There have been articles in the press in recent months regarding this subject, suggesting that there may be insufficient compliant pallets to go round. Is it scaremongering, or is it likely to be true?
Notwithstanding this, it is a fact that from 1st January 2021, it is a legal requirement for all wooden packaging material (WPM), for exports to the EU to be compliant with a treatment and marked as specified in the International Standard for Phytosanitary measures No 15 (ISPM15). This also includes dunnage for securing purposes.
As appears typical of late, the UK provides a concession to the EU in that the use of ISPM compliant packaging from the EU is optional; that is, apart from Portugal.
UK companies who already trade with these countries outside of the EU should already be familiar with this, and will most probably already comply. But companies who only trade with the EU will find that use of less expensive non-compliant packaging is no longer acceptable, resulting in increased costs and having to source compliant suppliers.
The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has produced an article on the subject in their October 2020 BIFAlink magazine in a little more detail, and this can be read here at page 15.
The TIMCON website is a useful source to find suppliers who can produce compliant packaging.