The importance of asking for an invoice after buying the guitar
With the new regulation of protected woods, asking for the invoice after buying a guitar is essential to guarantee the origin.
On January 2, 2017 the new regulation came into force. It regulates the protected woods and increases the number of species, including the Indian Palosanto.
This new law defines some special measures for the international trade with regard to raw materials as well as the products elaborated with the same ones.
Precisely the Indian Palosanto is a wood which is present in different parts of many guitar models, even in the most economic ones.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
This law is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is an agreement signed by the majority of countries, whose purpose is to protect endangered species, restricting and regulating the trade in these species.
The increment of the regulation includes some Dalbergia species, which had not previously been included such as Dalbergia Latifolia (i.e. Indian Palosanto).
This does not mean that its trade is banned; it means that a series of declarations should be carried out with the purpose of facilitating the tracking of the wood, guarantying the legality of its origin.
Information in the invoice
This new legal requirement claims the invoice must be requested after buying the guitar.
The CITES number must appear on the invoice. This number is assigned when the woods used are declared by the supplier, and it is linked to the information about its origin: quantity of pieces, weight, volume, etc.
Therefore, the invoice certifies the tracking of the wood used for the construction of the guitar.
The invoice of the instrument may be required at Customs if you travel abroad.
If you want to travel abroad, the invoice is really important. Furthermore, it is also vital to buy the instruments in reliable stores, in order to know the origin of the wood with absolute certainty.
For a tourist who wants to take the instrument abroad (outside the EU), obtaining a re-export permit will be necessary. This permit must be requested at the SOIVRE office, which is the responsible for managing CITES in Spain.
According to the memorandum of the General Sub-management for Inspection, Certification and Technical Assistance for Foreign Trade issued on Wednesday, 14.12.2016, in the case of the person who travels with his guitar, he will be able to travel with it, without the requirement of obtaining any CITES permit; on the condition that the instrument weighs less than 10 kg. and there are NO commercial reasons. (Art. 2 Regulation 338/97).
The situation that could occur in the future is that the regulation could change its current level of protection from Appendix II to Appendix I, which bans the trade. If this fact happened, proving that the instrument was acquired on a date prior to this hypothetical inclusion in a higher level of protection would be essential.
Therefore, the invoice is fundamental and it can be the only document which allows us to ensure the legality of the wood, since a sales receipt or the ticket of payment by card would not provide the identifying information of that particular instrument.
