A Blog Resolution

Remember when this space included funny articles about Customs as well as more personal observations? I plan to do more of that in 2014. Granted, I started this blog in the pre-Face Book days and there was no other place to write about a ginormous spider in my basement or bike commuting. So, I will try and stay at least arguably on point.

Starting with this story (which is not funny at all):

Customs and Border Protection seized and destroyed a number of rare wooden flutes from the luggage of a musician returning from Morocco to New York. Customs states that because the "bamboo" flutes were not fully dried and split, they were treated as live bamboo, which is prohibited entry in most cases. Fully dried bamboo is permitted entry after inspection to ensure there are no agricultural pests on board as is furniture and other manufactured goods of bamboo. That would seem to include manufactured flutes. A potential problem for CBP is that these flutes were not actually made of bamboo, although that may just kick the issue from one category of restricted merchandise to another.

Here's info from CBP on bamboo imports. Here is some info from the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service.



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