If you’re considering importing a Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot, Leopard, Nautitech, Bali, Outremer, Knysna, Windelo, or any other foreign-built catamaran, it’s essential to understand how this law works, and how it could impact your ability to bring that boat into the U.S.

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A Brief History of the Lacey Act

The Lacey Act was enacted in 1900 to combat illegal wildlife trafficking in the United States. It’s one of the oldest wildlife protection laws in the country1. But it wasn’t until 2008 that the Lacey Act was significantly amended to include plants and plant products, such as wood-based goods. Following the 2008 amendments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) adopted a phased rollout strategy to enforce the new requirements, which began applying to the marine industry starting in December 2024.2

The updated law makes it illegal to import products made from illegally sourced wood into the U.S. The goal was to reduce illegal logging and associated supply chains around the world. It also aims at protecting forests and endangered wildlife that rely on them, but can also be used for political reasons as a means of placing embargoes on products from certain countries under the guise of environmental protection. The profound effect on industries outside of logging has been significant, and include musical instruments such as guitars, home furniture and furnishings, picture frames, and now boats.

From Guitars to Catamarans: The Unexpected Impact

The first industry to feel the weight of the amended Lacey Act was the musical instrument industry. Companies were raided by federal authorities and fined for importing wood into the U.S. that didn’t meet the documentation requirements, even if the wood was harvested years earlier. Gibson Guitars is the most well known to feel the pain of the Lacey Act, which included a raid on its Nashville location in both 2009 and 2011, resulting in over $600,000 in fines, confiscated products, and penalties payable to U.S. Fish & Wildlife for service and awareness programs.3

Today, a similar problem is hitting the boating industry, particularly in the world of sailing catamarans, where boats are often built overseas using a variety of wood products sourced globally.

This is where it gets complicated: As of December 2024 The US Department of Agriculture now requires importers to file a Lacey Act Declaration for vessels, identifying the species and country of harvest for every type of wood used in the build, and to also identify where that piece of wood is located on or in the boat, how much was used, and the value4. Much of the wood used on boats, especially older boats, are not easily accessible either, so if the manufacturer doesn’t have wood sourcing records, there’s often no way to fulfill this requirement retroactively, and the boat may never be capable of being imported unless the law is changed or enforcement ends. For Sellers of previously imported foreign-built boats that are older than 2013 model years, this adds value to your boat in theory, especially if you have a rare make/model. For Buyers, you may have to pay more if you want a boat that has been U.S. imported, especially if it’s a rare older boat.

What’s Required to Import a Foreign-Built Vessel Today?

Until recently, most boat owners only worried about the typical 1.5% import duty assessed on the value of a foreign-built recreational vessel. These rates changed in 2025 by Executive Order of the President of the United States, and now not only vary by country of origin, but with the implementation of the Lacey Act, payment of the duty, no matter the amount, is no longer enough.

To legally import a boat under the Lacey Act, you now need a signed Lacey Act Declaration (Form PPQ 505) and be able to provide detailed wood species and country of harvest documentation from the builder or manufacturer, along with verifiable information for all wood and plant-based materials used in construction. On a boat, think of flooring, veneer, cabinetry, wood core, equipment mounting blocks, marine plywood used in or around mast compression posts, bulkheads, and more!

Download Form PPQ505

In short, if your boat contains wood (and it almost certainly does), you need the builder to provide a traceability report showing the legal sourcing of those materials. Without it, you cannot complete a Lacey Act filing, and the boat cannot be legally imported into the U.S., regardless of whether duty has been paid.

Why Older Boats Are at Risk

The biggest risk lies with older boats. If your boat was built before 2013, the manufacturer may not have the wood traceability records needed to satisfy Lacey Act requirements. That’s because Europe’s equivalent regulation, the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), didn’t go into effect until March 2013.

Boats built prior to this often lack the required documentation, making it virtually impossible to comply with current U.S. import laws. And because the Lacey Act has no grandfather clause, older boats are held to the same standard as new builds. If, however, the owner of a boat imported their boat into the U.S. prior to the December 2024 Phase VII Lacey Act rollout to the marine industry, the owner will NOT need to have a Lacey Act filing, or reporting information about woods used in the boat construction process.

What This Means for Sellers and Buyers

If you’re selling a foreign-built catamaran to a U.S. buyer, you’ll need to contact the manufacturer and confirm whether they can supply the necessary Lacey Act documentation. Without it, the buyer cannot import the vessel, even if they’re willing to pay duty.

If you’re a buyer, make sure your broker understands the Lacey Act compliance process and how it may or may not impact you as a buyer. Not all do, and failure to comply can result in delays, legal complications, and even forfeiture of the vessel.

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The Big Picture

The Lacey Act is more than just red tape. It’s a well-intentioned environmental safeguard with very real implications for the boating world. And while the law doesn’t specifically target catamarans, the ripple effect on foreign-built vessels is becoming impossible to ignore.

