Issue 441, May 27, 2004
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a proposed rule last year that would require imported solid wood packing material (SWPM) to be either heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide, and be marked as specified in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15.

The publication of the final rule has been postponed several times by APHIS. In March of this year, APHIS finally announced that it anticipated publishing the final rule no earlier than the middle of 2004. Now APHIS is no longer giving a timeframe for the SWPM final rule. APHIS now says that they do not know when the final rule will be published in the Federal Register.

APHIS' SWPM web page, http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/swp/, contains information about SWPM treatment and marking requirements for both imports and exports. This page will be kept up to date.

When the final rule is published there will be a grace period of at least six months, so that countries can establish programs that are compliant with ISPM 15. During this phase-in period, APHIS does not expect to issue penalties against those who are not in compliance or hold up freight.

The import section has information regarding the status of imported SWPM, and the export section has updates on the SWPM requirements for those countries that already have SWPM standards. These counties are Australia, China, the European Union, India, South Korea, and South Africa.

Our contributing writer, Karl Krueger, is the Technical Advisor for DHL Danzas Air & Ocean in Port Huron, Michigan. If you have any questions or require further information, please contact Mr. Krueger at Karl.Krueger@dhl.com or 810 987 0567.

Please note that due to the complex nature of the subject matter, DHL Danzas Air & Ocean cannot be responsible for actions taken by the reader in reliance on the information contained herein without prior consultation with DHL Danzas Air & Ocean.