GB to EU, EU to GB — and Northern Ireland separately

The common rule

Solid wood packaging material moving between Great Britain and the EU must meet ISPM 15 treatment and marking requirements. That applies in both directions and to everything timber in the load: pallets, cases, crates, bracing and dunnage. The ISPM 15 mark on the wood, rather than a certificate, is the key evidence — and marks can be checked at the border, with non-compliant wood packaging liable to be rejected or destroyed.

Great Britain to the EU

Your pallets are entering the EU's plant-health regime. Assume the marking on each timber item may be inspected on arrival, and that the practical consequences of a failure — a held consignment, remedial repacking, disposal costs, a late delivery — land on your commercial relationship rather than on your pallet supplier. Check before loading, not after booking.

The EU to Great Britain

The same standard applies coming the other way. If you are the importer, the wood packaging arriving under your goods is a risk you inherit: it was chosen by someone else, in another country, possibly reused several times. Put the requirement in your purchase terms in writing, and ask suppliers to photograph marked blocks before despatch.

Northern Ireland, handled separately

Northern Ireland is not simply “the UK” for these purposes:

• Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Wood packaging must be ISPM 15 treated and marked.
• Northern Ireland to the EU. Arrangements for these movements are unchanged.

Because the two legs behave differently, work out which leg you are actually performing before applying a rule you read about the other. If your goods move GB to NI and then onward, both legs need thinking about.

Keep the rulebooks apart

Two separate systems get conflated constantly. Border and plant-health requirements are legal obligations attached to the movement of wood packaging. EPAL licence and trademark rules are commercial and contractual, governing who may produce, repair and mark pool pallets. A genuine EPAL pallet may be unsuitable for your export; an unbranded Euro-format pallet may be perfectly compliant. See EPAL or Euro-format?

Practical sequence for a new lane

1. Confirm whether your packaging is solid wood at all.
2. Confirm treatment and marking for the actual pallets and dunnage being loaded — read the blocks.
3. Photograph marks and file the images against the consignment reference.
4. Check the current GOV.UK guidance for the direction you are moving.
5. Ask your freight forwarder or a plant-health professional where the consequences of being wrong are material.

The importer and exporter checklist turns this into something you can hand to a warehouse team.