed the number to 4408 (veneers under 6mm thick). BUT...since tariff classes and definitions are determined by the World Customs Organization (WCO) through an approval process of the 170 subscribing nations, neither the U.S. nor India are authorized to redefine those product classes regardless of how many "clarification letters" are generated. Fingerboard blanks don't at all qualify as 9209 ready-to-use "bolt-on" instrument parts, but instead exactly fit the legal description of 4407 sawn woods.
