“An international endangered species convention meeting in Geneva” has officially adopted regulations “exempting musical instruments from trade restrictions on rosewood,” writes Robert Benincasa on last Tuesday’s (8/27) National Public Radio. “The restrictions under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora—commonly referred to as CITES—went into effect in 2017, after strong demand for high-end rosewood furniture in China led to conservation worries and violence in areas that produce the wood. But …there were some unintended consequences. Rosewood is prized as a tonewood, responsible for a characteristic resonant tone in everything from guitars and cellos to clarinets. Following the 2017 restrictions … traveling orchestras feared their instruments would be seized at international borders … [and] deal with a bureaucratic permit process. Instrument makers and musicians pushed for the exemption … The exemption will allow finished musical instruments as well as parts and accessories containing rosewood to be transported freely around the world without permits. Trade in raw-material rosewood would remain regulated … ‘Today was really the culmination of three years of productive dialog across musical instrument stakeholders, parties to the convention and also conservation groups,’ said League of American Orchestras lobbyist Heather Noonan.”
Posted September 4, 2019
