Is your musical instrument compliant with endangered species rules?

A few years ago, I was offered some exciting concerts in the USA.  It was the first time I had performed in the country for a while, and I was made aware by colleagues and also through hearing scare stories of precious bows being destroyed by US customs officials, that there were some stringent new rules regarding the protection of endangered species.

The idea of risking the seizure and destruction of my 1785 Guadagnini violin and French antique bows was unimaginable. Some colleagues just said that they take the risk and don’t apply for the documents. I wasn’t willing to do that. The information on how to proceed didn’t seem to be readily available, so I made contact with a friendly orchestral manager, who had dealt with the issue when organising tours, to ask what the process would entail.

Armed with this information, I commissioned a bow and violin expert to create certificates for each item to say when they were made and what materials they contained, including Latin names of all of the materials. I then applied to the UK CITES department using the aforementioned documents. One of my bows contains both ivory and tortoiseshell, and this required a certificate for each of the endangered species –  two certificates for one bow. My violin pegs, tailpiece and button were made of Brazilian rosewood, aka Genus Dalbergia Nigra, requiring a certificate. The UK CITES was surprisingly easy to deal with. My dread at having to call and speak to a bureaucrat was pleasantly lifted.

Next, it became clear that the US concert promoters (St Louis Symphony and Lincoln Center) had to apply to their relevant CITES departments for me to be allowed to enter the USA with the items. Neither promoter was aware of these processes and had no idea what to do.

Once they had worked it out, now getting quite close to the date of the concerts, we had a response from the US customs to say that the British CITES certificates were invalid as they did not contain the exact Latin names for tortoiseshell or ivory. There being six species of tortoiseshell and two of ivory they needed to know the exact genus rather than a general Latin name.  Phone calls ensued to the US customs which became Monty Pythonesque at times: I had to let them know that it would be difficult for me to contact a long-dead bow maker to ask whether the elephant in question was African or Asian. They then instructed me to have my bows DNA tested in order to work out the exact origin.

The next problem was that I was travelling through Chicago Airport and that airport only has an endangered animal specialist and therefore they couldn’t examine my violin pegs, so I would have to either buy a new flight going through JFK or fly an expert to meet me in Chicago at a cost of several thousand dollars.

Instead, I ended up incurring a cost of several thousand pounds. With my concerts just two weeks away, and totally stunned by the CITES debacle, I decided to have all traces of endangered species removed from my violin and bows. I could now sail through US customs without worrying. Of course they pulled me aside as I had been flagged on the system. The customs official had never heard of CITES!

‘We have worked closely with various musical organisations to provide exemptions and assistance for musicians travelling with their instruments,’ says Dave Webster, National Organiser of Live Performance at the Musicians’ Union (MU).

Webster stresses that ensuring its members do not encounter difficulty while travelling overseas is a priority for the organisation: ‘This has included working with the UK agency responsible for issuing Musical Instrument certificates (APHA) to provide guidance and advice to our members, which is available on our website (www.musiciansunion.org.uk). Furthermore, we have assisted with the publication of a document called Crossing Borders, which was devised by our colleagues in Europe at the International Federation of Musicians and the Employers organisation PEARLE.

In addition, Webster points out that the MU has played an important role in ensuring the government provides an exemption, currently going through the legislative process in parliament, for musical instruments within the new ivory ban. He is confident that the MU has gone a long way to protect the vast majority of musical instruments that contain small amounts of ivory.

Further to the guidance and advice available on the MU website, Webster suggests that musicians check that the country they are travelling to recognises the Musical Instrument certificate. Often, the equivalent of the MU in other countries offers advice specific to that country: the American Federation of Musicians, for instance, offers guidelines specific to crossing US borders (www.afm.org). He added: ‘make sure you get your instrument verified by an expert so that you can be sure of the materials it contains, and be sure to carry all documentation relating to it.’

As director of concerts for the CBSO, Jenny Chadwick has seven years’ experience of touring with orchestras. Her first encounter with CITES, she says, ‘was with an orchestra a few years ago – this was very early on in the implementation of stricter CITES laws enforced in the USA.

‘As this was orchestral touring, a lot of instruments were transported in flight cases as freight, and all instruments containing endangered species were included in the freight and inspected with CITES certificates as part of the group’s cargo.’

The challenges that the ban presents are numerous – and in some instances, she notes, ‘can influence the decision of what instrument an orchestral player will take into the country.’ However, she points out that many of the difficulties musicians face at border crossings can be avoided so long as the correct documentation is presented.

She points out that this applies not only to instruments contained protected materials, for which CITES certificates must be obtained, but also for instruments that do not contain endangered species: ‘I still recommended carrying documentation with the instrument to show that it did not contain endangered species –  for example in the form of an instrument specialist/maker’s letter detailing the instrument (and bow) components.’

Chadwick stresses the importance of checking what CITES regulations are in place for the territory you are entering, as ‘every country can have their own legislation on the custom procedures for musical instruments. I would always advise checking what the most up to date advice is before travelling to the territory. Where CITES is in effect, I would also advise planning plenty of time to apply for the CITES certificate and also when entering/exiting customs of the country you are visiting, should the instrument need to be inspected.’

To apply for a CITES certificate in the UK, you can visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cites-imports-and-exports

For advice specific to travelling in the USA visit: http://americanorchestras.org/advocacy-government/travel-with-instruments/endangered-species-material/protected-species-travel-tips.html