Wooden pallets for export to the EU. Are you compliant?
27 Nov 2020
This information was taken from Chris Buxton members’ bulletin on 25.11.2020
From 1 January 2021 all WPM [wood packaging material] moving between the UK and the EU must meet ISPM15 international standards by undergoing heat treatment and marking.
The full ISPM15 document may be viewed on the UN’s International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) website below:
There is also information on the GOV.UK website on this topic – follow the link below:
The actual detail of the ISPM15 regulations is of less importance to BFPA members in that they are really targeted at the manufacturers of wooden pallets. However, they do impact upon members if your pallet supplier is non-compliant and you are using them to ship products to the EU. (Or at least they will be from the 1st of January 2021.) This has led to three questions being raised amongst members. DEFRA official provided the answers to these three questions below:
Q1) Are these regulations part of the current Brexit negotiations and will they apply going forwards?
The regulations are not being negotiated as part of the Brexit discussions and have been accepted. i.e. no efforts to negate these regulations are being undertaken and they will apply to all exports from the UK to the EU.
Q2) Will they be seriously enforced?
Officially the regulations will be enforced and to a great extent, are equally dependent upon the approach taken by the French or EU customs staff. Unofficially, civil servants recognise that there are insufficient resources to check every lorry and a system of spot checks will have to be implemented.
Q3) Are the compliant pallets readily available?
Until recently, there was a UK shortage of compliant pallets but I am told that this has now eased and that the supply of compliant pallets has improved considerably. It is uncertain as to whether or not this improvement is sufficient to meet likely demand. I would recommend to members that they review their current stocks in this respect.
For more information on Brexit related matters please visit the Government website www.gov.uk/transition or contact Chris Buxton ChrisBuxton@bfpa.co.uk