Q.01

When do exports need a fumigation certificate?

Short answer: no general rule says every export needs a fumigation certificate. You need one when the importing country's phytosanitary import requirements call for a treatment of the consignment, or when an inspection before export finds pests and treatment is the way to clear it. Wood packaging is handled separately: ISPM 15 uses a treatment mark on the wood instead of a certificate.

1. Plants, plant products and other regulated articles (ISPM 12, 2022)

  • Phytosanitary certificates "are issued to attest that plants, plant products or other regulated articles meet the phytosanitary import requirements of importing countries." The importing country's plant protection organisation sets those requirements in advance, in legislation, import permits or bilateral arrangements.
  • Fumigation details go in Section III of the certificate ("Disinfestation and/or Disinfection Treatment"): date, treatment, chemical (active ingredient), duration and temperature, concentration and dosage. Treatments shown there "should only be those that are acceptable to the importing country and are performed or initiated (in the case of transit) in the exporting country under supervision or authority of the NPPO of the exporting country." Treatments "should not be indicated" in the additional declaration section.
  • Importing countries "should not require phytosanitary certificates for plant products that have been processed to the point where they have no potential for introducing regulated pests."
  • Source: ISPM 12 (FAO/IPPC), pp. 10, 12, 18–19. How fumigation itself must be carried out is covered by ISPM 43.

2. Wood packaging: pallets, crates, dunnage, cable drums (ISPM 15)

  • Packaging must be made of debarked wood and treated by an approved method. Methyl bromide and sulphuryl fluoride fumigation are options alongside heat treatment (HT), and for fumigation the bark must be removed before treatment.
  • The treated wood is then marked. "The application of the mark renders the use of a phytosanitary certificate unnecessary." Treatment and marking "must always be under the authority of the NPPO."
  • Exempt: wood 6 mm thick or less; processed wood such as plywood, particle board, OSB or veneer; barrels for wine and spirits that were heated during manufacture; pest-free gift boxes; sawdust, shavings and wood wool; wood permanently attached to vehicles and containers.
  • Unmarked packaging can be detained, treated, destroyed or reshipped at import.
  • Source: ISPM 15 (FAO/IPPC), sections 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.6 and Annex 1.
  • National registers show this in practice. Poland's PIORiN register of ISPM 15 wood-packaging producers lists each operator with its PL code and treatment code, for example HT [1]. Korea's RDA keeps a list of licensed export/import quarantine treatment companies, which includes fumigation firms [2].

3. A national example: GB grain exports APHA's Grain Standard Operating Protocol shows when a separate fumigation certificate appears:

  • If live grain insect pests are found, the consignment "must either be rejected or chemically disinfested by a professional treatment company."
  • Any chemical treatment "should be recorded in Section IVA of the HH93 application form and a certificate of disinfestation issued by the professional treatment company attached."
  • Fumigation with aluminium or magnesium phosphide is one of the recognised methods.

Working out whether your shipment needs one GOV.UK tells exporters to check with the destination country's plant health authority, using the IPPC country pages, and says all goods needing a certificate "must be inspected before you can get a phytosanitary certificate" (GOV.UK export guidance). For wood packaging, it says to check whether the destination accepts ISPM 15 and has "any other requirements" (GOV.UK wood packaging).

Approach: I searched the plant-health registers available to me (Poland's PIORiN registers and annual reports, Korea's RDA list of quarantine treatment companies) and read the IPPC standards ISPM 12 and ISPM 15 and the UK's official export guidance. Each destination country's own import requirements, which decide whether a given shipment must be fumigated, are not in the datasets.

If you tell me the commodity, the origin and the destination country, I can look up that destination's import requirements on its plant protection authority's site.

Q.02

Who can issue one for wooden pallets?

For ISPM 15 pallets, the authorised document is the mark on the wood, not a certificate. Only a producer or treatment provider that your national plant protection organisation (NPPO) has authorised can apply that mark. ISPM 15 says the mark "renders the use of a phytosanitary certificate unnecessary." It also says treatment and marking "must always be under the authority of the NPPO."

What ISPM 15 says about who can do it

  • The standard names two kinds of operator. Producers make the wood packaging and "may apply the mark to appropriately treated wood packaging material." Treatment providers "apply the approved treatments and may apply the mark." One company can do the treating, manufacturing and marking, or different companies can each do part (section 3.1).
  • The mark is official. It combines the ISPM 15 symbol with a country code, a code for the responsible producer or treatment provider, and the treatment code (section 3.1).
  • The NPPO is responsible for "authorization, registration and accreditation, as appropriate." It also monitors, inspects and audits these operators. It "should supervise (or, as a minimum, audit or review) the application of the treatments, and authorize use of the mark" (section 4.1).
  • Source: ISPM 15 (FAO/IPPC), pp. 9–11.

How this works in practice: Poland's PIORiN register

  • PIORiN keeps a national register of authorised ISPM 15 wood-packaging producers. Each entry has a mark code and treatment code (for example "PL -30 1178 HT"), an authorisation decision number and a validity period (for example 30.04.2026 to 29.04.2027) [3]. Other entries follow the same pattern [4][5].
  • The entries I pulled were all heat treatment (HT) operators.
  • PIORiN enforces the authorisation. Its 2024 annual report records one fine of 10 000 for putting the ISPM 15 mark on wood packaging without authorisation. It records another of 10 000 for using the mark outside the scope of an operator's authorisation [6].
  • PIORiN inspectors check wood packaging "only when it accompanies goods of plant origin exported from Poland that require a phytosanitary certificate" (translated) [7].

If a buyer or destination still asks for a fumigation certificate

  • The treatment would be done by a fumigation company that the exporting country's authority has licensed. Korea's RDA, for example, keeps a list of licensed export/import plant-quarantine treatment companies. One is 인천훈증주식회사 (Incheon Fumigation Co.), listed as operating [2].
  • In the GB grain protocol covered last time, the "certificate of disinfestation" is issued by the professional treatment company. APHA then issues the phytosanitary certificate.
  • Under ISPM 15, any requirement beyond the approved measures "require[s] technical justification" (section 3.1). The standard also says NPPOs "should accept the mark" as the basis for letting wood packaging in "without further specific requirements."
  • If fumigated pallets need marking, ISPM 15 requires the bark to be removed before fumigation (covered last time).

Approach: I searched Poland's PIORiN register of ISPM 15 wood-packaging producers and its annual activity reports, and Korea's RDA list of quarantine treatment companies, and read ISPM 15 sections 3 and 4. National registers of ISPM 15 operators in other countries, such as the UK, are not in the datasets I searched.

If you tell me which country you're exporting from, I can find that NPPO's register of authorised ISPM 15 treatment providers.

Q.03