Official Luthiers Forum!

I noticed that the entity/group/brothers? who have been selling EIR through Ebay, billing as Sono Prima, are selling what is billed as BRW, but grown on plantations in Indonesia along with EIR. (they mention that it smells wrong, probably due to different soil conditions).

I have no concerns whatsoever with the quality of these guys' product and have 3 sets of EIR from them in use or storage, and think it's nice wood. I'm wondering what the legal implications are regarding CITES for the wood. I emailed them about it, and they said they didn't think there was, but to let them know what I found out.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

All Brazilian Rosewood regardless of its source is restricted for sale by export as part of CITES. All existing wood must be certified to have been harvested before the 1992 cutoff date. It is possible to get a permit for wood that has been harvested after that date from registered tree plantations but this is a long and expensive process. This means that even wood which was harvested before the cutoff date would have to be certified before it could be sold internationally.

The intent of CITES is to prevent the international trafficking of rare and endangered species of both plant and animal. It does not stipulate the local use or sale of items on the restricted list as that is the domain of the local or federal regulation for whatever country the stock is located in. That is why it is possible to buy BRW from existing stashes in the US but why it is not legal to purchase and import BRW from other countries.

The majority of the wood sold on eBay that is BRW is questionable as to origin and status and in almost every case if you ask them about CITES documentation they will either not respond or say something like, "it will not be a problem as I will label the package as a sample"...Note this is what one seller on eBay stated to me verbatim!!!

In the case of the brothers from SonoPrima, a bunch of us have bought EIR from them and they are very good guys...regarding their BRW I am sure that they are just not knowledgable as to what the CITES requirements are..

When you purchase BRW internationally you risk the wood being seized and you may or may not be fined. I know of alot of people that have bought from eBay and other sources that do so regularly with never being caught but the risk is real. I will not speak to any of the other ethical or other arguments around BRW as they have been well discussed.