The UK Wood Packaging Material Marking Programme
       
   
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This Website sets out the obligations of manufacturers, repairers, remanufacturers and others involved in the wood packaging material sector under the UK Wood Packaging Material Marking Programme. The key points to note are: 

  • Many countries have implemented ISPM15 and anyone who uses wood packaging material to transport their goods to these countries must ensure that it is treated and marked accordingly.
  • If you want to apply an ISPM15 mark to wood packaging material, it is a legal requirement that you have an official certificate authorising you to do so.

Regulated wood packaging material includes crates, boxes, packing cases, dunnage, pallets, cable drums and spools or reels which may be present in any imported consignment – including consignments that would not normally be subject to phytosanitary control.

BREAKING NEWS...
From the 1st January 2021, it will be a legal requirement for all wood packaging material moving in both directions between UK and the EU to be compliant with a treatment and mark as specified in the International Standard for Phytosanitary measures No 15 (ISPM15). More to follow...

Introduction

The risks of introducing and spreading tree pests through the transport of packaging material made of unprocessed wood is recognised internationally. Certain pests, including wood boring longhorn beetles from the family Cerambycidae, bark beetles from the family Scolytidae, and the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, are readily transported and spread via infested wood packaging material.

In 2002, an International Standard for a Phytosanitary Measure, Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade (ISPM15), was adopted by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (now the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures). Most of the UK’s international trading partners around the globe have now implemented landing regulations for wood packaging material based on ISPM15.

In order to help UK manufacturers and exporters demonstrate compliance with ISPM15, the Forestry Commission in Great Britain and the Forest Service, an agency within the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland, established a national wood packaging material marking programme in conjunction with the trade. The United Kingdom wood packaging material marking programme (UKWPMMP) regulates the manufacture, repair and re-manufacture of ISPM15 compliant WPM in the UK and is administered by the Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON).

The Programme was given statutory status on 6 November 2006, when the Plant Health (Wood Packaging Material Marking) Forestry Order 2006 came into force. Operation of the UKWPMMP is overseen by an Advisory Council consisting of representatives from the Forestry Commission, Forest Service, Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON), National Association of Pallet Distributors (NAPD), United Kingdom Forest Products Association (UKFPA), CHEP (Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool) and the British European Pallet Association Ltd (BREPAL).

By law all companies in the UK involved in producing ISPM15 compliant wood packaging material must be authorised to do so by a valid certificate.

Exporters are advised to find out about import requirements by liaising with the relevant phytosanitary authorities in importing countries. Details of most National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) worldwide can be found on the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) website www.ippc.int
 

Exporters Guide Last Update: 2nd April 2013
Please find the last counties that were updated below

  • China - 02/04/2013
  • UKWPMMP - 9 Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way, Bardon Hill, Leicester, LE67 1UE, United Kingdom
    Tel: +44 116 274 7357, Fax: +44 116 274 7365, Email: ukwpmmp@associationhq.org.uk
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