Before you quote
ISPM 15 · HT| Lumber members | Treated and stamped |
|---|---|
| Plywood panels | Exempt from treatment |
| Mark | IPPC symbol, code, treatment |
| Marked on | Two opposite sides |
| Destination | Check APHIS and the importer's authority |
| Our default | HT lumber with stamp |
What the standard covers
ISPM 15 is an international standard for treating wood packaging material, set under the International Plant Protection Convention to limit the spread of pests in raw wood. It applies to crates, pallets, skids, dunnage and blocking made of solid wood, and it asks for two things: an approved treatment, and a mark that shows the treatment was done under an official program.
It does not regulate the goods inside. A crate holding cartons of paper still has to meet the standard if the crate is made of lumber. Wood that is thin or processed, such as plywood, is handled differently, as explained under the exemption below.
The four approved treatments
NELMA lists four approved treatments under the standard: HT (heat treatment), MB (methyl bromide fumigation), SF (sulphuryl fluoride, added in 2018) and DH (dielectric heating). The wood must also be debarked, since bark can harbour pests that treatment does not reach.
Heat treatment is the most common. USDA APHIS describes it as bringing the wood core to a minimum of 56 °C and holding it for a minimum of 30 minutes. Our export crates are built with HT lumber unless you specify a different approved treatment.
| Code | Treatment | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HT | Heat treatment | Core at 56 °C for 30 minutes (APHIS) |
| MB | Methyl bromide | Fumigation program |
| SF | Sulphuryl fluoride | Added in 2018 |
| DH | Dielectric heating | Heat by microwave or radio frequency |
The mark and who applies it
The mark is the proof. It combines the IPPC symbol, a country code, a producer or facility number and the treatment code. APHIS explains that in the United States the American Lumber Standard Committee administers the heat treatment and methyl bromide programs, and that heat-treated packaging must carry the official mark together with the mark of an ALSC accredited agency.
NELMA's program says finished pallets, skids, crates or boxes are stamped on a minimum of two opposite sides. A stamp is applied by the treating or manufacturing facility under an agency's supervision, not by the shipper. The stamp guide shows how to read each part.
What is exempt
NELMA states that plywood, particleboard, OSB, flakeboard and veneer are exempt from ISPM 15, because the manufacturing process treats the wood. A plywood panel on a crate therefore needs no stamp for the standard.
The exemption stops at the panel. A plywood crate still has lumber skids, runners and cleats, and those members are not exempt. A crate counts as compliant only if every solid-wood member is treated and marked. The plywood exemption page explains where this trips buyers up.
Checking what your destination requires
Do not rely on a list from a website, including this one, to know whether your destination applies the standard. Import rules are set by the destination country, they can change, and they can differ for particular goods. APHIS and the destination country's plant-protection authority are the places to check.
Ask your importer or forwarder in writing what the receiving authority requires, and keep the reply with the shipping file. If the answer is unclear, build to the standard anyway: an HT crate ships to places that do not ask, while an untreated crate cannot ship to places that do.
What to give us at the quote
Tell us the destination country and whether the receiving authority needs a particular treatment. Give us the load's inside dimensions and gross weight as usual. We write the lumber treatment and marking into the crate spec so the paperwork matches the crate.
If you are supplying your own lumber, pallets or dunnage, mention it. Each wood item that goes into the crate must meet the standard, and a mixed crate with one unmarked member is a crate that can be held at the border.
Dunnage, blocking and the rest of the wood
The standard covers every piece of solid wood that travels with the goods, not only the crate walls. Loose dunnage laid between layers, blocking nailed to a container floor, bracing inside a crate and pallets under cartons all count as wood packaging material. One untreated block lying in the corner of a treated crate is a nonconforming piece.
Walk the load once more before closing. List every wooden item, confirm each is stamped or made of exempt panel, and replace anything that is neither. Ask whoever loads the container what they intend to use for bracing, since container loaders sometimes add their own lumber at the last minute, and that lumber also needs the mark.
What an inspector looks for
At the port or border, an officer checks the mark, then the wood. A legible stamp on each solid member, no bark, no sign of live insects, no fresh boreholes. A crate that fails any of those can be refused entry, treated at the shipper expense, re-exported or destroyed, and the choice belongs to the receiving authority.
Inspections are not uniform. Some shipments are waved through, others are opened and measured, and the same crate may face different checks on two trips. Build every crate as if it will be the one pulled aside, with clean stamps, bright wood and a spare photograph of each mark on file.
Why the rule exists
Timber moves insects. Beetles, borers and wood-boring larvae can survive inside untreated boards for long periods, then emerge in forests, orchards and city streets far from where they began. Governments adopted a common packaging standard so pallets and crates could stop carrying foreign pests across oceans, instead of inspecting every board by hand.
Seen that way, the mark is a courtesy to every country your crate touches, and treatment is cheap compared with an eradication programme. Shippers who understand the purpose tend to keep their paperwork orderly, quarantine suspect lumber and ask sensible questions early.
Questions buyers ask
Does every crate need an ISPM 15 stamp?
Any solid-wood crate going to a country that enforces the standard does. Whether a destination enforces it is for APHIS and the destination's plant-protection authority to confirm.
Is plywood covered by ISPM 15?
Plywood is exempt, as are OSB, particleboard, flakeboard and veneer. The lumber skid and cleats on the same crate are not.
Which treatment do you use?
Heat treatment is our default for export lumber. If your destination or customer requires another approved treatment, tell us at the quote.
Can a shipper stamp their own crate?
No. The mark is applied under an accredited agency's supervision by a facility in the program.