ISPM-15 fumigation and heat-treated wood packaging — handled on every shipment.
The crates, pallets and dunnage that protect your furniture are the one thing customs inspect before anything else. We treat, debark and IPPC-mark all of it as standard — so your container clears on arrival, not after a plant-health hold.
The standard that decides whether your container clears or waits.
ISPM-15 is International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15, issued under the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) of the UN's FAO. It sets one global rule for solid-wood packaging material — pallets, crates, cases, boxes, skids and dunnage over 6 mm thick — used to move goods across borders.
The purpose is simple: untreated raw timber can carry boring insects, larvae and fungi. A pallet made from infested wood is how pests travel between continents. So importing countries — the US, EU, UK, Australia, the Gulf and most of the world — require that any wood packaging entering their borders has been treated to kill those organisms, stripped of bark, and stamped with the official IPPC mark that proves it.
For a furniture importer this matters in one very practical way. Your goods may be flawless, but if the crate around them is not ISPM-15 compliant, the entire consignment can be held, re-exported, destroyed or re-treated at the port — at your cost, on your timeline. ISPM-15 is the smallest line item in a shipment and the one most capable of stopping it.
How we meet ISPM-15, point by point.
We treat compliance as the deliverable, not an afterthought. Here is exactly what the standard asks for and how every container we load answers it.
| ISPM-15 requirement | Our standard |
|---|---|
| Approved treatment of wood packaging | Heat-treated (timber core held to the IPPC temperature and time), or fumigated where a buyer or destination requires it |
| Bark removal (debarking) | All packaging wood debarked to the standard before treatment and marking |
| Official IPPC mark on each item | Country code · licensed treatment-provider code · treatment method (HT / MB / DH) · IPPC symbol, legibly and permanently applied |
| Covers pallets, crates, cases, skids, dunnage | Every wood component that protects your order — assembled or flat-pack — is treated and marked, not just the pallet |
| Supporting documentation | Treatment / fumigation certificate and facility details shared directly with the buyer on request (numbers never published, to prevent misuse) |
| Consistency across markets | Applied uniformly for US, EU, UK, Australian and Gulf destinations, alongside our Lacey, UKTR, EUDR-ready and CARB / TSCA readiness |
A note on scope: ISPM-15 governs the packaging, not the furniture. Finished solid-wood pieces are manufactured goods, not wood packaging material — so the obligation falls on the crates and pallets, which is precisely the part we control end to end.
The difference ISPM-15 makes at the port.
No plant-health holds
Correctly marked, treated and debarked packaging means customs and quarantine inspection is a formality — your container moves, it does not wait. The most expensive delay in importing is the one caused by a missing stamp.
No re-treatment costs
Non-compliant wood can be refused, re-exported, destroyed or re-treated on arrival — all billed to the importer. Getting it right in Jodhpur removes that risk before the container ever leaves Mundra or Nhava Sheva.
Paperwork that matches the goods
The treatment or fumigation certificate and facility identifiers are prepared with your shipment and shared on request, so your broker has the documentation in hand and nothing is reconstructed after the fact.
Two routes to the same compliant result.
ISPM-15 recognises more than one approved method, and the right one depends on the destination and the buyer. We handle both.
Heat treatment (HT) raises the timber core to the IPPC-specified temperature for the required time, killing pests without chemicals — the default for most destinations and the preferred route for sustainability-minded buyers. Methyl bromide fumigation (MB) is used where a market or client specifically calls for it. Either way the wood is debarked and the IPPC mark carries the exact method code, so there is never any ambiguity about how your packaging was treated.
| Method | How & when we use it |
|---|---|
| Heat treatment (HT) | Core heated to the IPPC standard; chemical-free; our default across most markets |
| Fumigation (MB) | Methyl bromide, applied where a buyer or destination requires it |
| Debarking (DB) | Bark removed on all packaging wood, regardless of method |
| IPPC mark | Country · provider code · method (HT/MB/DH) on every treated item |
ISPM-15 is one line in documentation built to clear your container.
Pest-free packaging is where it starts. We pair it with FSC chain-of-custody, Vriksh timber-legality and CITES-compliant handling of sheesham, EUDR-ready due diligence and geolocation, US Lacey Act declaration support, UK Timber Regulation, and CARB / TSCA formaldehyde-compliant finishes — the full set a serious US, EU, UK or Australian importer needs in one place.
What buyers ask us about wood packaging compliance.
What is ISPM-15 fumigation and why does it matter for furniture imports?
ISPM-15 is the international phytosanitary standard, set under the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention), that governs solid-wood packaging material used in global trade — pallets, crates, cases, skids and dunnage. It exists to stop timber pests and larvae crossing borders. Wood packaging must be either heat-treated or fumigated, debarked, and stamped with the IPPC mark. Customs in the US, EU, UK, Australia and most markets inspect for that mark; if it is missing or invalid the whole consignment can be held, re-exported or destroyed. For an importer it is the difference between a container that clears on arrival and one that sits at the port.
Is the furniture itself covered by ISPM-15, or only the packaging?
ISPM-15 applies to the wood packaging material around your goods, not to finished solid-wood furniture, which is a manufactured product rather than packaging. In practice that means every pallet, crate, case and piece of dunnage we use to protect your order must be treated, debarked and IPPC-marked. We handle that as standard, so you never have to chase the question with your freight forwarder.
How do you treat and mark the wood packaging on our orders?
Our export packaging is either heat-treated — the timber core held to the IPPC-specified temperature and time — or fumigated where a buyer or destination requires it, and it is always debarked. Each treated item carries the official IPPC mark showing the country code, the licensed treatment-provider code and the treatment method (HT for heat treatment, MB for methyl bromide fumigation, DH for dielectric heating). The facility and treatment identifiers behind that mark, plus any fumigation or treatment certificate, are shared directly with serious buyers on request.
Will heat treatment or fumigation delay my 30 to 45 day lead time?
No. ISPM-15 treatment of crates and pallets is part of our normal packing workflow, scheduled alongside production, so it does not add to the typical 30 to 45 day lead time. Urgent orders can be expedited at a premium, and because treatment is built into the process it is never the step that holds a container back.
What happens if a container arrives without a valid ISPM-15 mark?
Customs and plant-health authorities can refuse entry, order the consignment re-exported or destroyed, require re-treatment at the port, or impose fines and delays — all at the importer's cost. That risk is exactly what our documented ISPM-15 compliance removes: every shipment leaves Mundra or Nhava Sheva with correctly treated, debarked and IPPC-marked packaging and the paperwork to match.
Do flat-pack and knockdown shipments still need ISPM-15 packaging?
Yes. Flat-pack and knockdown furniture lowers freight cost and breakage, but it still ships on pallets and in crates, and those remain wood packaging under ISPM-15. We treat, debark and mark that packaging the same way for flat-pack and assembled loads alike, so the compliance position is identical however you choose to receive your order.
Quote your order and let us handle ISPM-15 for you.
Tell us what you are importing and where. We will quote FOB or CIF from Mundra or Nhava Sheva with ISPM-15 treated, debarked and IPPC-marked packaging built into the lead time — and the treatment documentation ready for your broker.