CPs aren't banned from importation they just require a CITES certificate.
The problem for us here in Canada is that most (well, maybe all) growers
in the U.S. don't want to or haven't got their USFWS cites export
license. I think it costs $140 for 2 or 3 years(?) and if they don't have
many export clients it isn't worth it for them. Even after they have the
license they have to apply for a CITES certificate for each separate
shipment. This can take from 2-4 weeks and costs $25.00 each. When the
plants are to be shipped they then have to be inspected by a USFWS
officer who stamps the certificate and makes the final OK. Of course you
still need the phytosanitary certificate and you have to make sure you
have a plant import permit for our end of the shipment. If the nursery is
in a non-designated CITES export port then it first has to be sent to a
designated export port for the inspection because if the inspector has to
go to the nursery in a distant spot they charge by the hour!! No fooling!
Needless to say it stinks. There is an alternative that most nurseries
don't want to do (can't blame them) is to apply for a CITES export permit
under their own names and not as a business. If they send it to you as
if you were a friend then they can get the certificate without all the
bother of having an actual license for their company.
Harold