Wood Packaging Material Violations: What to Do When CBP Points an EAN 

This article explains what an importer ought to do within the first 24 hours after CBP points an Emergency Action Notification (EAN) for non-compliant wooden packaging materials (WPM), how CBP calculates and mitigates the penalties that comply with, and the way the brand new APHIS-approved shredder-hammermill remedy can save the underlying cargo. It issues as a result of a WPM penalty is assessed on the full home worth of the merchandise, requires no pre-penalty discover, and could be issued even when the importer absolutely complies with the EAN. The choices made earlier than the cargo leaves the port decide how a lot of that publicity survives. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• An Emergency Action Notification (EAN) for non-compliant wooden packaging materials is just not the top of the matter. It is the beginning of a penalty file. Call counsel the day it arrives, not the day the penalty discover arrives. 
• CBP penalties for WPM violations are assessed on the home worth of the merchandise underneath 19 U.S.C. § 1595a(b), with no pre-penalty discover required. A single violation is sufficient. The previous five-violation threshold was eradicated in 2017. 
• Mitigation is actual however shrinks quick: 1 to 10 p.c of the penalty on a primary violation, 10 to 25 p.c on a second, and a 25 p.c flooring on the third. Documented speedy remediation and cooperation are what transfer you towards the low finish. 
• Shredder-hammermilling is now an APHIS-approved remedy for non-compliant WPM. Where an accepted facility exists on the port, it will probably permit the cargo to remain within the U.S. whereas solely the packaging is destroyed, however it’s granted case by case based mostly on pest threat. 
• Contractual recourse issues. CBP itself recommends importers pursue their very own claims in opposition to suppliers who ship non-compliant WPM. 

One Pallet Can Cost You the Value of the Whole Shipment 

Under 7 C.F.R. § 319.40-3, all regulated wooden packaging materials coming into the United States, together with pallets, crates, dunnage, and blocking, have to be handled (warmth remedy or methyl bromide fumigation) and marked with the ISPM 15 stamp. The mark have to be everlasting, legible, on no less than two reverse sides, and embrace the IPPC emblem, the two-letter nation code, the producer or remedy supplier code, and the remedy code. Two particulars tripped up a number of attendees on the August 25, 2026 WPM compliance webinar we attended with APHIS and CBP: the hyphen between the nation code and the producer quantity is now required, so a stamp studying “US123” somewhat than “US-123” is non-compliant, and a stamp utilized to a plastic or non-permanent label is likewise non-compliant even when the wooden beneath was correctly handled. 

When CBP Agriculture Specialists discover WPM that’s unmarked, improperly marked, or infested with a dwell pest, the response is an EAN directing the bonded occasion to export, destroy, or in any other case remediate the fabric inside a hard and fast window, usually with all the cargo held. Three penalties then run on separate tracks, and importers routinely confuse them. 

• Remediation price. Re-export or destruction of the WPM, and infrequently the cargo on it, on the importer’s expense. 
• Liquidated damages. If the occasion whose bond is obligated fails to finish the motion the EAN requires, CBP could challenge a liquidated damages declare for breach of the bond. 
• Penalty. Separately, CBP could assess a penalty underneath 19 U.S.C. § 1595a(b) in opposition to any occasion that tried to import the non-compliant WPM, measured on the home worth of the merchandise. The penalty could also be issued even the place the EAN was absolutely complied with, and no pre-penalty discover is required. 

Since November 1, 2017, CBP now not waits for 5 violations earlier than penalizing, and it now not resets the violation depend every fiscal yr. A primary-time, single-pallet violation is a penalty case. 

For the regulatory background, see our earlier put up, CBP Now Issuing Penalties for Wood Packaging Material Violations. 

Why You Need to Call Counsel the Day the EAN Arrives 

The most consequential level from the webinar panel was procedural, not technical. Asked whether or not WPM violations mechanically end in penalties, the USDA and CBP panelists confirmed that non-compliance is a violation, however that the choice to advocate a penalty is made case by case, and that two components weigh closely: whether or not the importer adopted the EAN’s instructions instantly, and whether or not the importer raised the issue with the federal government proactively, earlier than USDA found it. An importer who identifies a faulty stamp and contacts APHIS earlier than inspection is in a materially totally different posture from one who’s caught. 

That window closes shortly. The EAN deadline is brief, the cargo is accruing demurrage, and the intuition is to signal regardless of the dealer places in entrance of you and get the container shifting. Every a kind of decisions turns into proof within the penalty file that CBP opens afterward. This is why the EAN, not the penalty discover, is the second to contain counsel. Specifically, Diaz Trade Law works with importers on the EAN stage to: 

• Evaluate whether or not the EAN could be happy with out destroying or re-exporting the underlying cargo, together with whether or not an APHIS-approved shredder-hammermill facility is accessible on the port (mentioned under). 
• Ensure the remediation is accomplished throughout the EAN deadline and documented in a manner that CBP will later acknowledge as speedy remedial motion, the one most useful mitigating issue. 
• Build the mitigation document from day one: remedy certificates, provider correspondence, pictures, pest identification, and proof of a corrective motion program at origin. Note that CBP won’t launch its personal inspection pictures with out a FOIA request, and continuously not even then, so the importer’s personal documentation is what’s going to exist. 
• Address the ACE and re-export transmission points that come up when solely the WPM is rejected whereas the cargo is launched, the place steering varies port to port. 
• Preserve and pursue contractual recourse in opposition to the overseas provider. CBP’s personal suggestion on the webinar was that importers assert their very own claims in opposition to suppliers who ship non-compliant WPM. That declare is just pretty much as good as the acquisition order phrases and the proof collected on the port. 

