On 8/7/2012 12:33 PM, Bill wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
....

This article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19153588)
says"

Gibson admitted violating the Lacey Act, which requires firms to *know*
that timber they use is legally obtained.

From this, it appears they violated the law as charged. What is the
defensible position--that they *didn't know*?

....

I'd say the actual facts are indeterminate as others have noted--that
Gibson was in the crosshairs of DOJ pretty much forces their hand to
find a way to settle irregardless of the actual facts of the case.

Gibson president also wrote the following -- now, again, how much has
been conveniently left out of this narrative is also unknown--it doesn't
mention Madagascar, only India.

If indeed there were indications that something had come that wasn't
fully under certification and Gibson management chose to "overlook"
that they could well have been in violation. OTOH, as the story of
the other cases points out, it's not at all hard to imagine virtually
anybody could get caught out in a technical violation whether it was
willful or not.

The fingerboards of our guitars are made with wood that is imported
from India. The wood seized during the Aug. 24 raid, however, was
from a Forest Stewardship Council-certified supplier, meaning the
wood complies with FSC's rules requiring that it be harvested legally
and in compliance with traditional and civil rights, among other
protections. Indian authorities have provided sworn statements
approving the shipment, and U.S. Customs allowed the shipment to pass
through America's border to our factories.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to enforce
its own interpretation of Indian law, arguing that because the
fingerboards weren't finished in India, they were illegal exports. In
effect, the agency is arguing that to be in compliance with the law,
Gibson must outsource the jobs of finishing craftsmen in Tennessee.

This is an overreach of government authority and indicative of the
kinds of burdens the federal government routinely imposes on growing
businesses. It also highlights a dangerous trend: an attempt to
punish even paperwork errors with criminal charges and to regulate
business activities through criminal law. Policy wonks call this
"overcriminalization." I call it a job killer.

In America alone, there are over 4,000 federal criminal offenses.
Under the Lacey Act, for instance, citizens and business owners also
need to know—and predict how the U.S. federal government will
interpret—the laws of nearly 200 other countries on the globe as
well.

Many business owners have inadvertently broken obscure and highly
technical foreign laws, landing them in prison for things like
importing lobster tails in plastic rather than cardboard packaging
(the violation of that Honduran law earned one man an eight-year
prison sentence). Cases like this make it clear that the justice
system has strayed from its constitutional purpose: stopping the real
bad guys from bringing harm.

Again, the fact is that once you're a DOJ target your only real choice
is to cut a deal 'cuz you'll go broke before you can defend yourself
owing to the disparity of resources and the punitive measures they can take.

--