Compliance
Four rules, often confused
Plant health marking, EU packaging regulation, UK packaging producer responsibility and waste classification are four separate regimes. Mixing them up is how pallet decisions go wrong.
Why this page exists
A warehouse manager asks whether a pallet is "legal for Europe" and could mean plant-health treatment, packaging recyclability, producer-responsibility reporting, or whether broken timber leaving site counts as waste. Those are four regimes with different owners, timing and evidence requirements.
This hub keeps them apart. Each guide below sets out what the official source says and what to check before you make a decision.
Published by Palletmove. Last reviewed: 3 September 2026. Operational guidance for logistics and procurement teams. It is not legal advice, customs advice, certification, or a guarantee that a given consignment will be accepted.
Scope
What each regime governs
Use this to find the guide you need.
| Regime | What it governs | Who sets it | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISPM15 / wood packaging | Treatment and marking of solid wood packaging, including pallets, moved between Great Britain and other countries — EU member states included. | GOV.UK guidance implementing the international standard. | ISPM15 explained |
| EU PPWR | Packaging and packaging waste placed on the EU market. Separate from plant health; begins to apply from mid-2026. | European Commission / Regulation (EU) 2025/40. | PPWR explained |
| UK packaging EPR | UK producer-responsibility reporting and fees for packaging handled or supplied in the UK. | UK producer-responsibility regime — distinct from both of the above. | Covered on the PPWR guide |
| Waste shipment controls | Movement of material legally classed as waste. Whether your timber is waste is a classification question for you or your adviser to answer. | GOV.UK importing and exporting waste guidance. | Pallet disposal and recycling |
Before you ask anyone
What to check before export
Photograph and record
- Each pallet type in the consignment, photographed square-on from the side.
- Any branded, burned or stencilled mark, photographed close enough to read every character.
- The top deck and the underside, so construction and any repair boards are visible.
- A tape measure in shot for the footprint, deck board thickness and overall height.
- The quantity of each type, because a mixed consignment is rarely one answer.
Retain provenance
- Where the pallets came from: purchased new, purchased used, arrived under inbound loads, or unknown.
- Any supplier documentation you hold — paperwork doesn't replace a required physical mark.
- Whether the pallets have been repaired since you received them, and by whom.
- The destination country and the mode of movement.
- Whether any pooling operator's stock is mixed into the consignment.
Note. This page is general guidance, not legal advice. For a specific consignment, customer commitment or classification decision, speak to your freight forwarder, the relevant plant-health authority, an inspection body, or the pooling operator. Palletmove supports the operational side — identifying and separating stock, photographing marks, counting types and arranging collection or supply around whatever decision you're given — but we don't make the legal determination.
Compliance cluster
The guides in this cluster
- ISPM15 explainedWhat the mark is, what it covers, and what it does not.
- PPWR explainedEU packaging regulation, kept separate from plant health.
- GB to EU pallet movementsWhat is settled, what is uncertain, what evidence to gather.
- Exporting goods on palletsThe practical packing and checking sequence.
- Pallet specificationsFootprint, construction, grade and why 1200×800 is not EPAL.
- Pallet disposal and recyclingReuse first, and where waste classification starts to matter.
Compliance question tied to a live consignment?
Send photographs of the marks and we'll tell you what we can identify, and where you need a competent adviser.