The species commercially traded as Ipe (Handroanthus spp., Roseodendron spp. and Tabebuia spp.) were submitted by Columbia and Panama last year for inclusion in CITES Appendix II. This submission was accepted, meaning that the international trade in these woods will be subject to strict controls as of 25 November 2024. Any international trade must be accompanied by an export permit issued by a national Management Authority, certifying that the wood was harvested in a manner that is compatible with the long-term survival of the species.
CITES enforcement is no joke and the listing of Ipe in Appendix II is likely to hugely reduce demand, due to the substantial bureaucratic burden and legal risk that importers will be exposed to. Guitarists will be all too familiar with the impact of CITES, following the listing of Rosewood in Appendix II in 2017. Until an exemption for musical instruments was negotiated in 2019, guitars with rosewood fingerboards practically disappeared from the market - the risks for importers and distributors were simply too great to reasonably manage.
As botanical footnote: All this trees called lapachos are in the Bignoniaceae family. Lapachos have huge ornamental value and hold the equivalent place as the cherry trees in the northern hemisphere. They are cultured in all the big cities that have the correct climate; by their fantastic bloom in bright yellow, pink or pure white and their role as a cultural symbol.
This means that some lapacho wood can have legal origins also
The species commercially traded as Ipe (Handroanthus spp., Roseodendron spp. and Tabebuia spp.) were submitted by Columbia and Panama last year for inclusion in CITES Appendix II. This submission was accepted, meaning that the international trade in these woods will be subject to strict controls as of 25 November 2024. Any international trade must be accompanied by an export permit issued by a national Management Authority, certifying that the wood was harvested in a manner that is compatible with the long-term survival of the species.
CITES enforcement is no joke and the listing of Ipe in Appendix II is likely to hugely reduce demand, due to the substantial bureaucratic burden and legal risk that importers will be exposed to. Guitarists will be all too familiar with the impact of CITES, following the listing of Rosewood in Appendix II in 2017. Until an exemption for musical instruments was negotiated in 2019, guitars with rosewood fingerboards practically disappeared from the market - the risks for importers and distributors were simply too great to reasonably manage.
https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/19/prop/as_rec...
https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php