An importer who waits for the penalty discover has already misplaced the flexibility to form most of those details. 

Penalty Mitigation Under CBP’s WPM Guidelines 

CBP’s Mitigation Guidelines for Wood Packaging Material Violations (October 2019) set the framework. The penalty is assessed on the worth of the articles launched or tried to be launched, which incorporates each the products and the WPM. Mitigation is then obtainable on petition, inside ranges that escalate with every violation: 

• First violation: mitigated to 1 to 10 p.c of the assessed penalty. 
• Second violation: mitigated to 10 to 25 p.c. 
• Third or subsequent violation: mitigated to a minimum of 25 p.c, and mitigation is usually denied the place there’s a persevering with documented sample of WPM violations. 

Where an importer lands inside these ranges is dependent upon the mitigating and aggravating components within the document. Mitigating components acknowledged by CBP embrace speedy remedial motion, a longtime compliance document, distinctive cooperation with CBP and APHIS, few violations relative to transaction quantity, WPM that was correctly handled however unmarked or incorrectly marked, a small share of the cargo being non-compliant, an illegible somewhat than absent mark, importer inexperience, and self-disclosure of the non-compliance. Aggravating components embrace non-cooperation, false marking or documentation, makes an attempt at concealment, and failure to implement remedial measures after a previous violation. 

Liquidated damages for failure to adjust to an EAN comply with a separate observe. CBP will usually cancel the declare in full the place the required motion was ultimately taken or circumstances past the occasion’s management prevented compliance, and can cancel to an quantity between $500 and $5,000 the place the motion was taken after the deadline. 

Two sensible observations. First, the phrase “speedy remedial motion” seems within the tips, and the panel confirmed it’s what CBP seems to be at first. Remediation that’s full, documented, and contained in the EAN deadline is the distinction between a 1 p.c and a ten p.c end result on a primary violation, which on a $400,000 cargo is the distinction between $4,000 and $40,000. Second, as a result of CBP now not resets the violation depend, an organization’s second violation could come years after the primary and nonetheless be handled as a repeat offense. Importers with any prior WPM historical past ought to assume they’re already within the 10 to 25 p.c band and plan the petition accordingly. 

Beyond the person petition, the importer ought to have the ability to present a trace-back program: remedy logs reviewed, pest administration practices at origin confirmed, and marking and dealing with gaps recognized and closed. The panel was express that sturdy trace-back packages are important, and they’re the inspiration of any argument that the violation was an remoted failure somewhat than a sample. 

The Shredder-Hammermill Option: Saving the Cargo 

Historically, an EAN for non-compliant WPM meant the cargo left with the pallets. Segregating the products from the wooden was hardly ever permitted as a result of separating the 2 dangers releasing any pest into the port atmosphere. That has modified. 

In July 2025, APHIS approved shredder-hammermilling as a remedy for non-compliant WPM and dunnage (CBP Trade Information Notice 65868207). The course of makes use of a wooden shredder adopted by a hammermill grinder, run sequentially as a single mixed remedy, to mechanically destroy the wooden and any pest it harbors. The necessities are set out within the APHIS Treatment Manual. Two circumstances apply: an APHIS-approved shredder-hammermill facility should exist on the port of entry, and an accepted APHIS compliance settlement have to be in place masking the safe disposal tools. 

The sensible significance is that, the place the ability exists, the importer can ask USDA to allow destruction of the WPM solely and launch of the products. At the webinar, APHIS confirmed that segregation and importation of the products shall be thought-about the place an authorized shredder-hammermill is accessible and the operation is carried out underneath CBP compliance, and that the choice activates the pest threat introduced by the precise cargo. This is a discretionary willpower, not an entitlement, and it must be requested and supported shortly, throughout the EAN window. 

Two limitations ought to be understood. Availability is port-specific, and APHIS has not dedicated to publishing a port-by-port checklist of accepted amenities, so an importer’s first query on receiving an EAN ought to be whether or not one exists at that port. And use of the shredder-hammermill resolves the remediation obligation; it doesn’t by itself resolve the penalty. It does, nonetheless, generate precisely the type of speedy, documented remedial motion that drives the mitigation evaluation towards the low finish of the vary. 

What a Well-Handled EAN Looks Like 

Handled correctly, a WPM violation on a first-time importer with clear historical past, compliant remedy however a faulty mark, speedy remediation by means of an accepted facility, and a documented corrective motion program at origin ought to resolve with the cargo launched, the liquidated damages declare cancelled, and the penalty mitigated to the underside of the 1 to 10 p.c band. Handled poorly, the identical violation ends with the cargo re-exported, a liquidated damages declare for a missed deadline, and a penalty petition arguing from a document the importer by no means constructed. 

The variable is just not the pallet. It is what the importer did within the first day after the EAN. 

Contact Diaz Trade Law 

If you will have acquired an Emergency Action Notification, a liquidated damages declare, or a penalty discover referring to wooden packaging materials, contact Diaz Trade Law instantly at 305-456-3830 or [email protected]. We characterize importers, brokers, and carriers earlier than CBP and APHIS at each stage, from the EAN by means of the mitigation petition, and we help corporations in constructing the ISPM 15 trace-back and provider compliance packages that maintain the following cargo out of the penalty file. [email protected] | 305-456-3830 

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