The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (also commonly known as the ‘Farm Bill’), enacted on June 19, 2008, contained several provisions related to the importation of Softwood Lumber. The Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 (SLA 2008) mandates the government to establish and maintain a ‘Softwood Lumber Declaration Program’, including an electronic record of all softwood lumber and softwood lumber product importations subject to the Act
Export Charges: Defined as any tax, charge, or other fee collected by the country from which the lumber or lumber product is exported to the United States. Current softwood lumber export charges are available at: http://ia.ita.doc.gov/sla2008/sla-index.html . If no listing exists for the export country, report a zero value as the export charge.
Export Price: The term means one of the following:
- For goods that have undergone only primary processing – the FOB value determined from the facility where the product underwent the last primary processing.
- In the following scenarios, the export price is determined FOB at the facility where the lumber or lumber product underwent the last primary processing before export by a manufacturer who-
- does not hold tenure rights provided by the country of export; (tenure rights are those that are granted by the country of export to harvest timber from public land).
- did not acquire standing timber directly from the country of export; and
- is not related to the person who holds tenure rights or acquired standing timber directly from the country of export.
- The value that would be determined F.O.B. at the facility where the product underwent the last processing before export applies in the case of softwood lumber or softwood lumber products produced by a manufacturer who –
- holds tenure rights provided by the country of export;
- acquired standing timber directly from the country of export; or
- is related to a person who holds tenure rights or acquired standing timber directly from the country of export.
- If FOB values cannot be determined, the fair market price for identical lumber or lumber products if sold to unrelated parties in the country of export.