TIMBER PRODUCTS December 2023 HT Newsletter Volume: 12/01/2023

May your heart be lifted in praise this Christmas for the wonderful gift of Jesus and the joy He brings to our lives. Our offices will be closed December 22nd 25th, 29th, and January 1st so we can celebrate the holidays with our families. Have a very blessed Christmas! 

Recyclers and Fraudulent IPPC Marks

There are many concerns by ALSC licensed recycling facilities regarding those recyclers not in the ALSC program shipping IPPC marked pallets into the marketplace and representing them as IPPC conforming. The questions are:

Can they legitimately do this?

The short answer is no.  If a recycler is not being monitored by an accredited agency with ALSC for ISPM 15 conformance, then they cannot represent pallets they are selling as IPPC conforming unless they have documentation that the pallets were retreated by an ALSC monitored heat treating facility.  

What if they use exempt material to repair pallets (i.e. plywood) or simply employ a reuse (passthrough) program?

ISPM 15 Section 4.1 states: 

"Treatment and application of the mark (and/or related systems) must always be under the authority of the NPPO. NPPOs that authorize use of the mark have the responsibility for ensuring that all systems authorized and approved for implementation of this standard meet all necessary requirements described within the standard, and that wood packaging material (or wood that is to be made into wood packaging material) bearing the mark has been treated and/or manufactured in accordance with this standard. Responsibilities  include:

• Authorization, registration and accreditation, as appropriate
• Monitoring treatment and marking systems implemented in order to verify compliance (further information on related responsibilities is provided in ISPM 7 (Phytosanitary certification system)
• Inspection, establishing verification procedures and auditing where appropriate (further information is provided in ISPM 23 (Guidelines for inspection).

The NPPO should supervise (or, as a minimum, audit or review) the application of the treatments, and authorize use of the mark and its application as appropriate. To prevent untreated or insufficiently/incorrectly treated wood packaging material bearing the mark, treatment should be carried out prior to application of the mark."

The USDA interprets this as any processes employed by a facility in order to represent pallets as ISPM 15 conforming must meet the monitoring criteria to verify conformance.  This includes the use of exempt material to repair wood packaging or the implementation of a passthrough program.  Facilities not monitored in the IPPC program are not authorized or approved to implement the ISPM 15 standard and cannot represent what they are shipping as IPPC conforming wood packaging eligible for international trade.  Such acts are fraudulent and can be subject to fines and penalties if caught and convicted.

To further clarify…

The document the IPPC mark represents is a phytosanitary (phyto) certificate. A company that reships an IPPC marked pallet with product on it is simply transfering the phyto certificate with that pallet bearing the mark representing it. The placing of pallets into a reprocessing operation (i.e. recycler) changes the way the pallets are viewed by the USDA regardless of whether it is repaired or passed through.  The USDA sees it as a commodity moving through a processing facility that requires monitoring to ensure conformance and cannot be considered properly treated without it.  The facility cannot represent the marked pallets as IPPC compliant without proper monitoring to verify they know what that compliance is.  In other words, facilities representing commodity pallets as IPPC conforming must be monitored under USDA’s authority. If a facility is not monitored and ships pallets as IPPC conforming with old marks or with a fradulent stamp they have acquired, they are illegally representing the pallets as IPPC conforming when they are not.

How are violators caught and held accountable?

Some times this occurs at the overseas port where an interception (discovery of evidence of evasive pests) is made.  The USDA will be given information on the U.S. exporter of the IPPC marked pallets and are then able to trace these pallets back to the original wood packaging provider.  If the provider is found not to be in the program, the USDA will pursue criminal charges against the operation.  In these situations, the USDA has successfully prosecuted violators noting that "violations of ISPM 15 requirements under the Plant Protection Act have resulted in a variety of enforcement actions, including an administrative decision and order, civil penalties of as much as $100,000, and federal felony convictions."

Many times violators are caught through tips provided from other recyclers who are in the IPPC program or individuals notifying the related agency regarding this. TP aggressively pursues operations that fraudulently apply the "TP" IPPC mark which threatens our clients' businesses and the U.S. IPPC program as a whole. We appreciate it when a facility takes the initiative and contacts us regarding a fraudulent mark associated with TP's program.

The USDA also warns exporters purchasing IPPC marked wood packaging from unmonitored operations that, "the alteration and distribution of certified wood packaging material is noncompliant with the APHIS regulations and ISPM 15. US exporters using such materials expose themselves to international fees, fines, and possible bans by our trading partners.  Repair and re-manufacture companies producing and distributing noncompliant wood packaging material could be held liable by the exporter and/or prosecuted by the Department of Justice."

Recyclers participating in the IPPC program should take comfort in knowing that the USDA takes a serious stance against facilities that choose to disregard ALSC and ISPM 15 requirements to legally ship IPPC marked pallets and will take the necessary action whenever possible.