Many industries bringing plant material into the United States will be required to file a Lacey Act disclosure beginning on Dec. 15, according to USDA/APHIS. But thanks to some astute lobbying, the nursery industry will not be among them.

The new Lacey Act provision (PDF) was included in the 2008 Farm Bill, approved in May. The disclosure requirement was intended to prevent the importation of illegally logged lumber, which officials say damages the environment and often funds organized crime. As initially proposed, the law defined “plant material” in a broad way that would have included nursery stock, as well as cuttings used for propagation and research – two that are not used to fund organized crime. Growers and researchers would have been forced to declare not just the origin, but the legality under foreign laws, of all plant material imported.

A concerted lobbying effort by OAN, ANLA and OAN’s federal lobbyist, Cornerstone Government Affairs, however, persuaded the provision’s authors (Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Sen. Ron Wyden, both D-Oregon) that the rule shouldn’t apply to nurseries, as nurseries are already following USDA phytosanitary requirements when they import material. As a result, the law was approved with three exemptions to the disclosure requirement: common cultivars, plant material for research, and “plants that are to remain planted or to be planted or replanted.” Between those three exemptions, just about all legal nursery activity is covered, but if you have questions, check out the USDA’s page on the Lacey Act.