01What you are looking at
The IPPC mark is not a logo, a certification badge or a quality mark. It is a declaration by a registered facility that a specific treatment was performed on that specific piece of wood. Everything about its format is prescribed.
- The wheat symbol. An ear of grain in a box on the left of the mark. This is the IPPC symbol and it must be present. No symbol, no compliance.
- ISO country code. Two letters: `US`, `CA`, `CN`, `DE`, `MX`. This is where the treatment happened, not where the wood grew.
- Facility or producer code. A unique number issued by that country's national plant protection organisation. In the United States it comes through an ALSC-accredited agency.
- Treatment code. `HT`, `DH`, `MB` or `SF`. This says what was done.
- `DB`, optionally. Debarked. Appended where a destination requires it.
You can paste a mark into our stamp decoder and it will break it down element by element and flag anything missing.
02Treatment codes and what they mean now
| Code | Method | Requirement | Practical status in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HT | Conventional heat treatment | 56°C core, 30 continuous minutes | The standard. Accepted everywhere. |
| DH | Dielectric heating | 60°C core, 1 minute continuous | Valid, uncommon outside specific mills. |
| MB | Methyl bromide fumigation | Concentration and duration by temperature | In global phase-out. Refused by the EU and others. |
| SF | Sulphuryl fluoride | Concentration and duration by temperature | Limited adoption; check the destination. |
03What an invalid mark looks like
In descending order of how often I see them:
- Mark on one side only. The standard requires at least two opposing sides so it is readable regardless of how the pallet sits in a container.
- Missing facility number. Usually a stamp that has been copied by someone who did not understand what the number was for.
- Printed or stickered. The mark must be permanent — branded, stencilled or otherwise durable. A label peels off.
- Illegible. Worn, painted over, or burned so lightly it cannot be read. An inspector who cannot read it treats it as absent.
- Present on a pallet that was repaired with untreated wood. The mark is intact and the pallet is non-compliant. This is the hardest one to catch and the most common cause of a hold.
04The repair problem, again
I raise this in nearly everything I write because it accounts for more compliance failures than every other cause combined, and because it is entirely invisible on inspection unless you know the pallet's history.
Under ISPM-15, every component of a marked pallet must have been treated. If a deck board was replaced with untreated wood after treatment, the mark is now a false declaration. The compliant remedy is to re-treat the whole assembly and apply a fresh mark, obliterating the old one so there is no ambiguity.
This means you cannot buy treated pallets, use them for two years, have them repaired by whoever is cheapest, and continue exporting on them. That chain has to be controlled. Our repair service repairs treated fleets with treated stock and re-stamps where required, because the alternative is a compliant-looking pallet that is not compliant.
05A two-minute checking routine
- Find the mark. If you cannot find it on two opposing sides, stop there.
- Check for the wheat symbol. No symbol, no compliance.
- Read the country code. Does it make sense for where the pallet came from?
- Check the facility number is present and legible.
- Read the treatment code. If it is MB, check your destination's position.
- Ask whether the pallet has been repaired since it was marked. If nobody knows, treat that as a yes.
Six checks, two minutes, on a sample of the load. Set against a held container at $400 to $2,500 for on-arrival fumigation plus demurrage, it is the best-value inspection in logistics.
