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Find out how to import timber and wood material, including the documents, identity checks and plant health inspections required.

You, your agent or broker must make sure any imported regulated (controlled) timber, wood products and bark (wood material) meets import requirements in England, Scotland and Wales (Great Britain) before it’s exported.

If you’re importing into Great Britain (GB) and it’s destined for Northern Ireland, you must meet both GB’s and Northern Ireland’s import requirements.

Check with the plant health authority in Northern Ireland about its import rules.

You, your agent or broker must first apply to the Forestry Commission to become a professional operator and notify them before the material arrives in England, Scotland or Wales. All regulated wood material has a plant health inspection on arrival.

Make sure your consignment meets the plant health (phytosanitary) requirements for timber, wood and wood products (items 109 - 142) before it’s exported to avoid unnecessary and costly delays at the border.

A phytosanitary certificate is issued in the country of export and verifies:

It must show that the regulated material:

These show that a consignment issued with a phytosanitary certificate in one country has been stored, repacked or split in another country and then exported to GB.

You must request an inspection by completing a notice of landing form for all regulated material.

The notice you need to give depends on how your consignment is arriving.

You need to give notice of:

If you expect difficulties meeting the requirements, you should contact the Forestry Commission: email plant.health@forestrycommission.gov.uk or call 0300 067 5155.

You, your agent or broker must present original phytosanitary certificates to an inspector within 3 days of any wood material entering GB.

If the wood material is being imported by post, you must attach its certificates to the outside of the package.

You must make sure each consignment is accompanied by either:

Equivalence arrangements that were in place for certain countries of origin when the UK was in the EU no longer apply.

All regulated material must now be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate until these equivalence arrangements are renewed.

You must make sure the Customs document for each consignment includes:

The Forestry Commission or the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland carry out plant health inspections.

These inspections are separate from any checks carried out by other government inspectorates, such as Border Force or HMRC.

Inspectors usually operate Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (although local arrangements may be in place).

Once inspectors are notified a consignment is ready for examination, they will inspect it that day or the next working day.

If your regulated wood material originates from the EU or Switzerland, then there are new rules that apply from 1 Jan 2021.

High-priority timber, wood products and bark from the EU must have:

Find out about types of timber, wood products and bark on the high priority list.

If your import is from a third country outside the EU, a plant health inspection will be carried out on arrival at a border control post.

You should aim to provide as much notice as possible so goods can be inspected promptly and cleared quickly with Customs.

Customs will not clear goods until a plant health inspection has been completed.

Plant health checks are carried out at approved points of entry (POE). An approved point of entry has the facilities to treat or destroy consignments of wood, if necessary.

You should be aware that:

Only approved professional operators can get Forestry Commission and HMRC clearance at inland inspection premises instead of at a point of entry.

External temporary storage facilities (ETSFs) must meet the safety and biosecurity standards set by the Forestry Commission and HMRC.

If the premises do not have fumigant gas-checking facilities or trained containerised material operators, you may be responsible for devanning.

Devanning is where you have to unseal the landed containers and take the contents out for physical inspection. This will be at your own risk and cost.

If your import is from a non-EU (third) country that’s been checked in the EU, it will be allowed to move onward to GB as an EU import with the original phytosanitary certificate.

It must meet UK import requirements for forestry pests present in the EU but not in parts of the UK.

If plant health checks have not been carried out in the EU – for example, if the consignment has been placed into a customs transit procedure – it will be treated as a direct import from the country of origin.

In this case, plant health checks will need to be carried out on entry to GB. This will apply to both containerised and bulk consignments.

If you want a physical plant health inspection for EU-regulated high-priority plants or plant products to take place at your commercial premises, you can become a ‘place of destination’ from 1 January until 30 June 2021. Read about how operators can register and what requirements you will need to meet.

When your consignment arrives in GB, inspectors will:

Check the documentation to make sure it has been filled out in full and that it complies with regulations.

Where applicable, carry out identity checks to make sure the description on all the documentation matches the actual wood material in the consignment. For example, if the wood has been kiln dried, it must be clearly marked with ‘KD’ or another internationally recognised mark.

