The ISPM 15 Mark on Your Crate: What to Check?

The forwarder’s message asks whether the crate holding 120 metres of wool tweed carries the ISPM 15 mark, and the mark is the answer rather than a document behind it. ISPM 15 is the IPPC standard regulating wood packaging material in international trade, and the 2018 text applies to packaging made from raw wood. The buyer’s job is narrower than the exporter’s obligation: look at the mark before the case is closed, photograph the mark, and keep the registration reference of the firm which applied the mark. Two facts decide most crates, and both are visible from the loading bay. First, per ISPM 15 Annex 2, a plywood-bodied case on solid-wood skids is one composite unit, so the solid parts still need treatment and a mark. Second, nothing except the four mark components may sit inside the border. There is no ISPM 15 certificate to file, and a photograph of the mark replaces the certificate. In practice, the photograph decides the argument at the border.

What Is the Forwarder Actually Asking For?

An ISPM 15 mark is a stamp on a finished wood packaging unit, applied by a producer or treatment provider authorised under the exporting country’s national plant protection organisation. The stamp carries a treatment claim rather than a test result. The exporter is responsible for knowing whether the destination requires the standard, according to guidance from APHIS. Three routes lead to compliant packaging: 1. buy marked units, 2. build under an accredited heat-treated lumber mark, 3. have a registered facility treat and mark the units. The same guidance answers the question buyers ask first, which is whether the mark can be applied in house, and the answer is no. So the forwarder’s message asks for evidence from a third party. First, the firm which applied the mark. Second, the registration reference behind the name. Third, a photograph taken before the case is closed in 2026. For example, a booking to a destination which requires the standard starts with that reference, as in ninety metres in two boxes.

Scope Test One: Is the Wood Raw?

Raw wood is the material test which decides whether the standard applies, and the exemption sits in the wood rather than in the purpose of the crate. According to ISPM 15 section 2, wood packaging material covered by the standard includes dunnage but excludes packaging made from wood processed so that pest risk is removed, and plywood is the named example. The units in scope are familiar: crates, boxes, packing cases, pallets, skids, cable drums, spools and dunnage. The list from ISPM 15 section 2.1 then takes out packaging made entirely from thin wood of 6 mm or less, packaging made wholly of processed wood, wine and spirit barrels heated during manufacture, gift boxes, sawdust, wood wool, and components permanently attached to freight vehicles. Three tests settle the question in 2026. First, is the board solid timber? Second, is every board processed? Third, is any solid board thicker than 6 mm? For example, a case built only from plywood and particleboard needs no treatment and no mark.

Scope Test Two: Which Parts of This Crate Are Solid Wood?

Why Is a Plywood Case on Solid Skids One Unit?

One unit is the term used in Annex 2 for a crate built from two materials. The composite rule treats the assembled packaging as a single object for marking. Where components are integrated into a unit of wood packaging material, the resultant composite unit is treated as a single unit. Both sentences come from Annex 2. For example, a plywood-bodied case on solid-wood skids and solid battens, built for a 2026 shipment, is one unit: the processed panels need no treatment, the solid skids and battens do, and the mark attaches to the unit rather than to each board. Three consequences follow for a buyer holding a photograph. First, a supplier who says the case is plywood has answered half the question and no more. Second, the solid parts still have to be treated by a registered provider. Third, the photograph has to show one mark for the whole unit, because a mark on a loose skid says nothing about the case standing on that skid.

Where May the Mark Sit on a Composite Unit?

The processed component is the panel which may carry the mark on a composite unit, and Annex 2 permits the placement so that the mark stays visible and large enough to read. Where a unit is made of both treated wood and processed wood, the mark may sit on the processed component for that reason. The placement helps a buyer working from photographs. A plywood panel gives a flat, pale surface with no knots, no saw texture and no dark grain, so the four components photograph cleanly in 2026. In practice, ask for one square-on photograph of the panel mark and a second photograph showing the solid skids in the same frame. Two images close the argument about whether the marked panel and the loaded case are the same object. A forwarder can send both, for example, from the loading bay before the case is closed.

What Are the Four Parts of the Mark, and What Else May Sit Inside the Border?

The mark has four components and no room for a fifth, and the border is what makes the mark readable as one object. The four components come from Annex 2: 1. the IPPC symbol placed on the left, 2. the ISO two-letter country code, 3. a producer or treatment provider code assigned by the national plant protection organisation, 4. a treatment code from Annex 1, which offers HT, DH, MB or SF. The conditions travel with the components. First, legible. Second, durable. Third, not transferable. Finally, visible when the packaging is in use and never hand drawn. No other information may sit inside the border. Producer trademarks and the authorising body’s logo may sit outside the border but adjacent to the mark, and the border itself is the cheapest check a buyer owns in 2026. For example, a purchase order number, a mill logo, a date stamp or a handling symbol printed inside the rectangle makes the mark non-compliant, and the border rule alone justifies a re-mark.