As the U.S. becomes stricter on environmental compliance and documentation, buyers and sellers of sailing catamarans must do their homework, and that starts with knowing whether your boat can even be imported.

The Lacey Act is codified in Title 16 and Title 18 of the United States Code. Specifically, it is found under 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378 and 18 U.S.C. § 42.

This matters, especially if you’re thinking about buying, selling, or commercially operating a foreign-built boat within the United States. The last thing you want is to run into are unexpected expenses or worse, legal trouble - because you didn’t know the rules. So without further ado, let’s break it down!

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Flagging a Boat: What it Actually Means

When we talk about flagging a boat, we’re referring to the legal process of registering your vessel under a country’s flag. I like to think about it as the “nationality” of your boat. For most U.S. citizen buyers, this happens through either the U.S. Coast Guard or a local state agency like the department of motor vehicles or department of natural resources (this varies from state-to-state).

U.S. Coast Guard Documentation

This is a federal process managed through the National Vessel Documentation Center, a department of the U.S. Coast Guard. Federal documentation gives your boat a U.S. “nationality”, which can be handy if you’re cruising internationally. It also acts as a title, or proof of ownership, so it’s often required by lenders if you’re financing the purchase.

State Registration

If you’re not federally documenting the boat through the U.S. Coast Guard, you’ll need to register and title it in your home state. This usually applies to smaller boats or those that only operate in state waters.

Your Key Takeaway: Flagging your boat in the U.S., whether through federal USCG documentation or state registration, has nothing to do with import duties. Case-and-point, you can have a U.S. flagged boat that has never even been in U.S. waters, which means it would never have had U.S. importation duties paid.

Importation: Where Customs Comes In

Importation is an entirely different process that comes into play when a foreign-built boat is brought into U.S. waters for extended use. This is handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not the U.S. Coast Guard or your state vessel registration office.

When you import a boat, you’ll need to pay an importation duties (or taxes), typically 1.5% of the vessel’s value (however that will vary by where the boat is manufactured), plus administrative fees. This duty is a one-time payment that allows the boat to remain in U.S. waters legally. As a side note, it also permits you to sell the boat in U.S. waters to U.S. residents.

When Are Import Duties Required?

If you’re buying a foreign-built boat and plan to keep it in the U.S., import duties apply. However, if the boat is staying outside of U.S. waters (say, in the Caribbean for example), there are no requirements to pay U.S. import duties.

Temporary Visits

Foreign-flagged boats can enter U.S. waters temporarily under a cruising permit, but if they overstay the permit, which typically can be up to 1 year, import duties will apply. Additionally, a U.S. flagged vessel that has not been imported which enters U.S. waters, is subject to importation requirements, including but not limited to, duty payments.

The bottom line: Import duties depend on where the boat is being used, not what flag it flies.

Looking Ahead: Why Importation Status Matters for Resale

One thing many owners overlook is how the importation status of their boat will affect the end of their ownership journey. Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important to think about where the boat will likely be when it’s time to sell.

For boats not yet imported into the U.S., the selling process can get tricky:

Complications for U.S. Buyers

If a foreign-built boat has not been imported, U.S. residents will need to pay the import duties when they buy it, or as is more common if the boat is listed within U.S. waters, the seller will have to import and pay duty on the boat prior to closing. This added expense, along with a perceived notion that the importation process is complicated, often-times deters buyers from inquiring on a boat.

Flagged Listings

Boats that haven’t been imported are often flagged with red font in listings as “not for sale to U.S. residents while in U.S. Waters.” This warning can discourage inquiries, even if the boat is otherwise a great deal. If you’re listing your boat in the U.S., my advise is to just import the boat and pay the duties - it just makes for a more simple and straightforward sales process, and your boat will theoretically be worth more than the seller down the dock that hasn’t imported their boat.

Market Limitations

If your boat isn’t imported, it may be harder to market to U.S. based buyers, who make up a very large portion of the market for cruising catamarans.

Planning Ahead: If you’re buying a boat outside the U.S., consider whether you’ll eventually sell it in the U.S. If so, importing the boat sooner rather than later might make sense to streamline the resale process and attract a wider pool of buyers. Since boats cannot be imported into the U.S. until they are in U.S. waters, this process can be nuanced if you’re taking delivery outside the U.S. Send me a note if you’d like some guidance on how to effectively do this and for referrals to importation brokers.

A Side Note on Flagging and Insurance

Probably the most common question I get is about flagging and if it matters. Much of this has to do with your cruising plans, but a huge factor to take into account when flagging is insurance, and closely related to that, financing.

Here’s where the Paris List (aka the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control List) comes into play. The Paris List is a ranking system that categorizes flag states based on their safety and compliance record, amongst many other categories. Insurance companies use this list to assess risk, with flags on the White List (such as the U.S.) seen as lower risk than those on the Black or Grey List (such as Panama or Saint Kitts and Nevis).

