Wheeler Packaging and ISPM15 Certification

Wheeler Packaging Ltd are fully conversant with ISPM15 regulations governing the export of timber, many countries have implemented ISPM15 and anyone who uses wood packaging material to transport their goods to these countries must ensure that it is treated and marked accordingly, regulated wood packaging materials include crates, boxes, packing cases, dunnage, pallets, cable drums and spools or reels which may be present in any imported consignment – including consignments that would not normally be subject to phytosanitary control.

We undergo an assessment every 6 months which will review our systems, including processes and records, pertaining to the manufacture, re-manufacture, repair, treatment and marking of wood packaging material. It will include a review of:

The sources and types of wood used, and reconciliation of volumes in and out and stock balances (receipts and sales).
The treatment methods used at the premises, for example, the capacity of facilities and their ability to achieve the required technical standards.
The available facilities for segregation of ISPM15-treated material from that which is not treated.
The Designated person’s knowledge of production operations, the Programme’s requirements and Plant Health regulations. In particular, his or her understanding of the following terms and processes:
- ISPM15 marking requirements;
- definition of wood packaging material;
- heat treatment;
- processed wood;
- debarked and bark-free wood;
- signs of live pests

If the assessment is successful the Forestry Commission will issue us with a certificate via TIMCON. The certificate is valid for six months.

The risks of introducing and spreading tree pests through the transport of packaging material made of unprocessed wood is recognised internationally. Certain pests, including wood boring longhorn beetles from the family Cerambycidae, bark beetles from the family Scolytidae, and the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, are readily transported and spread via infested wood packaging material.

In 2002, an International Standard for a Phytosanitary Measure, Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade (ISPM15), was adopted by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (now the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures). Most of the UK’s international trading partners around the globe have now implemented landing regulations for wood packaging material based on ISPM15.

In order to help UK manufacturers and exporters demonstrate compliance with ISPM15, the Forestry Commission in Great Britain and the Forest Service, an agency within the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland, established a national wood packaging material marking programme in conjunction with the trade. The United Kingdom wood packaging material marking programme (UKWPMMP) regulates the manufacture, repair and re-manufacture of ISPM15 compliant WPM in the UK and is administered by the Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON).

The Programme was given statutory status on 6 November 2006, when the Plant Health (Wood Packaging Material Marking) Forestry Order 2006 came into force. Operation of the UKWPMMP is overseen by an Advisory Council consisting of representatives from :