The Ministry of Agriculture has extended the deadline for the enforcement of the adopted International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) regulations ISPM#15, for solid-wood packaging material in international trade. The new date is March 1, 2011.

The original date of enforcement was January 1, 2011. “This grace period is to allow for the information to be circulated among all players involved in trade,” Fitzroy White, senior plant quarantine/SPS enquiry point officer said. He was speaking at the Shipping Association of Jamaica’s Lunch and Learn Seminar held last Wednesday. The seminar was sponsored by Seafreight Jamaica.

According to White, the World Trade Organisation states that the country implementing the regulation should give the world six months to comply. Sensitisation seminars for the enforcement of the regulation, began in August last year. However, some players have indicated that they were only recently made aware of the new regulation.

Regulation states:

The regulation states that all raw-wood packaging materials entering Jamaica are to be treated and marked in accordance with the requirements of ISPM 15.

The mark should at minimum include:

Symbol

Markings should be:

  • According to model shown in figure
  • Legible
  • Permanent and not transferable
  • Placed in a visible location, preferably on at least two opposite sides of the article being certified.

 

Regulation Covers

The regulation covers: pallets, dunnage, crating, packing blocks, drums, cases, load boards, pallet collars and skids which can be present in almost any imported or exported consignment. However, it excludes wood packaging made wholly of wood-based products such as plywood, plastic board, oriented strand board or veneer that has been created using glue, heat and pressure or a combination thereof.

Measures for Non-Compliance

Where wood-packaging material does not carry the required mark, action may be taken, unless other bilateral arrangements are in place. This action may take the form of:

  1. Treatment
  2. Disposal
  3. Refusal of entry
  4. Risk-management options

 

Disposal of wood-packaging material is a risk-management option that may be used by the National Plant Protection Organization of the importing country, upon arrival of wood-packaging material, where treatment is not available or desirable.

Recommended methods:

  • Incineration
  • Burial
  • Other methods (re-export)

 

The United States-based SeaFreight Line represented in Jamaica by Lannaman and Morris Shipping Limited, has been providing ocean transportation services for over 18 years and currently operates 6 x 1,100 TEU and 2 x 500 TEU vessels between Florida, the Caribbean, South America and Central American.

In addition to the two new markets of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the carrier already offers weekly fixed-day service between Jacksonville and Port Everglades and Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Kingston, Montego Bay, La Guaira, Margarita (El Guamache), Panama, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname and Trinidad. The carrier offers various sizes of dry and refrigerated containers as well as break bulk acceptance on cargo such as boats, vehicles, machinery, among others, on flat racks.