EUDR ‘unlikely’ to impact wood pallet & packaging users

The European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers (FEFPEB) has advised that the forthcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will not have significant implications for customers using wooden pallets and packaging for transport.

The organisation, which represents the European pallet and packaging sector, issued a customer information statement on the regulation, which requires businesses to demonstrate that products placed on the EU market have not been sourced from recently deforested land or contributed to forest degradation.

In a newsletter to its members, FEFPEB’s secretariat stated that packaging would only fall under the scope of the EUDR when placed on the market for the first time as a standalone product. Once used, its status changes immediately.

“As soon as the pallet or packaging is used to support, protect or carry another product, it’s no longer covered by the EUDR, even if listed separately on the invoice or returned by a retailer to its supplier,” the organisation said. “Once the concerned packaging becomes packaging material used exclusively to support, protect or carry a product, it’s no longer within the scope of the Regulation.”

It added that selling or renting used packaging material to other companies – as in pallet pooling systems – is not subject to the EUDR.

“Similarly, empty packaging material that’s already been used once to support, protect or carry a product – for example, when traded within a closed-loop exchange system (i.e. pallets transferred from one company to another to be reused for transport) – is not covered by the Regulation,” the guidance continued.

FEFPEB Secretary General, Fons Ceelaert, said: “FEFPEB’s members and pooling associations fully support the EUDR’s aims to protect forests worldwide. We have produced this guidance to share with customers and the supply chain, to clarify the implications of these regulations.”

For further information, see www.fefpeb.eu.