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Wood packaging material requirements to the United States

Understand the import requirements for wood packaging, including dunnage, for all species to the United States (U.S.).

Requirements for all wood species

Wood packaging exported to the United States from Canada may be inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to verify that it either complies with the requirements of International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15 or is eligible under the Canada-U.S. exemption from ISPM 15.

All shipments of goods with wood packaging to be exported to the U.S., as well as wood packaging exported as a commodity to the U.S., must be free of live pests, weed seeds and soil, and:

Canada-U.S. exemption from ISPM 15

In 2005, an exemption was established for the movement of wood packaging between the U.S. and Canada.

In order to be exempt, the wood packaging must be accompanied by export/shipping documents clearly stating that any unmarked wood packaging in the shipment was:

This exemption applies only to the "Continental United States". Wood packaging imported from or exported to Hawaii and U.S. territories is not included in the exemption and thus need to bear the ISPM 15 mark.

The obliteration of any markings on the wood may be considered as removing marks which identify the wood as having an origin other than Canada and the U.S. and may result in U.S. authorities considering the wood as non-compliant.

Wood packaging of mixed origins

In the case where shipments may consist of units of wood packaging of differing origins (for example, mixed loads), the exporter must ensure that all the wood packaging clearly meets the standards above (for example, within the mixed shipment, the unmarked wood packaging is identified as being produced in Canada or the U.S. on shipping documentation and ISPM 15 marks appear on any re-used offshore wood packaging).

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