<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">USTR Press Office <<a href="mailto:ustrpressoffice@ustr.eop.gov" class="">ustrpressoffice@ustr.eop.gov</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">USTR Announces Enforcement Action to Block Illegal Timber Imports from Peru</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">October 19, 2023 at 1:00:05 PM EDT<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">USTR Press Office <<a href="mailto:ustrpressoffice@ustr.eop.gov" class="">ustrpressoffice@ustr.eop.gov</a>></span></div><br class=""><div class=""><center style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; 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color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; padding: 0px 18px 9px;"><div style="text-align: left;" class=""><strong class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</strong></div><div style="text-align: left;" class="">October 19, 2023</div> <div style="text-align: left;" class=""><strong class="">CONTACT</strong>:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:media@ustr.eop.gov" style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" class="">media@ustr.eop.gov</a><br class=""> </div><div style="text-align: center;" class=""><strong class="">USTR Announces Enforcement Action to Block Illegal Timber Imports from Peru</strong><br class=""> </div>WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative today announced that the Interagency Committee on Trade in Timber Products from Peru (Timber Committee) has directed United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to block any timber imports from Inversiones La Oroza SRL (Oroza), a Peruvian exporter, based on illegally harvested timber found in its supply chain. <br class=""><br class="">The Timber Committee directed CBP to continue to deny entry to any future shipments of timber products originating from Peru that were produced or exported by Oroza until the Government of Peru demonstrates that Oroza has complied with all applicable laws, regulations, and other measures of Peru governing the harvest of and trade in timber.<br class=""><br class="">The United States will continue to engage closely with Peru to combat illegal logging and work toward improving forest sector governance.<br class=""><br class=""><strong class="">BACKGROUND</strong><br class=""><br class="">This action is taken pursuant to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://ustr.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b58f12c4da47019d98a1e84ef&id=f3142af96b&e=2babc947d3" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" class="">United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement’s (PTPA) Annex on Forest Sector Governance (Forest Annex)</a>.<br class=""><br class="">In February 2016, the Timber Committee requested that the Government of Peru verify a 2015 timber shipment exported from Peru to the United States complied with Peruvian laws, regulations, and other measures governing the harvest of and trade in timber products. The timber verification process was conducted by the Government of Peru and revealed that timber products contained in a shipment from Oroza were not harvested and traded in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.<br class=""><br class="">On October 19, 2017, the Timber Committee directed CBP to deny entry to any future shipments of timber products originating from Peru that were produced or exported by Oroza. That denial of entry order against Oroza was renewed on October 19, 2020. To date, the Government of Peru has not provided additional information to demonstrate that Oroza is complying with all applicable laws, regulations, and other measures of Peru governing the harvest of and trade in timber products. <br class=""><br class=""> <div style="text-align: center;" class="">###</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr class=""><td valign="top" id="templateBody" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-size: cover; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 234, 234); padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class=""><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr class=""><td valign="top" class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; 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