epalrecycling.comEuro pallet reference for the US and Canada

Country code in the ISPM 15 mark

The country code in an ISPM 15 mark is the two-letter ISO 3166-1 code of the country whose national plant protection organisation authorised the treatment, such as DE for Germany or PL for Poland. ISPM 15 requires a hyphen between it and the producer or treatment provider code.

Document
MRK-004
Sheet
Markings, ISPM 15
Last reviewed
Sources
2 cited
ISO 3166-1 two-letter code, followed by a hyphen, e.g. DE-Format
ISPM 15Scheme

Where it is

[EPAL mark][EPAL mark]IPPCXX-000HT000-0-00Centre block: treatment mark, licence and stapleOuter blockOuter block
Schematic long side. The highlighted part is the country code in the ispm 15 mark. The EPAL trademark is shown only as a labelled placeholder.

First code after the IPPC symbol on the central blocks.

What it proves

Which country's plant protection organisation authorised the treatment and mark. It is not necessarily where the goods came from.

In detail

Annex 2 of ISPM 15 fixes the country code as the ISO two-letter code and requires a hyphen after it. US federal rules say the same: 7 CFR 319.40-3 asks for the ISO two-letter code for the country that produced the wood packaging material. On a stamp that reads DE-NW 49XXX HT, the DE is the country part, and everything up to the treatment code is the producer or treatment provider registration.

The code tells you where the pallet was treated and marked, not where your goods were made. Euro pallets travel through the exchange pool for years, so a container of Italian wine can arrive on pallets marked PL or DE. That is normal and is not a compliance problem in itself. ISPM 15 also notes that a repaired unit may carry more than one mark, and that multiple marks alone are not non-compliance.

Our country pages list each code with the plant protection organisation named on the IPPC country page, and the US Census trade value for context.

Common misreadings

  • GB, not UK, is the ISO code for the United Kingdom.
  • A code on a pallet does not prove the pallet came from that country's EPAL committee; it identifies the authority behind the treatment mark.

Pallets that carry it

Sources

Last reviewed . Figures come from these publications; follow the links for the current versions.

  1. ISPM 15, Regulation of wood packaging material in international trade (adopted 2018, published 2019), IPPC Secretariat / FAO
  2. 7 CFR 319.40-3, general permits; regulated wood packaging material, eCFR, US Government Publishing Office

What do you need to do with them?

Pick one. Each form takes about a minute and goes to one partner, not a list of dealers.

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