Cites. From Europe to the US

Hi.

I'm selling a 1981 Gibson rosewood guitar. There's a possible buyer in the US. Should I care about any cites certificate from Europe to the US?

thanks

I think you will. I think you and also the buyer both have to buy a certificate in order to sell and export/import the guitar which I think is around £35 . I'm not sure of all this, I need to find out myself exactly what the procedure is.

From my readings online , you should contact your Countries agency and find out first , before you ship it . I think without it , a Huge problem might be in store .

Yes, yes,yes, ,and sure you have permits on both end before shipping. I am currently in cites hell with the UK side seizing a rosewood Martin Guitar.

Just because I didn’t get the UK Side certificate done prior to the guitar being shipped. I did apply for it, but they said it had to be done before shipping, something that is actually not clear on the UK site regarding the process, but that is a different story.

Absolute nightmare.

zhivago said:

Yes, yes,yes, ,and sure you have permits on both end before shipping. I am currently in cites hell with the UK side seizing a rosewood Martin Guitar.

Just because I didn’t get the UK Side certificate done prior to the guitar being shipped. I did apply for it, but they said it had to be done before shipping, something that is actually not clear on the UK site regarding the process, but that is a different story.

Absolute nightmare.

Click to expand...

I did the US paperwork and shipping on this one (I wasn't the seller, however) and he's not kidding. Get both sides done before you ship. Fedex had initially notified me that UK Customs folks said they would be destroying the guitar but have backed off.

Here's what appears to be happening: If you don't do any paperwork at all, there is a chance it will slip through but it's a chance I don't care to take. I've had a few guitars shipped to me without the proper paperwork from overseas (I have an import permit) without issue. But, whenever I ship out of the USA myself, I do the CITES paperwork and notify that the recipient should do the same. As soon as Customs sees any CITES paperwork, they spring into action to make certain everything is kosher. I will no longer ship guitars with any rosewood overseas without proper CITES. It isn't that big a deal if you create a master file with US Fish and Wildlife ($200 plus $5 per certificate good for 6 months) and they send you a bunch of pre-approved certificates. This takes a long time but the master file is good for three years. It took nearly 90 days to complete. Then, when you have a guitar to ship that has rosewood, you fill out the Fish and Wildlife certificate send it to the USDA (Dept of Agriculture) and they stamp it and send it back to you. The USDA in New York is pretty quick. I usually get my stamped export permit in less than a week. Both departments are very diligent and helpful. They are pretty nice too. I always include both the export certificate and my import permit inside the box.

I'm not happy about the government punishing the guitar community for the excesses in the Chinese furniture industry but Fish and Wildlife and USDA are not being punitive or arbitrary. They are being extremely helpful. I wish I could say the same about Customs. They really have bigger fish to fry and should leave guitars alone.

Charlie is very right here!

I cannot press how important it is to get all the paperwork sorted!!

Thanks for that Info OKGuitar . It's so important to have as much info from those who have experience with all of this Posted . You may have saved me some real trouble with your post :applaude.