Cablegate: Namibia: Lacey Act Amendment Demarche Delivered

VZCZCXRO1950
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHWD #0398 3441429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091429Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY WINDHOEK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0211
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY PRIORITY

UNCLAS WINDHOEK 000398

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

PASS TO MARK JOHNSEN, OES/ENRC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAID EAGR ETRD EINV BTIO WA
SUBJECT: NAMIBIA: LACEY ACT AMENDMENT DEMARCHE DELIVERED

REF: STATE 126654

1. (SBU) Econoff delivered reftel demarche to members of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF), as well
as the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). Director of
Forestry J.S. Hailwa remarked that the new import declaration
requirements under the amended Lacey Act should not impose
significant problems for Namibian businesses that deal in
wood and lumber products. Hailwa noted Namibia does not
produce much of its own lumber for export purposes, but that
it imports wood products from neighboring Southern African
Development Community (SADC) countries and occasionally
re-exports them. He added that his Ministry requires
separate permits for harvesting, transporting, and exporting
of forestry products. MAWF officials at border checkpoints
ensure the provenance (and legality) of logged products,
Hailwa stated. Renier Burger, the MAWF's Chief Agriculture
Extension Officer, remarked that imported lumber also
requires a phytosanitary certificate issued by his
department. (Note: Burger and his colleague George Rhodes
work closely with APHIS representatives in South Africa. End
Note). Both Hailwa and Burger stressed that the information
collected for all the permits and certificates required by
the MAWF should allow exporters to easily complete the newly
required Lacey Act import declaration documentation.

2. (SBU) MTI Chief Trade Promotion Officer Renette Smuts
told econoff that she appreciated the USG's timely
notification of the new requirement, remarking that many
trading partners do not inform her office. Smuts quickly
reviewed her export licensing ledger in econoff's presence
and did not find any products that would require the new
import declaration requirement. At Smuts' suggestion,
econoff sent an information package on the new requirements
to the Namibian Manufacturing Association (NMA). Econoff
will follow-up with NMA in the coming week.
MATHIEU

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