Scope
The directive covers wood packaging, including dunnage, pallets and crates, from all areas other than the continental United States. Items not permanently attached to freight vehicles or containers fall within it.
Requirements
- Constructed with debarked wood, with small pieces of bark allowed within the limits in its Appendix 1.
- Treated by an approved method. Appendix 1 lists heat treatment in a conventional chamber (HT), dielectric heating (DH), methyl bromide fumigation (MB) and sulphuryl fluoride fumigation (SF).
- Marked with a compliant IPPC mark.
A phytosanitary certificate may replace the mark if it gives the treatment details; for heat treatment it must declare 56 °C for at least 30 minutes. Certificates are not accepted in place of the mark for wood packaging from the People's Republic of China.
US-origin packaging
Wood packaging shipped directly from the continental United States and made entirely of US-origin wood, or of Canadian-origin wood traded between the two countries, is exempt from the treatment and marking requirements (section 4.2.1). Euro pallets are a different case: if they were made in Europe, they are not US-origin wood, even if they reach Canada by truck from a US warehouse. Keep them marked.
Non-compliance
Wood packaging that does not meet section 5 is non-compliant. At entry, the Canada Border Services Agency follows its memorandum D19-1-1. Where the CFIA finds non-compliant material, it may order it treated before disposal or removal from Canada. Shipborne dunnage has its own programme and enforcement, including monetary penalties.