Information on - Import Health Standards for Wood Packaging Material

The following is general information on the Import Health Standard for Wood Packaging Material. Detailed information is available in the full standard.  To view the full standard click here.

The New Zealand standard is aligned with the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No 15: Guidelines for regulation wood packaging material in international trade (ISPM 15). To view the international standard click here.

Wood packaging that is treated and marked using the ISPM 15 standard will be compliant with the New Zealand standard treatment in appendix one as long as all bark has been removed.

The New Zealand import health standard for wood packaging material came into effect on 1 May 2006. The enforcement of the standard will be phased in over two months.

Between 1 May and 30 June 2006:

• Consignments will be risk profiled and a subset of these will be selected for inspection.
• Any wood packaging found to have pests will be treated, destroyed or reshipped.
• Wood packaging that is non-compliant will be tagged with an advisory notice to the importer.

From 1 July 2006:

• Wood packaging must comply with the import requirements.
• Consignments will be risk profiled and a subset of these will be selected for inspection.
• Any non-compliant wood will be treated, reshipped or destroyed.
• A notice will be sent to the importer about any non-compliant wood packaging.

Information from the non-compliances will be used to feedback into the risk profiling system. This means that importers who develop a history of non-compliance will be selected for inspection more often.

All importers must ensure that wood packaging is compliant with the New Zealand standard. To do this, importers must ensure that wood packaging is:

• Treated (with rates specified in appendix 1 and 3 of the import health standard) using the following methods:
  • Heat treatment
  • Fumigated with methyl bromide
  • Fumigated with phosphine
  • Chemical preservation using:
    • Boron compounds
    • Copper + didecyldimethyl ammonium chloride
    • Copper azole
    • Copper chrome arsenic
    • Propiconaole and Tebuconazole
• Wood packaging treated to ISPM 15 standard should be marked with the following:

XX = Two letter code for country in which wood packaging was produced

000 = Official certification number for facility that produced the wood packaging

YY = Treatment that the wood packaging has been given

This mark can only be given to wood packaging by an approved provider from the country of origin

• Wood packaging that is not marked with the above stamp must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with the treatment detailed in the treatment section or a NPPO endorsed treatment certificate. These certificates must be the original.
• Free from pests
• Free of extraneous material (e.g. leaves, soil)
• Free of all bark

New Zealand companies exporting wood packaging may also have to comply with international wood packaging requirements. For more information on exporting click here 

Common questions and answers click here

Useful links

• Quarantine Declaration (20 Kb) to accompany Sea Containers to New Zealand
• Container Log Sheet (379 Kb) for reporting inspection results
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency