Industry News

Wood Packaging Materials Enforcement Priority Again

Aug. 30, 2022
By: David G. Forgue

For almost 20 years the United States has had specific rules regarding imports that contain solid wood packaging materials. These rules are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).Concerns about wood packaging materials arose after at least three invasive species were introduced to the United States in packaging materials. These were the highly destructive Asian longhorned beetle, the pine shoot beetle, and the emerald ash borer.

In July 2022 Customs issued a bulletin in the context of the CTPAT program indicating that compliance with the wood packaging CTPAT requirements was among the lowest of any area reviewed. The bulletin reiterates the expectations of APHIS and Customs with respect to the handling of wood packaging material. It is also a wake-up call for importers that Customs is looking at compliance in this area. Prudent importers would heed the bulletin’s warning before encountering this issue with their own imports.

Perhaps in part because of the low compliance rate, it appears that Customs has been much more active in enforcement in this area. There is evidence of shipments being denied entry and being required to be shipped back to the port of origin not only for a failure to mark pallets as compliant, but also for markings not easily visible when a container is opened, or for compliance markings that are in too pale an ink. In each case a review of the APHIS regulations by the supplier and importer would have saved the parties costly return shipment charges and delays. The importer is also very likely to receive a penalty notice that they will need to either spendresources and time mitigating or paying.

If you have any questions about complying with the wood packaging materials regulations, ordealing with the fall out in a Customs enforcement scenario do not hesitate to contact any attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn.

Industry News

Wood Packaging Materials Enforcement Priority Again

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