Information on CITES

Endangered species of wood

In autumn 2016, a number of species of wood which are used in the production of musical instruments (e.g. drum sets, orchestra instruments, guitars, as well as accessories such as conductors' batons) among other industries were included in the list of threatened species. Among these were some species of bubinga and rosewood, such as the so-called African rosewood variety. Since January 2017, these species have therefore been subject to strict import and sales regulations, with which we naturally fully comply.

Musical instruments often contain only a few grams of such wood, but since CITES does not recognize minimum thresholds, every item containing even a single gram of a threatened species of wood is affected - even if said wood has been sourced from a certified sustainable grower.

Side effects for musicians

Since Jan 02, 2017, the sale and export of products containing CITES materials has been severely restricted and subject to significant red tape. Every instrument which is imported into the EU must be registered and approved by the authorities. As our customer and the owner of such an instrument, you must be able to produce this special approval document when required, for example if you decide to sell your instrument on at a later date.

You can register items you have previously acquired with your local authority. In order to do this you only need to show the invoice for your product, which you can download at any time from our customer centre. This will suffice as written proof that the instrument or piece of equipment was bought before January 02, 2017, i.e. before the materials contained were classified as endangered.

Deliveries into non-EU countries require a complicated and sometimes lengthy approval procedure. This may delay delivery by several weeks and may cause further fees in the recipient's country. Please make sure you understand the relevant rules in your country before making a purchase.

Setting an example

There are plenty of reasons to complain about politicians and regulations, but there are also good reasons to set an example every now and then and do the right thing, for example where the protection of our environment is concerned.
As soon as the content of the convention for the protection of endangered species became public, we at Thomann began to replace the endangered varieties of wood in our own-brand products (e.g. Harley Benton guitars) with alternative materials.

We were also the first dealer in Europe to implement the strict documentation and export regulations right on time on January 02, 2017 and we are now striving to make instrument manufacturers aware of the importance of moving on to regenerative and sustainable materials for their instruments.

However: on our own, we will not succeed in our efforts! As a musician, you can use your wallet and your voice to make sure that manufacturers take this topic seriously and search out alternatives. You can let manufacturers, the media and other retailers know that you believe in the importance of sustainably produced equipment.

We know that there will always be individual pieces where the manufacturers cannot use other materials without negatively affecting the sound or the way the instrument plays. But if we focus on the exceptions and lose sight of the rule, we will never change anything.

Thank you very much for your understanding and for your support