CSI – Imported Wood… Coming to Theaters Everywhere
IWPA staff along with an IWPA member recently attended two separate meetings on the legality of wood products trade and new tools emerging in the marketplace. The very fact that these two meetings were held in the same week, in different locations, but still in Washington, DC, with very little overlap in content speaks to the breadth and depth of the Lacey Act.
The take-away message with the most impact for the importing industry is that as new technologies and tools emerge for identification of wood and tracking, the more “due care” action the Department of Justice will expect on behalf of the importer and supply chain. In other words, industry must continue to up their game as to how they ensure their supply is compliant with Lacey.
New technologies dominated much of the discussion.
For example, a new approach that received a fair amount of discussion could bill itself as the CSI of wood products! A company called DoubleHELIX offers DNA tracking of wood. One sample of wood is extracted at the time of harvest and then again during the production process. The samples are tested and the DNA fingerprints are compared. Eventually DoubleHELIX hopes to have enough DNA species samples from supply areas in its library that there will be no need to sample at the point of harvest.
helveta is a UK based firm that offers TracElite to enable the tracking of timber from the standing tree in the ground to finished product for export – right across the supply chain. It is a Web-based application that supplier countries are reportedly instituting in order to meet the new European legality requirements for trade.
Another option, although not discussed at the meetings last week, but on the minds of a number of retail-based trade association, is STRING. STRING is an on-line traceability service which allows companies within a supply chain to set up a virtual data chain alongside the physical product chain. You can learn more about it at https://stringtogether.com/
We are told that all these systems are becoming more and more affordable and readily available (i.e. efficient to manage and implement). This, of course, is quite important for the wide scale adoption of new technologies.
You have to give it to these companies as the constant innovation is amazing. I have found myself watching, just like with CSI, and looking forward to next week’s episode.
IWPA staff along with an IWPA member recently attended two separate meetings on the legality of wood products trade and new tools emerging in the marketplace. The very fact that these two meetings were held in the same week, in different locations, but still in Washington, DC, with very little overlap in content speaks to the breadth and depth of the Lacey Act.
The take-away message with the most impact for the importing industry is that as new technologies and tools emerge for identification of wood and tracking, the more “due care” action the Department of Justice will expect on behalf of the importer and supply chain. In other words, industry must continue to up their game as to how they ensure their supply is compliant with Lacey.
New technologies dominated much of the discussion.
For example, a new approach that received a fair amount of discussion could bill itself as the CSI of wood products! A company called DoubleHELIX offers DNA tracking of wood. One sample of wood is extracted at the time of harvest and then again during the production process. The samples are tested and the DNA fingerprints are compared. Eventually DoubleHELIX hopes to have enough DNA species samples from supply areas in its library that there will be no need to sample at the point of harvest.
helveta is a UK based firm that offers TracElite to enable the tracking of timber from the standing tree in the ground to finished product for export – right across the supply chain. It is a Web-based application that supplier countries are reportedly instituting in order to meet the new European legality requirements for trade.
Another option, although not discussed at the meetings last week, but on the minds of a number of retail-based trade association, is STRING. STRING is an on-line traceability service which allows companies within a supply chain to set up a virtual data chain alongside the physical product chain. You can learn more about it at https://stringtogether.com/
We are told that all these systems are becoming more and more affordable and readily available (i.e. efficient to manage and implement). This, of course, is quite important for the wide scale adoption of new technologies.
You have to give it to these companies as the constant innovation is amazing. I have found myself watching, just like with CSI, and looking forward to next week’s episode.
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