Recent detections of pests in wood packaging in Australia Chris Howard Policy Officer Biosecurity Plant Division Australian Government Department of Agriculture IFQRG 12, Rome, September 2014

Importing Wood Packaging Australia partially adopted ISPM 15 in 2004 & fully adopted in 2010. Presently, together with ISPM 15, other treatments for wood packaging are still accepted Fumigation - MeBr, SO2F2, EtO Heat treatment Irradiation Permanent timber preservative treatments Wood packaging must be free of Biosecurity Risk Material

How Australia manages WPM Broker accreditation schemes (training to departmental requirements) Documentary assessment at the border Quarantine approved premises (trained staff at receiving depots) General Inspection and specific commodity work instructions Cargo compliance verification (CCV) surveys (target 1-5% of goods that are not usually referred)

Recent Post Quarantine Detections May/June 2014 – Anoplophora glabripennis (Asian longhorn beetle), Apriona germari (brown mulberry longhorn beetle) and Monochamus alternatus (Japanese pine sawyer beetle) were detected in wood packaging for building supplies.

Recent Post Quarantine Detections May/June 2014 – Anoplophora glabripennis (Asian longhorn beetle), Apriona germari (brown mulberry longhorn beetle) and Monochamus alternatus (Japanese pine sawyer beetle) were detected in wood packaging for building supplies.

Recent Post Quarantine Detections

Recent Post Quarantine Detections What is to blame? ISPM 15 or compliance? Joint APPPC/NAPPO meeting in China in June focussed on non- compliance and achieving better implementation. Compliance levels can be increased by imposing an high level of intervention with non-compliant importer’s next consignments - $$$

Interceptions ALB, BMLB and JPS have been intercepted before.

Post Treatment Infestation I don’t think that we know the emergence times from the pallets. The model only considers emergence of an established population, right? Post Treatment Infestation

Summary Adopting ISPM 15 and other schemes for WPM allows resources at the Australian border to be directed to other areas of greater risk. Australia has identified the need to target WPM for more commodities that do not normally require intervention i.e. tiles/stone/building products/etc. Compliance can be improved by pushback to importers. Detection of post treatment infestation seems to mirror experiences in other countries. Post treatment infestation is not in scope of ISPM 15, but it continues to be a major challenge.

Questions Is there a way to reduce the amount of post-treatment infestation that is evident globally? How do other countries manage this risk? Realistically, what can be done about post treatment infestation? When is post treatment infestation most likely to occur? Does WPM become less attractive with age and is it therefore generally less of risk? New permanent preservative treatments?