The mandatory treatment and marking for wooden packaging in cross-border traffic between Europe and the UK in accordance with the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM 15) since 1 January following Brexit could lead to logistics problems. The German federation of wooden packaging, pallets, and export packaging (HPE) is working from the assumption that an estimated less than half of all the pallets moving between the UK and Europe at present do not fulfil the ISPM provisions. In spite of extensive information from the federation and its members, many wooden-packaging customers are evidently still unaware of the new regulations and their consequences. The HPE warns of serious delays in goods transportation if the ISPM 15 provisions are not met.
If the currently rather rudimentary border checks of packaging and load carriers are stepped up, infringement can entail return of the pallets and the goods or the load carriers must be treated subsequently at the consignor’s expense. HPE director Marcus Kirschner says not only new deliveries should be checked but also those with pallets on which products are currently still standing in warehouses.
