CBP Announces Phased-In Implementation of Wood Packaging Materials
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it will phase in its enforcement of new regulations affecting imports packed with certain wood packaging material (WPM). These regulations become effective on September 16 and will affect all persons receiving goods packed with WPM, which includes pallets, crates, boxes, dunnage, blocks, skids, etc. However, CBP's policy means that non-compliant shipments will not be automatically rejected and immediately re-exported beginning on that date, as the Department of Agriculture (USDA) previously indicated. Instead, such "full enforcement" will be delayed until July 5, 2006.

(Currently, the US only maintains WPM importation restrictions with respect to shipments from China and Hong Kong. It is unclear at this point how the phased-in enforcement of the new regulations will affect these restrictions.)

Treatment and Marking Requirements. The regulations require WPM in use in international trade to be either (a) heat treated to a minimum wood core temperature of 56ºC for a minimum of 30 minutes or (b) fumigated with methyl bromide for approximately 16 hours. In addition, WPM must be marked and the two-letter International Standards Organization (ISO) code for the unique number assigned by the national plant protection organization to the company along with either the abbreviation HT (heat treatment) or MB (methyl bromide). Paper certification (treatment certificates) will not be required.

Exemptions. CBP's September 12 announcement clarifies that the regulations do not apply to the following:

  • manufactured items, such as worked wood items, even if they are used to contain other non-regulated merchandise;
  • wine crates for any vintage year prior to 2006;
  • manufactured wood, such as fiberboard, plywood, polywood, whisky and wine barrels, strand board, and veneers;
  • loose wood packing materials, as defined in 7 CFR 319.40-1 (e.g., excelsior (wood wool), sawdust, and wood shavings); and
  • WPM made from Canadian-origin wood or US-origin wood (or a combination of the two) when used in trade between these two countries. (CBP states that for purposes of enforcement of this exception, and absent acceptable proof to the contrary, it will consider the country of origin of merchandise coming from Canada to be the country of origin of the accompanying WPM.)
  • WPM imported as cargo, such as a container or truckload of new or unused pallets, will be considered WPM and subject to the rule.

Enforcement. For importations on and after September 16, all WPM must be treated and marked in accordance with the regulations, unless exempted. However, enforcement of compliance will be phased in according to the following schedule:

Phase I. September 16, 2005, through January 31, 2006, will be an informed compliance period, with no stoppage or re-export of shipments for non-compliant WPM. During this phase, all visual exams of cargo performed by CBP Officers or Agriculture Specialists will include a WPM component. If WPM is present and not marked as having been treated, the broker and the importer will be informed of the non-compliance and given further information.

Phase II. Beginning February 1, 2006, CBP will fully enforce the regulations with respect to violative pallets (including those that are part of a unitized packaging container) and crates. CBP will continue informed compliance for all other regulated WPM through July 4, 2006.

Phase III. Beginning July 5, 2006, CBP will fully enforce the regulations for all regulated WPM and will no longer conduct informed compliance at the shipment level.

For both Phase II and Phase III, re-export of all shipments containing violative WPM (as applicable), regardless of whether the shipment contains a mixture of compliant and violative WPM, will be ordered if the Port Director determines that it is not feasible to separate merchandise from the violative WPM. If the Port Director determines that separation is feasible, this will be done and only the violative WPM will be exported. In addition, immediate transport (IT) and transportation and entry (T&E)) shipments found to contain violative WPM will not be permitted to transit.

Customs has set up a temporary toll-free phone number to field questions about the new rules, at 866-738-8197. International shippers can call 301-734-5346.
Any questions contact Tony Collini by phone at 410-863-0211 or tonyc@jsconnor.com.