The problem it solves
Wooden pallets and crates can harbor insects and larvae inside the timber. When that wood crosses borders, it can carry pests into ecosystems that have no defense against them — a genuinely expensive problem for agriculture and forestry worldwide.
ISPM-15 is the international phytosanitary standard created to stop that. It applies to solid-wood packaging material used in international trade and sets out how the wood must be treated to be considered safe.
What the treatment involves
The most common route is heat treatment: the wood is heated until its core reaches a specified temperature for a set time, which kills pests without chemicals. The older alternative is fumigation, which is used less now for environmental reasons.
Once treated, the wood is marked with a stamp that certifies compliance. That mark is what customs officers look for.
Reading the stamp
If any of that is missing or illegible on export packaging, the shipment can be held, returned or destroyed at the shipper’s expense. It is a small stamp with large consequences.
- The IPPC wheat-stalk logo, showing the packaging meets the standard.
- A country code and a unique producer/treatment number.
- A treatment code — HT for heat treatment, MB for methyl bromide fumigation.
“No mark, no crossing. Border officials treat a missing stamp as non-compliant by default.”
What is exempt
Not everything needs the mark. Packaging made entirely from processed wood-based materials — plywood, oriented strand board and, importantly, corrugated cardboard — is exempt, because the manufacturing process already destroys any pests.
This is one of the quiet advantages of corrugated bulk bins over wooden crates for some export loads: no heat treatment, no stamp to chase, no border surprise.
How we handle it
When export is on the table, we stock heat-treated, ISPM-15-stamped pallets alongside standard domestic ones, so your load leaves compliant. And where a corrugated Gaylord can do the job of a wooden crate, we will often steer you there specifically to sidestep the requirement.
If you are shipping internationally, tell us at the quote stage. It is far cheaper to spec compliant packaging up front than to untangle a rejected shipment at the port.