Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 3 • 17th February 2006

EU Delays Wood Pallet Restrictions Once More

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On 6 February, the European Commission adopted a directive (2006/14/EC) that delays a requirement that wood packaging used to import products into the EU be bark-free until January 2009 to allow time for consideration of the measure by members of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The EC decision to allow the international community to determine the legitimacy of the measure was taken after complaints from the US that the new rules under Commission Directive 2004/102/EC, which are intended to prevent tree-eating insects from entering into the EU, would disrupt the US$ 80 billion worth of exports that the US sends to Europe annually using wood pallets (see Bridges Trade Biores, 18 February 2005). The IPPC’s “Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade” (ISPM-15), which are recognised by the WTO, only approves of heat treatment and fumigation by methyl bromide as legitimate pest control measures (see Bridges Weekly, 3 November 2004). While recognising that requirements for bark-free packaging (’debarking’) is an option, the standard requires that any country adopting this measure must demonstrate that it is “technically justified”. Instead of doing so, the EU has decided to ask the IPPC to revise the standard to include debarking requirements along with heat treatment and methyl bromide fumigation as legitimate measures, which the IPPC’s Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) will do in April 2006. The original March 2005 implementation of the requirement has been postponed from March 2005 to March 2006, and the new January 2009 date will be reviewed by September 2007.

The use of methyl bromide, while allowed under ISPM 15 for fumigation purposes, is known to cause ozone depletion and is to be phased out under the Montreal Protocol — although an exemption allows its use for fumigation. Sources suggested that the Protocol’s technical assistance funds could be used to facilitate a transition to the use of heat treatment or debarking for pest control for wood pallets to enable the use of environmentally-friendly — though more costly — control methods (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 20 January 2006).

ICTSD Reporting; “EU votes to delay debarking requirement for wood packaging material,” USDA GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION NETWORK, 7 February 2006; “Commission Directive 2006/14/EC of 6 February 2006,” OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROEAN UNION, 7 February 2006; “EU delays packaging rules on tree-eating insects,” REUTERS, 7 February 2006.