CITES- The process in Australia

[woodrat]

Hi All...I thought That I would post about my experience in obtaining a couple of CITES permits from the Wildlife Trade Regulation section of The Department of Sustainability, Environment,Water, Population and Communities. (Its a mouthful I know...the poor people who answer the phones there have to get through that many times a day!)
I had to obtain a permit in order to travel OS with the Whatnot Guitar as it has Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and I also had to get one to be able to send Nick in NZ the BRW Uke trim that he bought.
The people in the above mentioned section of the DSEWPaC (that's the official acronym) were a pleasure to deal with. The major problem with getting a permit is lack of documentation. I had documentation in the form of letters and photographs and a Statutory Declaration so it all went through with out a hitch.
So it is not a huge insurmountable obstacle but it takes a little bit of time and just getting your i's dotted and your t's crossed so that the law is satisfied.
Anyway I thought that I would post for the general education of everyone here as knowledge is power... (especially when dealing with Govt. departments!)

Cheers

John

[kiwigeo]

How many trees got chipped to produce all that paperwork??

[Tod Gilding]

What took longer John, Building The Brazillian Guitar or getting the permit

[Nick]

And don't think I appreciate the extra effort John ! It's MUCH appreciated considering you could have told me to take a flying leap.

[woodrat]

Thanks Nick.... I know that you appreciate it ... it was a bit of fluffing around but well worth it all round to know what to do next time as well as it being a necessity for myself this time. Your timing was perfect to mesh in with the process so, All Good!
Let me know when it arrives safe and sound to you there in Christchurch....

Cheers

John

[graham mcdonald]

Back in '03 I traveled around the world with a guitar bodied bouzouki through the US and Sweden going through seven different airports. The bouzouki's body was Brazilan that I had bought from Gerard Gilet sometime in the 80s with absolutely no paperwork. At the time I didn't even think about the timber and no one else did either. The instrument never got looked at any airport and it wasn't until a couple of years later that I realized that the instrument could have been confiscated at any airport along the way.

Not trying to make any political pont, just an observation

Graham