While we won’t dive too deeply into the Paris List here today (stay tuned for that in a future article), it’s worth noting that choosing a reputable flag state, whether the U.S. or another country, can make it easier to secure coverage and avoid surprises during inspections abroad. If your new boat is financed, your lender very likely will have their own flagging requirements as a condition of the loan.

The Big Picture

Flagging your boat and importing it in the U.S. are two completely separate concepts and processes, each with its own rules and requirements. A U.S. flagged boat doesn’t automatically mean import duties have been paid, and a both a U.S. and foreign-flagged boat can legally cruise U.S. waters temporarily without being imported.

For most U.S. based cruisers, sticking with the U.S. flag makes sense - it’s familiar, straightforward, widely accepted, and easier to insure than many other countries. However, if you’re buying a foreign-built boat, it’s critical to think about the long-term plan: where you’ll cruise, whether you’ll sell it in the U.S. when the time comes, and how its importation status might affect your options.

If you’re weighing your options or have questions about your flagging or importation, feel free to reach out. Navigating these waters can be tricky, but with the right guidance, it doesn’t have to be.

Disclosure Statement

The information provided in this article is for general guidance only. Every boat owner’s situation is unique, and decisions about flagging, importation, and resale should be made based on your specific circumstances. For expert advice, feel free to contact me, and I’ll be happy to provide referrals to trusted professionals who can help you navigate these concepts and processes with confidence.

In September 2018 the U.S. Coast Guard boarded a fishing vessel in the Halifax River to conduct an inspection of safety equipment and examine licenses of the crew operating the vessel. No violations were found and the charter was able to safely continue. Just a few weeks prior a 48' charter vessel was boarded in the Miami River that had 18 passengers aboard. It turns out there were more paying passengers aboard than the vessel was certified to carry. In addition the vessel also did not have a valid Certificate of Inspection (COI) nor did it have a credentialed mariner in control and operating it.

Both of these stories were released by the U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District Headquarters based in Miami, and are a stark reminder that regulatory enforcement is alive and well in the 1.7 million square miles in and around Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

With the accelerated rate of foreign-built vessels being delivered to American buyers, it's also critical to understand the U.S. build requirements as set forth in the Passenger Services Act (46 U.S.C. 55103). In particular, if you own a foreign-built vessel that is less than 3 years old, you are not permitted to operate the vessel as a traditional charter vessel that includes crew. You can, however, offer the vessel on a "bareboat" basis, until the vessel is 3 years old, then you can apply for a Small Vessel Waiver from the Maritime Administration.

A demise charter, oftentimes referred to as bareboat charter, requires a written agreement between the owner of a vessel and a charterer where the charterer has use of the vessel for a defined period of time and is considered the de facto owner. A bareboat charterer may take on legal obligations to the owner of the vessel, the crew, the passengers carried, and others.

Elements of a valid Bareboat Charter

1. The charterer must have the option of selecting and paying crew, although the owner may require general levels of proficiency for the crew

2. The master/crew are paid by the charterer

3. All food and fuel are provided by the charterer

4. Insurance is obtained by the charterer

5. The charterer is responsible for navigating the vessel

6. The charterer may discharge any crew member onboard

7. The vessel is surveyed upon its delivery and return

Any indication showing possession or control of the vessel by the owner, the owner's operator, or the owner's agent would be a contradiction that a valid and legal bareboat charter exists, and may be considered an illegal charter operation.

Common Bareboat Charter Mistakes

1. A chartered vessel may NOT carry more than 12 passengers without a Certificate of Inspection (COI)

2. A chartered vessel may NOT carry more than 12 passengers while moored. A charter vessel is considered to be carrying "passengers" whether moored or underway. This includes a boat bed and breakfast, oftentimes referred to as an "AirBnb"

3. The owner, or owner's agent, of the vessel may NOT be the vessel master or part of the crew. The vessel owner is NOT permitted onboard during a bareboat charter

4. A bareboat charter contract may not provide or dictate a crew. The charterer must be able to select a crew and have the ability to discharge the crew

5. The charterer is not considered a passenger, and there can only be one charterer, even though the vessel may be chartered by several individuals. In this case, one person (typically the individual signing the bareboat agreement) would be considered the charterer and the rest would be counted as passengers

6. Both U.S. flagged and foreign-flagged vessels may be chartered, however foreign flagged vessels cannot carry passengers for hire between U.S. ports and must be chartered by and/or operate as a recreational vessel. Foreign-built vessels owned by U.S. citizens must meet coastwise trade rules before carrying passengers for hire.

7. Using a vessel as a boat bed and breakfast, also known as an "AirBnb" in which the owner or operator receives consideration for people to remain overnight on the vessel is a commercial operation, is still limited to 12 passengers, and requires a written contract (bareboat agreement) if the vessel is foreign-built and does not carry a MARAD Small Vessel Waiver + Coastwise endorsement on the vessel's Federal Certificate of Documentation.