May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 1 Country Consultation 2006 DRAFT ISPM: DEBARKED AND BARK-FREE WOOD Steward: Ringolds Arnitis

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 2 Scope of the standard The standard provides: practical guidance on differentiating wood with bark, debarked wood and bark-free wood guidance in determining tolerance levels of bark where the removal of bark is used as a single phytosanitary measure

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 3 Definitions Bark – the layer of a woody stem or root, outside the cambium Bark-free wood – wood from which all bark, except ingrown bark around knots and bark pockets between rings of annual growth, has been removed debarking

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 4 Definitions (2) Debarking – any process designed to remove bark from wood. Debarking does not necessarily make the wood-bark-free

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 5 Debarking or bark-freedom some countries (NPPOs) apply debarking or bark-freedom as a phytosanitary measure to manage the risk associated with the movement of wood different interpretation of debarked and bark-free wood have impact on international trade

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 6 Debarking tolerances National Plant Protection Organizations ( NPPOs) may consider: setting tolerances for residual levels of bark a tolerance (where individual pieces of wood should not have bark on more than 10% of their total surface area) that the shape and size of pieces of bark will affect the level of risk

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 7 Bark-free wood in cases where the smallest pieces of bark may present a risk a requirement that the wood be bark-free could be applied it must be technically justified

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 8 Bark tolerances for bark-free wood wood should generally not contain any bark above the cambial layer However, NPPOs may allow defined tolerances for bark remnants

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 9 Inspection to verify the wood is bark-free wood should not retain any visible indication of bark (no any evidence of the layer of tissue above the cambium) wood may contain evidence of cambium, ingrown bark and bark pockets if a specific tolerance has not been determined – infrequent detection of very small pieces (e.g. credit card size) may be permitted

May 2006 Prepared by the steward Ringolds Arnitis (LATVIA) 10 Pictures of debarked and bark-free wood are provided in Appendix II and III of ISPM