Pallet Issues

International Pest Management Issue:

At the beginning of the decade international governments and scientific experts raised concern over wood pests spreading around the globe through infected solid wood packaging material. This includes pallets, dunnage, crating, runners and other types of packaging.

Outbreaks of non-native pest species took place in a number of countries, including the United States. These pests could cause significant damage in forest ecosystems not accustomed to them.

International governments worked under the auspices of the United Nations to develop a global standard for non-manufactured wood packaging. Leaders met in Rome in March of 2002 and finalized a voluntary standard requiring treatment for both hardwood and coniferous solid wood packaging. The new standard is commonly known as ISPM-15.

Acceptable treatment methods include heat treatment and fumigation with methyl bromide. Adoption of the standard has been left up to each country. Most major countries have either adopted ISPM-15 or at the very least accept it for global transit.

For more detailed information, please review the resources provided below. To view the resources marked with a ( ) you must have a copy of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer installed. If you don’t already have it installed on your computer, you can quickly download it by clicking the "Get Acrobat Reader" button.

For more detailed information, please review the resources provided below. To view the resources marked with a ( ) you must have a copy of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer installed. If you don’t already have it installed on your computer, you can quickly download it by clicking the “Get Acrobat Reader” button

Links

• USDA Animal Plant & Health Inspection Service – Government forms, information on the latest developments and FAQs.
• U.S.Customs and Border Protection – This agency is charged with enforcing wood packaging material regulations for imports into the United States. Its Web site has implementation dates and information, a FAQ section, and other resources for those importing goods into this country.
• U.S. Dept of Agriculture – Foreign Agriculture Service – Has extensive coverage of latest notifications by foreign countries to enact new phytosanitary standards or regulations.
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Government agency responsible for solid wood packaging regulations in Canada.
• Country by Country Import Requirements – The Foreign Agriculture Service has put together this chart of solid wood packaging regulations on a country by country basis.
• International Forestry Quarantine Research Group – The International Forestry Quarantine Research Group was established to provide a mechanism where critical forestry quarantine issues can be addressed through discussion and collaborative research. It serves to bring together scientists and phytosanitary officials to foster muti-disciplinary approaches to forest quarantine-related problems of global significance.
• International Plant Protection Convention – Homepage for the organization responsible for the new international standard. Includes a copy of the IPPC standard and a list of IPPC member countries.
• Southern Pine Council –  Provides an online directory of southern pine producers. Need heat treated softwood lumber? Look here for quality suppliers!
• American Lumber Standard Committee –  The organization responsible for overseeing the U.S. inspection program for heat treatment of wood packaging material.
• NWPCA –  The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association has developed fact sheets and information for industry members. The NWPCA also oversees the certification program for fumigation of solid wood packaging within the United States.
• Canadian Wooden Pallet & Container Association –  Complete rundown of the latest in international phytosanitary regulations and their impact on the Canadian market.
• Louisiana State University –  Technical resource & global phytosanitary portal. Has streaming video, technical papers and information articles covering research projects, existing technologies, and other phytosanitary topics.
• Workshop Research Papers –  Presentations and workbook documents from the 2005 IPPC workshop on the practical application of the new international standard.
• Heat Treatment Equipment Check List
• Industry Comments on Various Treatment Technologies 
• Review of Treatment Technologies This review originally appeared in the October 2003 edition of the Pallet Enterprise.

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