Wood Packing Material Phase 3 Enforcement

Jun. 15, 2006

In September 2005, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (Customs) began the conditional enforcement of regulations set forth by the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) addressing wood packaging materials (WPM) used in the transportation of goods imported into the Untied States.   This regulation is the result of the U.S. and other countries’ commitment to enforce the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15, entitled “Guidelines for Regulatory Wood Packaging Material in International Trade.”  These regulations restrict the importation of many types of WPM, including pallets, crates, boxes and pieces of wood used to brace or support cargo, used in the transportation of other articles of commerce. 

On July 5, 2006, APHIS and Customs will require the immediate reexportation of any ISPM-15 marked or unmarked WPM that is found to be infested with a live wood boring pest of the following families: Cerambycidae (longhorned beetle), Buprestidae (woodboring beetle), Siricidae (woodwasps), Cossidae (carpenter moth), Curculionidae (weevils), Platypodidae (ambrosia beetle), Sesiidae (clearwing moth), and Scolytidae (bark beetle).  The entire shipment will be reexported if Customs determines that it is not feasible to separate the imported merchandise from the nonconforming WPM.

Additional information concerning the regulations on WPM and their implementation are available here.