EU Regulations Foreshadow International Standard

Article taken from PALLETTalk

By the end of this month, the European Union (EU) is expected to determine the emergency phytosanitary regulations that will be imposed on coniferous solid wood packing materials from the U.S., Canada, Japan and China. The regulations are not expected to go into effect until July 2001, at the earliest. The new regulations are expected to require that all solid wood packing material constructed using coniferous wood must be treated to reduce the risk of pests and marked to verify treatment. (These proposed requirements were outlined in PALLETTalk, August 2000, page 1+, "Europe Imposes Emergency Requirement on Wood Packing Material.")

The expected EU emergency regulations closely follow the International Standard for Solid Wood Packing Material currently being developed by the International Plant Protection Convention, a unit of the United Nations. Industry representatives have indicated that they prefer to implement a program that conforms to the expected International Standard rather than implement changes in the next nine to 12 months for the European emergency regulation, and then more changes in the following 12 month period to comply with the International Standard.

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