Australia adopts ISPM15 bark tolerance for imports of wood packaging material wef 1 July 2010.
Following the adoption of the revised version of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 15: Regulation of Wood Packaging Material in International Trade (ISPM 15) in April 2009, Biosecurity Services Group (BSG) undertook to review Australia’s requirement for bark freedom on solid wood packaging material. From 1 July 2010 Australia will accept solid wood packaging material that is treated and marked as ISPM 15 compliant and meets the bark tolerance requirements defined in the revised ISPM 15 standard. This requires that solid wood packaging material be debarked, but allows a tolerance for small pieces of bark that have not been completely removed during milling.
This tolerance for bark will also apply to solid wood packaging treated with other AQIS approved treatments. The ‘bark free’ declaration is still required but the ISPM 15 tolerance limits apply. Any wood packaging and dunnage exceeding the ISPM 15 bark tolerance limit will be subject to treatment, export or destruction at the importer’s expense.
Further details can be viewed on the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service's website and AQIS's Notice to Industry No. 18-2010 'Adoption of bark tolerance for imports defined in the wood packaging standard ISPM 15'
Phytophthora ramorum in South West England
The Forestry Commission is investigating a recent outbreak of Phytophthora ramorum on Japanese Larch trees in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. This is the first time that stem lesions caused by P. ramorum have been found on conifer species. Many of the infected trees are not growing in proximity to rhododendron (known to be a host of P. ramorum) which raises the question of how they have become infected. Symptoms have also been found on Western Hemlock and a selection of broadleaf species (beech, birch, and some oaks) growing in the same area.
Wood Packaging Material Treated with Methyl Bromide
The Plant Health Service has received a number of queries from forwarding agents and others who are concerned that it will not be possible to import goods on wooden packaging material which has been treated with methyl bromide under ISPM 15 requirements after 18 March ie the date on which the storage and use by any persons of the fumigant gas will cease in the UK in accordance with the Food and Environmental Protection Act 1985 and the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 Notice of Revocation Numbers 2360, 2361 and 2362.
Freight forwarders etc have become confused over this issue because of draft EU Regulations on substances that deplete the ozone layer ie Co-Decision (COD): COD/2008/0165) as they think that this draft legislation intends to prohibit the use of wood packaging material treated with methyl bromide.
We are pleased to be able to clarify that it is not the intention of the draft EU regulations to prohibit the continued use of wood packaging material which has been treated with methyl bromide. The intention of the EU regulations is to prohibit the movement of products which contain banned substances (ozone depletents) and which rely on that presence to function eg certain refrigerated appliances.
Wood packaging material does not rely on methyl bromide to function. Any residues dissipate very quickly after fumigation, and indeed the wood packaging material cannot be released from the fumigation chamber until residues are down to prescribed levels (5 ppm), and they very quickly fall to zero after that.
Thus wood packaging material treated with methyl bromide is therefore not caught up in the draft Co-Decision (COD): COD/2008/0165) and may continue to be used and re-used without let or hindrance.
It should be noted, however, that fumigation services in the UK will cease to be able to use methyl bromide within the requirements of the UK Wood Packaging Material Marking Programme (UKWPMMP) with effect from Friday 19th March 2010 and no further fumigation treatments, for ISPM15 compliance purposes, will be permitted within the Programme on or after this date.
UKWPMMP participants that have methyl bromide treated timber material or manufactured articles of wood packaging material in stock after the UK fumigant withdrawal date will, however, be permitted to use up these stocks and mark the products with the treatment code ‘MB’ accordingly. (Updated 1 March 2010)
The Plant Health Service is at the Forestry Commission's office in Edinburgh, where the Head of Plant Health and Operations Manager are based. There are two regional officers who support Plant Health Inspectors over the whole of Great Britain. Their regions are North, (Scotland, North England as far south as the counties of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire excluding Humber ports and North Wales) and South (all counties of England south of those mentioned and South Wales). We keep our clients informed of the rules and other significant items of interest by publishing regular Plant Health Newsletters. We aim to publish these at six-monthly intervals. We also publish a range of advisory leaflets and posters, which can be ordered, usually free of charge, from the Plant Health Service at the Forestry Commission Edinburgh Office.
