Seventhson
VellaJ
That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard... ???
One wouldn't expect this kind of thing from a govt of such a country... More like a corrupt govt intent on soliciting bribes etc., or a "protection money" idea...
Bullying indeed...
flatfourfan
One thing stands out there. Madagascar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of issues on matters pertaining to trading with that country since 2009.
Pretty much every western country does not recognize the current leadership on the island as the coup that happened a few years back has resulted in a spoilt rich kid DJ being in power and he's been doing a lot of shady under handed deals to secure forex. Stripping the sh*t of the islands resources is just one of them. (there was a thread about the foresting going on there a while back). It wouldn't surprise me if this has something to do with it.
Think of the wood as a type of blood diamond.
vic
" In 2009, more than a dozen agents with automatic weapons invaded the Gibson factory in Nashville. (OMG the anti-GIBSON BRIGADE....are they operating there too ? ? ) The Government seized guitars and a substantial amount of ebony fingerboard blanks from Madagascar. To date, 1 year and 9 months later, criminal charges have NOT been filed, yet the Government still holds Gibson’s property. Gibson has obtained sworn statements and documents from the Madagascar government and these materials, which have been filed in federal court, show that the wood seized in 2009 was legally exported under Madagascar law and that no law has been violated. Gibson is attempting to have its property returned in a civil proceeding that is pending in federal court."
scary ☹
Bob-Dubery
Spin doctoring, I suspect.
The problem seems to be the importation of an unworked item. I think this is a fairly common principle. You may possess gold wrought into jewellery, you may not possess unworked gold (without the necessary permits). You can bring pernambuco into the USA in the form of already manufactured violin bows, but you may not import logs of that wood. You may import, with the necessary permits and certificates, and old Martin guitar that was made before a certain date and has Brazilian rosewood, but you may not import the raw lumber and so on.
Also the Lacey act requires that importers into the USA must respect the laws in the source country. A country may say "we will allow finished items, made in our country, to be exported, but not the raw materials" then companies in the USA must respect that.
So Gibson put out a statement that is not actually a lie, but restates the truth in an inventive, simplistic and emotive way.
There's also a possibility that Gibson have bought wood in good faith, having been assured by their suppliers that everything was legit, but that the suppliers had been negligent in checking compliance or even concealed certain information from Gibson.
Gibson were raided 2 years ago. You'd have think that they'd have got their house in order by now, checked their supply chains thoroughly and so on.
