ISPM 15

ISPM 15 — wood packaging in international trade

When a pallet needs heat treatment, what the stamp means, and the two ways compliant wood quietly stops being compliant.

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Issued by: IPPC (FAO)
Current edition: 2018
Status: Current
Legally required: Mandatory
Last reviewed: 19 August 2026

ISPM 15 is the international phytosanitary standard for wood packaging — pallets, crates, dunnage and bracing. Unlike most standards on this site it is mandatory, because national plant health legislation gives it force. Wood packaging that should carry the mark and does not is refused at the border.

The consequence is not a fine. It is a consignment that does not arrive.

When it applies

Within the EU — pallets moving between member states do not require ISPM 15 treatment.
Entering or leaving the EU — they do. This includes the United Kingdom since 2021, which caught a great many exporters out and still does.
Processed wood — plywood, OSB, particleboard and similar are outside the scope, because the manufacturing process already destroys pests. A pallet with plywood blocks and solid timber boards is in scope for the timber.

The treatment

Heat treatment (HT) to a core temperature of 56 °C for at least 30 minutes is the normal route. Methyl bromide fumigation exists in the standard and is being phased out; if a supplier offers it, ask why.

Kiln drying is a different process with a different purpose. Wood may be both kiln dried and heat treated, and often is, but a KD stamp alone is not compliance.

The mark

The IPPC mark carries four things, and all four should be legible:

the IPPC symbol — the stylised wheat ear,
the ISO country code — PL, DE, CN,
the producer or treatment provider’s registration number,
the treatment code — HT for heat treatment, MB for methyl bromide.

It is applied by an authorised treatment provider, on at least two opposite sides. A mark that is stencilled by hand, missing a registration number, or applied to only one face is a mark somebody should question.

Two ways compliant wood stops being compliant

Both are quiet, and both leave the original stamp in place.

Repair with untreated timber. A pallet repaired with a board that was never treated is no longer compliant, and the old mark on the blocks says otherwise. A properly repaired pallet is re-treated and re-marked.

Contamination after treatment. Treatment kills what is in the wood at the time. A treated pallet stored outdoors for a year in contact with soil can pick up exactly what the standard exists to prevent, and inspectors do look.

What to specify

If any of your pallets leave the EU, state it explicitly:

Heat treated to ISPM 15, marked HT, treatment provider registration on the pallet. Moisture content 18% or below.

The second sentence is not part of ISPM 15 and it belongs there anyway. A pallet at 25% moisture sealed into a container for four weeks arrives with mould on it, and often on the goods it carries — which is a separate rejection, on separate grounds, from a separate inspector.