TIMCON calls on government to cut pallet industry red tape

The Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation (TIMCON) has written to the UK Government urging it to use the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement as an opportunity to reduce unnecessary regulation for the pallet and timber packaging industry

TIMCON made its request in a letter to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) following its submission to the consultation on the proposed agreement between the UK and the EU, which aims to reduce the number of border checks, certification requirements and administrative processes currently in place. The organisation highlighted the significant costs the industry has incurred since Brexit in complying with ISPM15 requirements governing the movement of wooden pallets and timber packaging between the UK and the EU.

TIMCON said its members have invested heavily to meet ISPM15 requirements since the UK left the EU, helping to maintain the flow of trade while also absorbing ongoing compliance, energy, transport and fuel costs.

“Whilst many of these costs were inevitably passed on to customers, our industry has also had to bear these costs year after year as an operational necessity since the UK became a third country,” said TIMCON Secretary General Stuart Hex in the letter.

Hex added that TIMCON supports a shared UK-EU system for food safety, animal health and plant health rules, alongside a special dispensation, exemption or the complete removal of ISPM15 requirements for pallets and timber packaging moving between the two areas.

He said this “would reduce business costs and cut red tape for our members and the wider timber packaging manufacturing, logistics and transport industries”, while also “reducing costs for customers and end users across all sectors—not just agri-food—shipping products into the EU, speeding up the movement of UK goods and making them more competitive.”

Hex also said the government should continue progressing negotiations despite the imminent party leadership contest, bringing the benefits of reduced costs and bureaucracy to the pallet and timber packaging industry and the wider supply chain as soon as possible.

TIMCON will update members on the SPS Agreement consultation and other industry developments at its AGM, which will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Edinburgh on 10 September.

The AGM will be followed by a dinner at Edinburgh Castle, where the winners of the inaugural TIMCON Awards will be announced.

Launched in June, the awards recognise excellence across the pallet and timber packaging industry in five categories: Customer Service, Sustainability, Health & Safety, Innovation, and Rising Star.

To find out more about TIMCON, see www.timcon.org.