ISPM-15 free export

If you export outside the European Union on wood pallets, you have run into ISPM-15. If you export on moulded fibre pallets, you have not, and you will not. This page explains why.

What ISPM-15 actually is

ISPM-15 is the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures number 15, issued by the International Plant Protection Convention and enforced by national plant-protection agencies worldwide. The standard applies to wood packaging material in international trade. Its purpose is to stop the spread of wood-boring insects and tree diseases that travel inside untreated wood.

To comply, solid wood packaging must be either heat treated to a core temperature of 56 degrees Celsius for at least 30 minutes, or fumigated with methyl bromide. Treated wood carries an IPPC stamp showing the country code, the treater code, and the treatment method.

Why this is friction for exporters

Heat treatment adds cost, typically a few euros per pallet on a one-off batch and a treatment facility lead time of one to several days. Stamps must be present and legible. Customs agents in the United States, China, Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom post-Brexit, and many other markets will hold or reject shipments where stamps are missing, illegible, or wrongly applied.

Beyond cost and time, the documentation chain is brittle. A scratched stamp at the receiving port can trigger a re-export at the shipper's expense. For exporters running tight schedules or high-value cargo, this is a real risk line item.

Why fibre pallets are exempt

ISPM-15 applies to solid wood packaging material. Moulded fibre pallets contain no solid wood. The fibre input is recycled paper and cardboard, processed through pulping, moulding, and high-temperature drying. There is no untreated raw wood in the finished product, so the regulation does not apply.

Customs authorities recognise this. Pulp-moulded pallets pass through ISPM-15 inspection points without a stamp, without a phytosanitary certificate for the pallet itself, and without delay tied to wood treatment status. Goods on the pallet still require whatever documentation applies to the cargo, but the pallet itself is out of scope.

Practical consequences

No treatment cost. You pay for the pallet, not for the pallet plus heat treatment.

No stamping requirement. We do not stamp, we do not need to stamp, and inspectors do not look for a stamp on a clearly non-wood pallet.

No treatment lead time. Treatment facilities can add 24 to 72 hours to a wood pallet purchase if they are busy. Fibre ships from stock.

Lower documentation risk. There is no wood-related document for the pallet that can be lost, smudged, or rejected.

Lower border hold risk. Wood-related border holds are a specific category. Fibre pallets do not generate them.

What you still need

Fibre pallets do not exempt your cargo from anything else. You still need:

• Commercial invoice and packing list.
• Certificates of origin where applicable.
• Product-specific phytosanitary, veterinary, or sanitary certificates if the cargo itself is regulated, for example wood furniture, plants, food.
• Customs codes and any export licences.

The exemption is on the pallet, not on the contents.

Documentation we provide

On request we provide a written exemption statement on Ecobliss letterhead confirming the pallet construction is moulded recycled fibre, contains no solid wood, and is not in scope of ISPM-15. Some receivers ask for this for their internal customs files. Others do not bother because the pallet is visibly non-wood. Either way the document is available.

When this matters most

Exporters who ship into the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and most Middle East destinations face ISPM-15 enforcement. If a meaningful share of your volume goes to any of these, moving the relevant SKUs onto fibre pallets removes one entire category of compliance overhead.

Intra-EU shipments do not face ISPM-15 at borders, so for those the exemption is not the deciding factor. Weight, recyclability, and CSRD data tend to drive that decision instead.