This fee will cover the cost of the individual CITES certificate as well as any special shipping and handling that will be required.Īnother caveat is that no rosewood necks for export are permitted to have shell inlay (MOP or Paua). There will be an additional processing fee of $25 PER ORDER, for orders containing Rosewood. So, what does this mean to our International customers? USA Custom Guitars has received a Master File Permit from the United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service for the export of Rosewood species (Dalbergia spp.) and the issuance of certificates under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). If the worldwide governmental agencies can get a firm grasp on how the rules are interpreted, we will revisit this, but for now, we will no longer export Rosewood products outside of the U.S.A.Īny existing orders for Rosewood will be processed and shipped, but new no orders will be accepted. We worked out the logistics and cost of getting each item inspected and certified, but the bureaucracy and excessive time required to process rosewood for export turned out to be more than we could have imagined.ĭelays in processing forced our international customers to endure months of waiting, and when the product finally arrived at their country, even with what was supposedly the proper paperwork, there were some instances where their items were still held or confiscated by customs officials. We spent countless hours working with government agencies to wade through all the paperwork, trying to make sense of the rules and restrictions. We met the challenge of the new CITES ruling head on, being one of the first guitar companies to receive the permit. We regret that we will no longer export Rosewood products outside of the U.S.A.