WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/KOR/322 
27 March 2009  
 (09-1522) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Notifying Member:  REPUBLIC OF KOREA  
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  National Plant Quarantine Service, Ministry for Food,  Agriculture, 
Forestry and Fisheries 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Wood packaging material exported from  Korea or imported into Korea 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ X ] All trading partners, or [   ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  Plant Quarantine Requirements for Imported or Exported 
Wood Packaging Materials  Language:  Korean  Number of pages:  67 
6. Description of content:  The National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS)/MIFAFF of the 
Republic of Korea will revise  the regulation on wood packaging material as below.  
1. Marking:  For wood packaging material exported from Korea 
 Previous: 
 KR-OOO
(ZZ-001)
HT or MB 
 
 G/SPS/N/KOR/322 
Page 2  
 
   
 Revised: 
 KR-OOOOO
HT or MB 
      (ZZ-001)  
The symbol of a producer of the wood pa ckaging material and registered serial 
number of stamp of the producer which are assigned by NPQS in parenthesis, as an 
example (ZZ-001), are moved to outside of border of the mark. 
(The previous mark will be used togeth er with revised mark until 21 September 
2009.) 
2. For both exported and imported wood pa ckaging material:  Wood for wood 
packaging should be debarked before phytosanitary treatment and visually separated 
and clearly distinct small piece of bark may remain if they are; less than 
3 centimeters in width (regar dless of the length) or grea ter than 3 centimeters in 
width, with the total surface area of an i ndividual piece of bark less than 50 square 
centimetres. 
3. For both exported and imported wood packag ing material:  Live pest should not be 
found. 
4. For both exported and imported wood packag ing material: Methyl bromide treatment 
is not accepted for wood packaging with mo re than 200 mm width in any side of the 
wood. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [ X ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests.    
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)    
[   ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)     
[ X ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM N°)   ISPM 15  
[   ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
 [ X ] Yes   [   ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:     G/SPS/N/KOR/322 
 Page 3 
 
 
  9. Other relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:  
http://www.npqs.go.kr/homepage/ bulletin/bulletin01_view.asp  (available in Korean) 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  22 March 2009 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  22 March 2009 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [   ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  22 March 2009 for marking (1), adoption date of revised ISPM 15 for others 
(2, 3, 4) 
[   ] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Final date for comments: [   ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):    
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National Notification 
Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
National Plant Quarantine Service/MIFFAF 
#433-1, Anyang 6-dong, Anyang 
Kyonggi-do, 430-016, Korea Tel:  +(82 31) 420 7665 Fax:  +(82 31) 420 7605 E-mail:  npqs@npqs.go.kr 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National Notification Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
National Plant Quarantine Service/MIFFAF  
#433-1, Anyang 6-dong, Anyang Kyonggi-do, 430-016, Korea Tel:  +(82 31) 420 7665 Fax:  +(82 31) 420 7605 
E-mail:  npqs@npqs.go.kr