Worldwide Customs & Regulatory Updates
April 1, 2005
Suspension of Manufactured Wood Items from China - effective April 01, 2005
Commencing April 1, 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant health Inspection Service (APHIS) will suspend all wood craft items from China that contain wooden logs, limbs, branches, or twigs greater than 1 centimeter in diameter and with intact bark.
The import suspension will affect, but is not limited to, artificial Christmas trees with wooden trunks and garden trellises. This restriction will remain in place pending the adoption of adequate mitigation measures by Chinese exporters.
Manufactured wood items that have been heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide and have had 100 percent of the bark removed are not subject to the import suspension.
This suspension is due to the presence of quarantine pests discovered by APHIS in wooden decorative items imported from China. The primary insects of concern are Callidiellum villosulum and Callidiellum rufipenne, also known as the brown (fir) longhorned beetle and the Japanese cedar longhorned beetle.
APHIS will update information about these craft items under "Hot Issues" at:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/ppq_epermits.shtml