Guidance

Import plants and plant products from non-EU countries to Great Britain

How to import plants, fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, trees, seeds and used agricultural machinery from non-EU countries to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency
Published
21 December 2023
Last updated
12 November 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

‘Plant’ means a living plant or a living part of a plant at any stage of growth. This includes trees and shrubs. 

‘Plant product’ means a product of plant origin that is unprocessed or has had a simple preparation. This includes wood and bark. 

You should also use this guidance for goods imported for commercial purposes (to be sold onwards) by post or courier. Contact your post or courier service to find out if they offer an import service for commercial imports and for more information about the process.

Read separate guidance if you’re importing plant and plant products: 

Plant health controls are managed by:  

  • APHA (the Animal and Plant Health Agency) in England and Wales  
  • SASA (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture) in Scotland  

Fruit and vegetables

If you’re importing fruit and vegetables from non-EU countries to Great Britain, you also need to:

Find your risk category

Plants and plant products imported from non-EU countries to Great Britain are categorised as:

  • high risk
  • medium risk A
  • medium risk B
  • low risk   

High risk, medium risk A, and medium risk B plants and plant products from non-EU countries move under plant health controls.

Low risk plants and plant products are exempt from plant health controls.    

The assessment of plant health risk is ongoing, and risk categorisations may change.  

Check the risk category for your goods.     

High risk and medium risk A and B goods: plant health controls

If you import high risk and medium risk A plants and plant products, you need to: 

  1. Register to import if you’re importing for the first time.  

  2. Get a phytosanitary certificate from your exporter.  

  3. Meet the ISPM 15 international standard for any wood packaging material you use.  

  4. Notify the relevant authorities about your import.

  5. Comply with documentary, identity and physical checks.  

  6. Pay fees for plant health checks.

If you import medium risk B plants and plant products, you need to: 

  1. Get a phytosanitary certificate from your exporter.  

  2. Meet the ISPM 15 international standard for any wood packaging material you use.  

Find out the frequency of checks for your goods.

Register to import 

You must register to use IPAFFS (the import of products, animals, food and feed system) to import high risk or medium risk A plants and plant products from non-EU countries to Great Britain.

After you complete your registration, you’ll be officially registered as a professional operator to import plants and plant products.

If you need help with registering to use IPAFFS, you can call the APHA helpline on 03300 416 999 or email aphaservicedesk@apha.gov.uk.

Read Forestry Commission guidance if you want to register as a professional operator to import timber, wood products or bark. 

Get a phytosanitary certificate  

For high risk or medium risk A or B plants and plant products, your exporter must get a phytosanitary certificate for each consignment from the plant health authority in the country they’re exporting from.  

A phytosanitary certificate is a statement from the plant health authority that the consignment:  

  • has been officially inspected or tested, or both
  • complies with legal requirements for entry into Great Britain  
  • is free from quarantine pests and diseases  

Phytosanitary certificates for import purposes must have been issued no more than 13 days before or after the date the consignment left the country of export. There is no requirement for a consignment to arrive in Great Britain within 13 days of it leaving the country of export.  

If you need a phytosanitary certificate for your consignment, check that your exporter has provided one before the consignment arrives in Great Britain. Make sure you get a scanned copy from your exporter.  

If you’re importing high or medium risk A plants and plant products, you’ll need to upload a copy of the phytosanitary certificate on IPAFFS when you notify APHA or SASA about your consignment. 

Notify the relevant authorities about your import

If you’re importing high risk or medium risk A plants and plant products, you must use IPAFFS to:  

  • let APHA or SASA know in advance when your goods will arrive (this is known as ‘pre-notification’)  
  • upload any necessary documents - for example, a scanned copy of your phytosanitary certificate and accompanying documents
  • read any notifications about what documentary, identity and physical checks your goods will need 
  • follow the progress of your consignments  

You must give notice:  

  • at least 4 working hours before the goods land in Great Britain for air and ‘roll-on-roll-off’ freight  
  • at least 1 working day before the goods arrive in Great Britain for all other freight  

If you do not give enough notice, your consignment may be delayed.  

After you’ve submitted your import notification, you’ll get a message on IPAFFS to tell you if your consignment has been selected for checks.  

If you need help with import notifications, email planthealth.info@apha.gov.uk or phone 0300 1000 313.

Get your goods inspected when they enter Great Britain 

If you’re importing high risk or medium risk A plants or plant products from non-EU countries, you must present your consignment to the authorities when it arrives in Great Britain if it has been selected for checks.  

APHA (England and Wales) or SASA (Scotland) will carry out documentary, identity and physical checks to make sure your consignment: 

  • includes all required documents  
  • contains the plants you have declared  
  • is free from pests and diseases 

The checks can take place at either a: 

  • border control post (BCP) - a border inspection facility where goods first arrive 
  • control point (CP) - an inland inspection facility  

All high risk and medium risk A plants and plant products imported from non-EU countries must enter Great Britain at an airport or a port with a BCP that can handle plants and plant products. You can then transport your goods to a CP, if you wish to.  

Check a list of BCPs and CPs for plant imports.  

