Wood-packaging has long been recognized as a transport pathway for wood-boring pests. The use of low grade lumber as disposable packaging and dunnage for goods moving in international trade is globally acknowledged as the source of recent introductions of damaging forest pests including Anoplophora glabripennis, Tetropium fuscum, Agrilus planipennis and Sirex noctilio in North America. Regulatory and research audits of wood packaging have demonstrated the diversity of known and potential pests being inadvertently transported globally with trade. Prevention of this inadvertent transport, and thereby avoiding the need to respond at all to new pest introductions, has been a continuous challenge to phytosanitary regulatory agencies. In an effort to control the international movement of invasive pests, national, regional and international phytosanitary regulatory bodies have contributed to the development of a global standard for the treatment of wood packaging material in international trade. This standard, International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No. 15 (Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade) was adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2002 and is currently being implemented globally. We review the history and ongoing development of this standard and its implementation. When fully implemented, ISPM No. 15 will significantly reduce phytosanitary risks associated with imported wood packaging material.