CITES certificates

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This is a resolution adopted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1973 and enforced two years later. Initially, 80 countries joined this union and today almost every country in the world participates. The convention does not pass laws but provides guidance to each member country so that they can then pass their own laws and implement procedures that support the union’s suggestions.

CITES monitors the trade in live animals, products produced from animals, as well as plants, trees, and the products produced from plants and trees. This is important for the preservation of these species as well as the responsible trade in these species. There are 3 levels of restrictions with Level 1 essentially being a full ban, Level 2 being closely watched trade requiring strict permits, and Level 3 being self-originated restrictions by individual countries of their own resources.

These restrictions help to curb illegal logging which unfortunately is the major reason why CITES restrictions have been imposed on tone woods such as American mahogany, Spanish Cedar, Rosewood, and some species of Ebony. Natively grown American mahogany has had Level II CITES restrictions since 2003.

Since CITES is an international convention, it monitors species in every country whether it is native to that country or not.

CITES will issue a certificate for every shipment that is crossing a country’s border for any species or product derived from a species that is listed by CITES.

A CITES certificate is not required for trade within a country's own borders.

Guitars made with mahogany need to have CITES certificates for export.

At the end of 2024 trade in African mahogany of the Khaya genus will be restricted and will require CITES permits to export and import. This includes finished products fully or partially made with Khaya.

Getting a CITES certificate takes time. The rule is that the supplier and country of origin must submit verification of origin documents to CITES for their independent review. They then approve the export after confirming the original documents are legitimate. Sometimes this can take a few days and other times it can take weeks or months. It all depends on the origin country and how long the verification process takes. Fortunately, I am still building guitars with tone woods that Charles has had stashed for up to 15 years, hence well before CITES restrictions were imposed.

I do not use American mahogany other than that which is plantation-grown from Fiji. CITES restrictions do not apply on sustainably grown American mahogany. The Australian CITES authority will accept receipt of purchase with a purchase date earlier than when the restrictions were imposed to start the CITES approval to export a guitar. Even with this head start the procedure is not fast.

I would love to get my hands on some 100-year-old "sinker mahogany" but the company in the United States that manages that recovery operation sells to US lumbar wholesalers and most US lumbar companies don't export. The largest global retailer in the guitar industry is Stewmac in the United States who also do not export CITES-restricted boards, necks or fingerboards. That means American mahogany, rosewood, and now African mahogany.