One Side or Two: What Does the Standard Actually Require?

Two opposite sides is a recommendation rather than an obligation, and the difference matters when a supplier and a forwarder disagree at the loading bay. The visibility rule comes from ISPM 15 Annex 2: the mark goes where it stays visible when the packaging is in use, and two opposite sides is the preferred arrangement. The enforceable conditions are legibility, durability, non-transferability and visibility in use. A mark on one face therefore meets the standard, and a mark on two faces is better practice in 2026 because a stack or a container wall can hide one face. Three lines keep the argument short. First, ask for a photograph of every face carrying a mark. Second, ask which face stays visible once the case is loaded. Third, treat a one-face mark as a risk note rather than a rejection. For example, a case loaded against a container wall shows one face for the whole voyage, and the hidden face carries the second mark for nothing.

What About the Dunnage?

Dunnage is the loose wood inside a crate, and in 2026 the ISPM 15 scope still covers dunnage explicitly while most buyers check only the case. The scope list from ISPM 15 section 2 includes dunnage among the packaging material, and the United States programme marks dunnage with the letters DUN rather than leaving the boards blank. The trap is timing. Bracing boards are cut and fitted while the cloth is being packed, and once the case is closed and banded, no treatment provider can reach those boards to treat and mark them. For example, a crate passing inspection with a compliant mark on the body and four unmarked boards wedged against the rolls fails as a unit. Three steps avoid the failure. First, order marked dunnage with the case. Second, fit every board before the lid goes on. Third, photograph the bracing inside the open case. The packing sequence for a small cloth order covers what goes around the cloth itself.

What Do Reused and Repaired Crates Hide?

What Does an Old Mark Still Prove?

A reused unit is legitimate and an old mark is not a defect, because treatment does not expire and a correctly marked case stays marked. Section 4.3 allows reuse of units carrying a valid mark, and guidance from APHIS confirms that treatment status carries forward from one shipment to the next. The failure is provenance, and reuse is where a marked crate most often goes wrong in 2026. A second-hand case with two marks from two providers, a mark painted over, or fresh boards nailed onto a marked unit raises one question: which provider treated which component, and when. Two checks answer the question. First, the mark has to be legible and complete, with all four components readable. Second, the provider reference on the unit has to match the reference sent by the mill or the crate supplier. For example, a case reused from a 2025 shipment keeps the original provider reference, and the mill can confirm the reference in one email.

When Does a Repair Void the Mark?

Repair voids a mark where the treatment history of the unit can no longer be proved, and remanufacture voids a mark by definition. A repaired unit, per ISPM 15 section 4.3, must be re-treated or destroyed when its treatment status is uncertain, and any previous mark must be permanently obliterated. Where more than about one third of the components are replaced, the unit counts as remanufactured and must be re-treated and re-marked. A mill or a crate supplier rarely announces the difference between a repair and a remanufacture in 2026. Ask two questions before loading: 1. How many components changed after the original mark? 2. Who re-marked the unit afterwards? Counting the new boards answers the first question. For example, a case strengthened with new timber and still carrying the old mark describes wood which is no longer inside the unit.

Which Documents Replace the Certificate That Does Not Exist?

There is no ISPM 15 certificate, and the mark itself does the work which a certificate would otherwise do. Per ISPM 15 section 3.1, applying the mark renders the use of a phytosanitary certificate unnecessary, and guidance from APHIS states that issuing a phytosanitary certificate for wood packaging used to transport commodities is against policy. A unit without a mark is handled as untreated in 2026: the load is held, and the options are treatment where the destination permits, supervised destruction, or re-export, with the cost reaching the importer first. The document set is short and photographic. First, one square-on photograph of the mark showing the border and all four components. Second, the registration reference of the producer or treatment provider. Third, the treatment code recorded on the packing list. For example, three photographs and one reference answer a forwarder’s question in a single email.

Who Owns Which Line in the Clause?

What Goes Into the Purchase Order?

A purchase order clause is the set of lines which decides who pays when a crate fails, and each line names an owner. First, who supplies the crate: the mill, the forwarder or a crating firm working for either. Second, the name and registration reference of the producer or treatment provider applying the mark. Third, who photographs the mark before the container is sealed in 2026, and where those photographs are filed. Fourth, who pays for re-marking when a unit is rejected at the border. The clock matters as much as the clause. An emergency action at the port runs to the importer first, per guidance from APHIS, so a claim against the supplier has to open while the container is still held rather than after re-export. The day-one claim sequence applies to a detained crate in the same order, and for example a hold noticed on a Friday leaves both parties arguing into the weekend.

Which Crate Passes, and Which One Waits?

The table below turns a set of photographs into a load-or-hold answer. Each row names what the image shows, what the appearance means and the step to take before the case goes on the truck.