Standards & compliance
A field guide to the IPPC stamp
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The wheat-ear symbol on a pallet is one of the few genuinely international pieces of visual language in logistics. It is also one of the most widely misunderstood.
ISPM 15 exists for a narrow and serious purpose: stopping wood-boring pests crossing borders inside packaging. Emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle and pine wood nematode have each cost a continent billions, and each travelled in a pallet.
The four elements
| Element | Example | Position | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPPC symbol | Stylised wheat ear | Left of the panel | Internationally recognised treatment |
| Country code | US | Top right | ISO code of the treating country |
| Facility code | CO-1234 | Below the country code | State and registered producer number |
| Treatment code | HT | Bottom right | HT = heat, DH = dielectric, MB = methyl bromide |
The whole panel must appear on at least two opposite sides of the unit, legibly, permanently and without a border that could be confused with another marking system.
What the treatment codes mean
- HT — heat treatment. Wood core held at a minimum of 56 °C for at least 30 continuous minutes. The overwhelming majority of compliant wood today.
- KD-HT — kiln dried and heat treated. Both were achieved. Kiln drying alone does not satisfy ISPM 15, and a KD mark without HT is not compliance.
- DH — dielectric heating. Microwave or radio frequency to 60 °C for one continuous minute throughout the profile. Fast, capital-intensive, uncommon.
- MB — methyl bromide fumigation. Still technically permitted under the standard, banned outright by a growing list of importing countries including the EU, Australia and New Zealand.
What is exempt
This catches people out in a useful direction — sometimes the cheapest compliance is avoiding solid wood altogether.
- Plywood, OSB and particleboard — manufactured with enough heat and adhesive that ISPM 15 does not apply.
- Veneer, sawdust, shavings and wood wool — processed beyond the standard's scope.
- Wood under 6 mm thick — below the threshold.
- Plastic and metal packaging — outside the standard entirely.
- Domestic shipments — ISPM 15 governs international movement only. Paying for HT on domestic freight is a common and avoidable cost.
The counterfeits, and how to spot them
Fraudulent marks exist. They are usually poor, and the tells are consistent.
- Stencilled sloppily across a repair. Legitimate marks are applied to the whole unit at treatment. A mark that crosses a replacement board applied afterwards is a mark applied afterwards.
- One side only. The standard requires two opposite sides. One is a shortcut and shortcuts do not get taken by compliant facilities.
- Missing the facility code. The most commonly omitted element because it is the one that can be checked.
- Inconsistent marks across a load. One treatment batch produces one facility code.
- Inkjet rather than brand or stencil. Not automatically wrong, but worth a question.
The rule that kills more shipments than any other
Compliance is invalidated by modification. Adding untreated wood to a treated unit breaks compliance for the whole unit. That means a crate damaged in transit and repaired in a receiving bay with a random board is no longer compliant, regardless of the stamp still on it.
If a unit needs repair after treatment, repair it with treated stock, or have it re-treated and re-marked. This is the single most common way a shipment fails an inspection it should have passed.