Bringing plants and wood into Great Britain

Skip contents

Plants and plant-based products from the EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein

If you’re bringing in plants or plant-based products from the EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, you might need a ‘phytosanitary’ (plant health) certificate.

Plants and plant-based products that need a phytosanitary certificate

You’ll need phytosanitary certificate for certain plants, seeds, bark and wood.

Plants and plant parts

You’ll need a phytosanitary certificate if you’re bringing in:

  • plants for planting
  • tubers of ware potatoes - Solanum tuberosum L.
  • conifer cut trees and branches - Conifers (Pinales) over 3 metres

If you’re bringing in over 2kg of plants for planting, you must arrange for a plant health inspector to inspect your plants when they enter Great Britain. Contact the plant health authority in the country you’re bringing plants into.

Seeds

You’ll need a phytosanitary certificate if you’re bringing in:

  • potato - Solanum tuberosum L.
  • chestnut – Castanea
  • chilli - Capsicum spp. L.
  • tomato - Solanum lycopersicum L.
  • sunflower - Helianthus annuus L.
  • alfalfa - Medicago sativa L.
  • onion - Allium cepa L.
  • leek - Allium porrum L.
  • runner bean - Phaseolus cocineus.
  • French bean - Phaseolus vulgaris L.
  • green pea - Pisum sativum L.
  • broad bean - Vicia faba L.
  • rapeseed - oil and fibre plants of Brassica napus L. Brassica rapa L.
  • white mustard seed - oil and fibre plants of Sinapis alba L.
  • soybean – oil and fibre plants of Glycine max (L.) Merrill
  • flax or linseed – oil and fibre plants of Linum usitatissimum L.

Bark

You’ll need a phytosanitary certificate if you’re bringing in the isolated bark of the following trees:

  • chestnut – Castanea
  • conifer - Conifers (Pinales)
  • walnut - Juglans L.
  • wingnut - Pterocarya Kunth.

Wood

You’ll need a phytosanitary certificate if you’re bringing in natural (non-manufactured) wood from the following trees:

  • plane - Platanus L.
  • walnut - Juglans L.
  • wingnuts - Pterocarya Kunth.
  • chestnut - Castanea Mill., excluding wood which is bark-free
  • conifer - Conifers (Pinales), excluding wood which is bark-free
  • conifer from Portugal or Spain - Conifers (Pinales)

If you’re bringing in natural (non-manufactured) wood from France, Germany or Italy, you’ll also need a phytosanitary certificate for the following:

  • maple - Acer L.
  • horse chestnut - Aesculus L.
  • alder - Alnus L.
  • birch - Betula L.
  • hornbeam - Carpinus L.
  • katsura - Cercidiphyllum Siebold and Zucc.
  • hazel - Corylus L.
  • beech - Fagus L.
  • ash - Fraxinus L.
  • golden-rain - Koelreuteria Medikus.
  • plane - Platanus L.
  • poplar - Populus L.
  • willow - Salix L.
  • lime - Tilia L.
  • elm - Ulmus L.
  • Prunus L. such as plum, peach, nectarine, apricot from Germany or Italy

If your plant and plant-based products does not need a certificate

Your plant or plant-based product must still be:

  • free from pests and diseases
  • for your own use