New phytosanitary measures concerning coniferous wooden packing material transported into Finland

Dear Sirs,

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland has on 14th April 2000 decided on new phytosanitary measures concerning the wooden packing material.

The Decree number 53/000 (Register number 1643/561/2000, MAF, Finland) regulates the movement of coniferous wooden packing material originating in countries where pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) exists, into Finland. The countries in concern are: Canada, Peoples Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and USA.

 The Decree will come into force on 31st May 2000.

The requirements are as follows:

Wooden packing material of Coniferous origin, except Thuja L., which is used in the transport of goods of all types either as a package (box. cage and barrel), or wood used as a block or to support the load, including such wood which has not kept its natural round surface, shall be accompanied by a phytosanitary certicate, which certifies that one of the following requirements has been met.

The packing material shall be:

- Stripped of it's bark and shall be free from grob holes cause by genus Monochamus (non-European spp.) defined for this purpose as those which are larger than 3mm across and shall have a moisture content expressed as a percentage of dry matter of less than 20o achieved at the time of manufacture

or

- The wood has undergone a heat treatment to achieve a minimum wood core temperature of 56 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes

or

- has ondergone kiln-drying to below 20% moisture content, expressed as a percentage of dry matter at the time of manufacture, achieved through an appropriate time/temperature schedule

or

- has undergone fumigation with an appropriate chemical. In the phytosanitary certificate the active agent, lowest temperature of the wood, amount (grams/square meter) of chemical used and time of exposure (in hours) shall be stated.

The reason for new requirements is that Plant Protection Service of Finland has in several cases found that packing wood transported into the country from USA, Canada and Japan, has been infested by pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus). In addition to this, it also has been observed in several cases that other EC plant health requirements concerning the wooden packing material are not met. The purpose of this emergency action is to prevent the instruction of pine wood nematode and other quarantine pests into the country.

Sincerely Yours,

Jorma Rautapaa

Head of Plant Protection Service