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TIMBER PRODUCTS INSPECTION December 2025 HT Newsletter Volume: 12/09/2025
Online Newsletter
Matt McGowan - WPM Program Manager
mmcgowan@tpinspection.com
mmcgowan@tpinspection.com
Office: 770.785.4769
Mobile: 678.480.2451
Mobile: 678.480.2451
For more information on the IPPC program
Please contact:
Matt McGowan
Director of Wood Packaging
Peachtree City GA
Office 770.785.4769
Mobile 678.480.2451
The unauthorized and/or fraudulent use of the TP IPPC mark is illegal and a situation we take seriously. Anyone with information regarding the misuse of IPPC marks should contact TP's WPM Manager immediately. Thank you for helping to protect the integrity of the ISPM 15 program which is vital to our business and economy.
Interesting Facts about the actor Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan Currently holds the record for most credits in a single movie...15. He was the writer, director, producer, actor and 11 other roles in the film Chinese Zodiac.
Jackie Chan is probably best known as an action star, but he's also a talented singer. He's released over 20 albums and is a big singing star in China.
Because he does so many of his own stunts, he's had over 70 injuries on set and has a hole in his skull from one mishap.
Jackie Chan loves doing comedy, and studied famous silent era actors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to better understand what makes physical comedy so funny.
Jackie Chan is often referred to as one of the “Three Dragons” of Hong Kong cinema, along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Together, they formed a formidable trio and collaborated on many successful films.
Jackie Chan is well-versed in a variety of martial arts styles, including Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, and Kung Fu. He often combines these different disciplines in his extraordinary fight sequences.
As well as speaking Chinese and Mandarin, Chan also speaks English and Korean, and some German, Japanese and Thai - that's seven languages.
Jackie Chan's stunts are so dangerous that no one will insure him, because he's likely to injure himself. Instead, he pays for him and his stunt team himself.
Chan has been harassed by the Triad gang for years and was even once shot at by them while getting off of an airplane. Chan confronted them once equipped with a gun and other explosives showing that he means business. Since there are serious criminal penalties for weapons in Hong Kong, the authorities contacted him when they heard the story but have since stopped looking into the matter.
While directing the film Dragon Lord in 1982, Chan filmed 2,900 takes for a single 10-minute opening scene that involved dozens of other stuntmen. For his stubbornness, he was awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of takes for one scene in a movie.
Although he has been offered roles on numerous occasions, Jackie Chan puts his foot down when it comes to playing villains in movies. While he acted as nameless thugs in Bruce Lee films early in his career, he now refuses to play a bad guy.
He has been known to utilize stand-ins for scenes when his character is driving, walking around, or performing any other menial tasks that don’t require his skills. He does this in order to have an opportunity to rest and prepare for his rigorous stunts.
We wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been our priveledge to be of service to you and we wish you all the best for 2026. Our offices will be closed for Christmas December 24rd and 25th and for New Years December 31st and January 1st. We will re-open on January 2nd.
Recyclers and Fraudulent IPPC Marks
There are many concerns by ALSC licensed recycling facilities regarding those recyclers not in the ALSC program shipping IPPC marked pallets into the marketplace and representing them as IPPC conforming. The questions are:
Can they legitimately do this?
The short answer is no. If a recycler is not being monitored by an accredited agency with ALSC for ISPM 15 conformance, then they cannot represent pallets they are selling as IPPC conforming unless they have documentation that the pallets were retreated by an ALSC monitored heat treating facility.
What if they use exempt material to repair pallets (i.e. plywood) or simply employ a reuse (passthrough) program?
ISPM 15 Section 4.1 states:
"Treatment and application of the mark (and/or related systems) must always be under the authority of the NPPO. NPPOs that authorize use of the mark have the responsibility for ensuring that all systems authorized and approved for implementation of this standard meet all necessary requirements described within the standard, and that wood packaging material (or wood that is to be made into wood packaging material) bearing the mark has been treated and/or manufactured in accordance with this standard. Responsibilities include:
- Authorization, registration and accreditation, as appropriate
- Monitoring treatment and marking systems implemented in order to verify compliance (further information on related responsibilities is provided in ISPM 7 (Phytosanitary certification system)
- Inspection, establishing verification procedures and auditing where appropriate (further information is provided in ISPM 23 (Guidelines for inspection).
The NPPO should supervise (or, as a minimum, audit or review) the application of the treatments, and authorize use of the mark and its application as appropriate. To prevent untreated or insufficiently/incorrectly treated wood packaging material bearing the mark, treatment should be carried out prior to application of the mark."
The USDA interprets this as any processes employed by a facility in order to represent pallets as ISPM 15 conforming must meet the monitoring criteria to verify conformance. This includes the use of exempt material to repair wood packaging or the implementation of a passthrough program. Facilities not monitored in the IPPC program are not authorized or approved to implement the ISPM 15 standard and cannot represent what they are shipping as IPPC conforming wood packaging eligible for international trade. Such acts are fraudulent and can be subject to fines and penalties if caught and convicted.
To further clarify…
The document the IPPC mark represents is a phytosanitary (phyto) certificate. A company that reships an IPPC marked pallet with product on it is simply transfering the phyto certificate with that pallet bearing the mark representing it. The placing of pallets into a reprocessing operation (i.e. recycler) changes the way the pallets are viewed by the USDA regardless of whether it is repaired or passed through. The USDA sees it as a commodity moving through a processing facility that requires monitoring to ensure conformance and cannot be considered properly treated without it. The facility cannot represent the marked pallets as IPPC compliant without proper monitoring to verify they know what that compliance is. In other words, facilities representing commodity pallets as IPPC conforming must be monitored under USDA’s authority. If a facility is not monitored and ships pallets as IPPC conforming with old marks or with a fradulent stamp they have acquired, they are illegally representing the pallets as IPPC conforming when they are not.
How are violators caught and held accountable?
Some times this occurs at the overseas port where an interception (discovery of evidence of evasive pests) is made. The USDA will be given information on the U.S. exporter of the IPPC marked pallets and are then able to trace these pallets back to the original wood packaging provider. If the provider is found not to be in the program, the USDA will pursue criminal charges against the operation. In these situations, the USDA has successfully prosecuted violators noting that "violations of ISPM 15 requirements under the Plant Protection Act have resulted in a variety of enforcement actions, including an administrative decision and order, civil penalties of as much as $100,000, and federal felony convictions."
Many times violators are caught through tips provided from other recyclers who are in the IPPC program or individuals notifying the related agency regarding this. TP aggressively pursues operations that fraudulently apply the "TP" IPPC mark which threatens our clients' businesses and the U.S. IPPC program as a whole. We appreciate it when a facility takes the initiative and contacts us regarding a fraudulent mark associated with TP's program.
The USDA also warns exporters purchasing IPPC marked wood packaging from unmonitored operations that, "the alteration and distribution of certified wood packaging material is noncompliant with the APHIS regulations and ISPM 15. US exporters using such materials expose themselves to international fees, fines, and possible bans by our trading partners. Repair and re-manufacture companies producing and distributing noncompliant wood packaging material could be held liable by the exporter and/or prosecuted by the Department of Justice."
Recyclers participating in the IPPC program should take comfort in knowing that the USDA takes a serious stance against facilities that choose to disregard ALSC and ISPM 15 requirements to legally ship IPPC marked pallets and will take the necessary action whenever possible.