AWPCS

The Australian Wood Products Certification Scheme is owned and maintained by the Australian Government in line with the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures - Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging in International Trade (ISPM 15).

This scheme ensures that wood packaging material is sufficiently treated prior to use to minimise the risk of spreading pests. The EWPAA offers certification of Heat Treatment providers.

The EWPAA currently certifies to the Australian Wood Packaging Certification Scheme for Export Version 3.0. Further information is available from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture website.

The process for granting and maintaining certification is detailed below.

The AWPCS Certification Process

Application

If you are interested in product certification, you must send a letter to the EWPAA at inbox@ewp.asn.au notifying us of your desire to be certified. This letter must include: the business name, ABN number, contact information and address of the manufacturing site.

We will contact you to request any additional information and go through the process in more detail.

Please note that the EWPAA only offers AWPCS certification to manufacturers in Australia.

Quality Management System

The AWPCS rules are available for download from the Australian Department of Agriculture website. These rules detail the requirements for process control, management systems, product qualification, documentation and record keeping that manufacturers must meet.

The applicant must implement a documented quality control system that meets the requirements of these rules.

Qualification Audit

The EWPAA will perform at least one qualification audit for certification. This audit will consist of an onsite inspection of the manufacturing process, a review of the documented management system and a review of record keeping procedures. The purpose of this audit is to ensure that the applicant has:

  1. Implemented a compliant heat treatment system.
  2. Ensure adequate separation of treated and non-treated material throughout production.
  3. Maintains adequate records to demonstrate that heat treatment process is implemented correctly.
  4. Can trace material through their system and identify the heat treatment records that apply to each batch.
Certification

Once the mills has demonstrated that their quality management system is compliant with the AWPCS rules a review of all of the evidence collected during the certification process shall be provided to an independent auditor for review. Based on the evidence provided, the auditor will decide whether or not certification will be granted.

Certification Documentation

Once an application for certification has been approved, the applicant shall be provided with a certificate detailing the scope of certification and will have their details and their scope of certification included on the EWPAA certification register (LINK) and JAS-ANZ certification register (LINK).

Surveillance

The EWPAA performs regular onsite audits of the manufacturing process to ensure the process control system is effective and records of heat treatment are maintained.

Programs & Standards

Certification Schemes
Education & Training
Standards Development
Research & Development
Technical Promotion
Market Maintenance