It’s possible to use your premises as a control point. To do this, your premises must be:

You can apply for authorisation as either an: 

Fees for plant health checks  

These fees apply for plant health checks in England and Wales: 

Find out the fees that apply in Scotland for plant health checks.   

If you import a consignment of high or medium risk A plants and plant products through the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel, you’ll need to pay the common user charge. Find out more about rates and eligibility for the common user charge.

Port health charges may also apply. You should contact the appropriate port of entry to find out more.

UK plant passport  

You’ll need a UK plant passport for onward movement of certain goods from the first place of destination if:  

  • they’re moved to another professional operator  
  • they’re sold to final users (those buying for personal use) under a distance contract - for example, online  
  • they’re moved to another one of your premises that’s more than 10 miles from the premises the consignment arrived at  
  • the phytosanitary status of the consignment changes - for example, if it’s reconfigured, such as 2 plants previously in separate pots planted in a new pot together  

Read how to issue UK plant passports to move regulated plant material in Great Britain. 

What happens if your consignment fails plant health checks

If all or part of your consignment fails plant health checks, an inspector will advise you on what you need to do with the consignment.  

If the inspector decides that the failed goods cause a risk to plant health, they may:  

  • destroy your goods  
  • ask you to return them  

If you need to return goods to the country you imported them from, they’ll be treated as an export. The plant health authority in the country you’re exporting to will explain how to do this.

Read more on how to export plants and plant products. 

Submit documents after your consignment arrives  

If you’re importing high risk or medium A or B risk plants or plant products and the original phytosanitary certificate is a paper copy, you must post it to APHA (England and Wales) or SASA (Scotland) within 3 days of the consignment reaching Great Britain.

For consignments landing at Heathrow or Gatwick, send the certificate to:  

Animal and Plant Health Agency  
1st Floor  
Building 4  
Heathrow Boulevard  
284 Bath Road  
West Drayton  
Middlesex  
UB7 0DQ  

For consignments arriving anywhere else in England and Wales, send the certificate to:  

Animal and Plant Health Agency  
Foss House  
1st Floor  
Kings Pool  
1 to 2 Peasholme Green  
York  
YO1 7PX  

For consignments arriving in Scotland, send the certificate to:

SASA
Roddinglaw Road
Edinburgh
EH12 9FJ

For wood, wood products and bark, you’ll need to provide the Forestry Commission with original phytosanitary certificates within 3 days (or as soon as possible) of the consignment arriving in Great Britain.  

Your local forestry inspector will agree with you which address you need to send the phytosanitary certificate to. View contact details for inspectors at the main points of entry into Great Britain.   

Read more on how to import timber, wood products or bark. 

Importing from non-EU countries to Great Britain through the EU  

If you import goods from a non-EU country to Great Britain through the EU, your goods may be treated as an EU import. While in the EU, they must have:  

  • entered into ‘free circulation’ (customs cleared and any VAT or duty paid) 
  • passed EU plant health checks  
  • been issued with a phytosanitary certificate from an EU member state, if applicable

They will be treated as a non-EU country import if they did not enter into free circulation and pass plant health checks in the EU. 

Read more about importing plants and plant products from the EU.  

Importing prohibited goods  

Some goods are prohibited from entering Great Britain from EU and non-EU countries if they cannot meet the import requirements for scientifically justified reasons.  

Check if your goods are prohibited.   

It may be possible to import prohibited goods into Great Britain with scientific authorisation if they meet the qualifying criteria.

Read more about moving specified plants, plant pests, pathogens and soil.

Importing goods with wood packaging material  

If you import any goods using wood packaging material (WPM), or supply WPM to businesses, the WPM must meet the ISPM 15 international standard.  

Importing endangered and artificially propagated plants  

You must apply for a permit to import plants and plant products of species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This includes artificially propagated plants listed on CITES.  

Use Species+ to find out if your plant or plant product comes from a species on the CITES list.  

You can email the APHA CITES team at wildlife.licensing@apha.gov.uk if you need more information.  

Complaints and appeals  

You can complain or appeal if you’re not satisfied with the service you receive from APHA.  

Contact  

For more information on plant imports in England and Wales, email planthealth.info@apha.gov.uk or phone 0300 1000 313.  

For contact details and more information on plant imports in Scotland, visit the Scottish government’s plant health guidance.  

Help with your customs declaration

If you need help with your customs declaration, contact HMRC.

Updates to this page

Published 21 December 2023
Last updated 12 November 2024 + show all updates

  1. Updated the 'Fees for plant health checks' section with information about port health charges.

  2. Updated information about risk categories. Plants and plant products are now categorised as high risk, medium risk A, medium risk B and low risk. Also added a link to guidance about the common user charge for imports through the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel.

  3. Updated throughout. Includes removing information about the PEACH import system, as this has now been replaced by IPAFFS.

  4. Clarified wording in 'Get a phytosanitary certificate', 'Attach a UK plant passport' and 'Importing prohibited goods' sections. Added in the introduction that this guidance also applies to goods imported for commercial purposes by post or courier.

  5. Removed prompt about preparing for new import controls on 31 January 2024

  6. A prompt has been added to prepare for new import controls which begin on 31 January 2024.

  7. First published.

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