Report to Congress Gives OK to Traveling with Guitars

The long-delayed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on the Lacey Act was delivered to Congress last week, and guitarists can finally breathe a major sigh of relief.

The report states that an instrument owner would “not need to submit a Lacey Act declaration for the instrument upon entry into the United States because APHIS is not requiring the submission of a Lacey Act declaration for such informal entries.”

The report also highlights the difficulty of collecting the information required by the declaration, and states that there is no hard evidence that the Lacey Act has reduced illegal logging.

Prior to this report, it was unclear what documentation was needed, as well as what penalties might be levied against musicians for traveling with guitars.

That worry has now been put to rest!