Knowledge Centre — export & packaging compliance
Moving goods on pallets between Great Britain and the EU
The settled part is straightforward. The uncertainty is almost always about a specific pile of used pallets, and it is resolved by inspection and competent advice, not by a rule of thumb.
Published by Palletmove. Last reviewed: 3 September 2026. Operational guidance, not legal advice. Whether a particular used pallet is acceptable for an EU movement is a decision for your freight forwarder or the relevant plant-health authority — we can help you inspect, separate, count and replace the pallets involved.
What is settled
- GOV.UK states that businesses using, producing or supplying wood packaging material to move goods between Great Britain and other countries, including EU member states, must follow ISPM15 rules.
- Solid wood packaging material includes pallets.
- Processed non-solid wood, such as plywood, is outside the wood packaging material rules.
- A legible ISPM15 mark provides the certification. Certification paperwork cannot substitute for the required mark.
The old shorthand that "ISPM15 is only for outside the EU" is out of date and should be removed from internal guidance and supplier communications wherever it still appears.
What is uncertain
The recurring commercial question is whether ordinary used UK-standard pallets held on a site can be used for an EU movement. We do not publish a blanket answer to that, in either direction, because the honest position is that it depends on the individual pallets.
A stack of used pallets is not one thing. Within a single pile you can have marked and legible stock, marked but illegible stock, repaired stock where the marked component has been replaced, and stock that never carried a mark. The unit of decision is the pallet, not the pile, and the evidence is the mark on that pallet.
Anyone telling you that all used UK-standard pallets are automatically fine, or that all of them are automatically ruled out, is going beyond the published guidance. Trust your own inspection and a competent adviser over either claim.
Where PPWR sits in this
PPWR is a separate EU regime covering packaging and packaging waste, applying from mid-2026. It does not replace, relax or satisfy the plant-health requirement, and a PPWR conversation should never be used to answer an ISPM15 question. See the PPWR guide for that regime on its own terms.
Resolution path
How to turn uncertainty into a decision
Inspect and evidence
- Segregate the consignment's pallets from general yard stock before inspecting.
- Check at least two opposite faces of each pallet for a mark.
- Photograph each mark close enough that every character is readable.
- Separate marked-and-legible, marked-but-damaged, and unmarked into three physical stacks and count each.
- Note any repairs, and whether the repair affected a marked component.
- Retain provenance: purchased new, purchased used, arrived inbound, or unknown.
Escalate to the right person
- Freight forwarder or carrier: what the destination and route will require in practice.
- The relevant plant-health authority: the authoritative position on treatment and marking.
- Your supplier: whether the stock they sold you was supplied as ISPM15-marked, remembering their letter does not replace a mark.
- The pooling operator: for any of their stock, which they control and which must not be treated as your surplus.
- Your own compliance owner: for anything touching PPWR or UK packaging EPR.
Next
Continue
- ISPM15 explainedWhat the mark evidences and what it does not.
- Exporting goods on palletsThe practical pre-dispatch sequence.
- Pallet CheckerWork through the export branch question by question.
- Business pallet supplyReplacement stock when inspection rules pallets out.
- Pallet collectionRemoving stock that is no longer suitable for export use.
- Talk to PalletmoveSend your inspection photographs for an operational read.
Consignment booked and the pallets are unclear?
Send photographs of the marks today and we will tell you what we can identify from them.