Workshops to answer queries on new wood packaging rules

ALAN PEAT WHILE THE latest SA rules on treatment of wood packaging for imports and exports were supposed to come into force on January 1, the Department of Agriculture – which bears responsibility for monitoring the compliance – appears to be inactive on the issue. And it has also left just too many questions unanswered, according to Edward Little, adviser to the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF). “We circulated the relevant ISPM 15 document from the department to all SAAFF members,” he told FTW, “and they, in turn, forwarded it to their clients. “In many instances these clients consulted with their suppliers of wooden packaging material.” But the main result of all these consultations was an extensive list of questions on ISPM 15 raised by all involved, and SAAFF forwarded this to a senior department official for answers. These, Little told FTW, he hoped to get before or during this past week’s series of departmental workshops being held around the country on the packaging treatment regulations. The questions posed by SAAFF to Marinda Nell, the senior administrative officer in the plant health directorate at the department of agriculture, cover a range of issues from date of enforcement to control of the monitoring process and procedures surrounding inspections. SAAFF also requested its members attending the workshops to forward any additional questions intended to be raised at these meetings to the association to be added to the list already compiled.