Lacey Act
Definition
US federal legislation originally from 1900, substantially amended in 1981 and 2008, that prohibits trade in wildlife taken in violation of any US or foreign law, giving US prosecutors extraterritorial reach.
- Original year
- 1900
- Major amendments
- 1981, 2008
- Jurisdiction
- United States, federal
- Key feature
- Extraterritorial reach via foreign-law violations
Common questions
How does the Lacey Act reach conduct that happened outside the US?+
It makes it a US offence to import, trade, or possess wildlife that was taken, possessed, or sold in violation of any US state, tribal, or foreign law, so a poaching violation committed abroad can support a US prosecution once the wildlife crosses into US commerce.
What did the 2008 amendment add to the Lacey Act?+
It extended coverage to plants and plant products, including timber and paper, requiring importers to declare species and country of origin, which brought illegal logging within the Act's reach.
Related terms
- Appendix I
- The highest protection tier in CITES, listing species threatened with extinction. Commercial international trade is prohibited; non-commercial trade requires both export and...
- Appendix II
- The intermediate CITES tier, covering species not yet threatened but requiring controlled trade. Export permits require a non-detriment finding from the exporting...
- CITES
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a multilateral treaty signed in 1973 now with over...
- EU Regulation 338/97
- The European Union's main wildlife trade instrument, implementing CITES and in many respects going further, applying to internal as well as international...
- Non-Detriment Finding (NDF)
- A Scientific Authority's determination that a proposed export will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild, required...