Where applicable, examine all or a sample of the consignment, including the packaging, to make sure it complies with plant health regulations.

Fees for the inspection of high priority goods imported to GB from the EU will be introduced from 1 June 2021 at the levels outlined below.

The importer is responsible for paying the inspection fees. If you’re requesting an inspection or presenting the phytosanitary certificates on behalf of the importer, you’re responsible for paying fees on their behalf.

Inspection fees include separate charges for document, identity and plant health checks.

Phytosanitary certificates must be accurate and clearly display the volume of wood material. Sometimes they include types of wood that do not need to be inspected (non-regulated wood material).

If it’s not possible to separate out the volume of regulated wood from the non-regulated wood, the whole consignment will need to be inspected.

If so, you’ll be charged for the whole consignment, not just the regulated element of it. This could significantly increase the cost.

You’ll be issued with a quarantine release certificate (certificate of clearance) if your material passes inspections. If your material is from the EU, you do not need to take any further action.

If you’re importing wood from a non-EU (third) country, you must present the certificate to HMRC along with your Customs declaration.

This shows that a satisfactory physical examination has been carried out. You must also declare that the consignment contains ‘produce of phytosanitary relevance’.

If you don’t meet the import requirements, you must take action to fix the problem (remedial action).

Remedial action could involve having the wood material:

An inspector may also take samples from the wood material and send it to Forest Research for diagnostic advice.

You’ll be served a statutory notice that will prevent you from removing the consignment until remedial action is taken and tests are complete.

If action is not taken by the due date, the Forestry Commission may carry out the work itself or contract the work out. You’ll be charged for this.

If treatment is needed, a certificate of clearance will not be issued until:

As consignments can vary in size, volume and the type of remedial action required, the charge is time-based at:

The Forestry Commission will aim to keep costs to a minimum by staying onsite only long enough to ensure that treatment is carried out properly.

They will need to inspect the treated material to make sure treatment has been effective. Where possible, the Forestry Commission plan these visits to coincide with the time of treatment.

You must keep the Forestry Commission informed of any changes to agreed arrangements to avoid unnecessary charges.

You pay the fee after the remedial work has been carried out. You’ll be sent an invoice that you can pay through your credit account, if you have one. You can also pay via BACS or a cheque.

Once payment has been received, you’ll be issued with a certificate of clearance.

Changed "one of the following" to "all of the following" in the bullet point section under Import Documents.

New regulatory changes shown in Documentary, identity and plant health checks, and changed process 'Register as a forestry trader' to 'Register as a professional operator'.

Follow these steps to get your goods for import through UK customs if you’re managing the process yourself.

Getting customs clearance is complicated. You can hire a transporter or customs agent to make the import declaration and get your goods through UK customs.

Your business must be ready to import the goods before you can get customs clearance.

You need an EORI number that starts with GB to import goods into England, Wales or Scotland. You'll need a new one if you have an EORI that does not start with GB.

If you move goods to or from Northern Ireland you may need one that starts with XI.

Depending on where you're moving goods, you need to be registered on the right systems and have compatible software to make declarations.

There are processes that can make clearing customs quicker and easier to manage if you have to make import declarations regularly.

If you're importing goods from the EU to England, Scotland or Wales (Great Britain) you might be able to delay making a declaration for up to 6 months.

If you regularly import goods using Common Transit, you can apply to start movements of goods at your own premises.

You need to register as an importer if you import things like plant or animal products, high-risk food or feed, medicines, textiles, chemicals or firearms.

There are special rules and you may need to get licences or certificates if you are importing any of the following:

If you import things like plant or animal products, you need to choose a place where the goods can be inspected. This needs to happen before they’re allowed through the UK border.

You need to let the inspection point know when the goods are arriving. You might have to pay a fee for the inspection.

If you're importing goods from the EU to England, Scotland or Wales (Great Britain) you might be able to delay making a declaration for up to 6 months.

HMRC will tell you how much to pay after you submit the declaration.

The goods may be held at the border if, for example:

If this happens you will be told why.

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

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