GB, EU and NI movements

Start with origin and destination

Wood packaging requirements attach to a movement, not to a product line. A manufacturer supplying customers in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe from one site may need different packaging arrangements for each, even where the goods are identical.

For that reason, any answer that begins 'wooden pallets are fine' or 'wooden pallets are banned' without asking where the load is going and where it came from should be treated with suspicion. There is no blanket ban on wooden pallets.

What the current GOV.UK guidance says by route

GOV.UK sets out the requirement by direction of travel, so it is worth reading as a short list rather than a general principle. Check it for your own movement before you load: the wording below reflects the guidance as reviewed on the date shown.

• Great Britain to the EU: solid wood packaging must meet ISPM 15 — heat treated and marked.
• EU to Great Britain: solid wood packaging must meet ISPM 15.
• Great Britain to Northern Ireland: solid wood packaging must meet ISPM 15.
• Northern Ireland to Great Britain: ISPM 15 is not required, but conifer (softwood) wood packaging must either be bark-free or travel with a UK plant passport.
• Northern Ireland to the EU: ISPM 15 is not required for these movements.
• Any other destination: verify the requirement with that country's national plant protection organisation (NPPO) before despatch, because requirements differ by country and can change.

Why Northern Ireland is a separate question

Northern Ireland movements are administered separately from Great Britain, and the requirement is not symmetrical: outbound from Great Britain follows the export rules, while inbound to Great Britain does not require ISPM 15 and instead turns on bark-free conifer timber or a UK plant passport.

Northern Ireland's own import and export requirements are published by DAERA as well as on GOV.UK, so a Northern Ireland movement is worth checking against both. These arrangements have changed over time, so read the current position at the time of shipping rather than relying on a supplier's website — including this one.

Exemptions are material-based, not goodwill

Some packaging sits outside the solid wood packaging rules altogether. GOV.UK lists processed, non-solid wood packaging as out of scope — for example plywood, raw wood 6mm thick or less, barrels for wines and spirits, and gift boxes made from processed wood, with sawdust or shavings or cardboard as packing material.

That is an exemption based on what the packaging is made from. It is not a general exemption for a route, a customer or a shipper, and it does not turn an unmarked timber pallet into compliant packaging.

Practical steps before you load

• Write down origin, destination and any transit country for the movement.
• Establish the packaging material — solid timber, processed wood-based material, plastic or presswood.
• Check whether marks are present, legible and valid, and whether pallets have been repaired.
• Verify the requirement on the GOV.UK wood packaging page for the direction you are moving in.
• Keep the evidence with the consignment file so a query can be answered after despatch.

Limits of this page

This is general information reviewed on the date shown, not advice about your consignment and not a compliance determination. Where a requirement is unclear, the official guidance and your forwarder or customs agent are the authorities to rely on.