Moving firewood in the United Kingdom: the Statutory Firewood Notification Scheme, regulated tree species and heat treatment marks

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the GOV.UK Forestry Commission guidance on importing firewood into Great Britain and the Forestry Commission plant health guidance note on importing firewood, read October 9, 2026. It covers England, Scotland and Wales. The guidance note says separate but similar arrangements apply in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and those arrangements were not read for this page.

Regulated and non-regulated firewood

The Forestry Commission's GOV.UK import page, published September 26, 2018 and last updated May 22, 2025, splits imported firewood in two. For regulated firewood, the importer, agent or broker must make sure the import requirements are met before the wood is exported. The importer must be registered with the Forestry Commission and complete a notice of landing form to arrange an inspection of regulated timber if one is needed. Solid fuel wood is defined on that page as logs, kindling, twigs, billets and faggots.

The page gives two markers for what is not regulated. Only conifer wood that is free from all bark counts as unregulated, and ash is always regulated.

The notification scheme for non-regulated wood

For non-regulated firewood the same page says the Forestry Commission must be notified before the consignment arrives, or no later than 4 days after it has landed, with a separate notification for each new consignment. Notification can be online, which the page calls preferred, or by email or post using an Excel form. The Forestry Commission replies with a unique reference number for the consignment. Enrolling on the scheme first gives an enrolment number; the page says enrolment is not compulsory but is encouraged. The form asks for items such as the estimated arrival date, the port, airport or Channel Tunnel terminus, the importer and first destination addresses, the botanical names, the quantity in tonnes, the country the wood was last moved from, the country it was grown in and any treatments such as bark free, heat treatment or kiln drying. The Forestry Commission says it will decide whether the firewood could bring in harmful pests or diseases and may inspect before the consignment crosses the border.

The plant health guidance note page, last updated July 20, 2020, hosts the plant health note. The note, dated April 30, 2021 in its footer, says the notification scheme was introduced in 2017 and that every relevant consignment must be notified whatever its size or weight. It says regulated consignments need at least one day's advance notice to an inspector, and that the phytosanitary papers go to a Forestry Commission inspector within one day of landing and before customs clearance. A certificate of clearance, form PHF28, is then issued.

What the guidance note lists as controlled

Wood	Origin the note names	Entry requirement it lists
Conifers	Third countries, except bark-free wood from an EU member state other than Spain and Portugal or from a European third country	For most coniferous wood, a phytosanitary certificate of heat treatment to a minimum of 56 degrees C for 30 continuous minutes through the whole wood, shown by an HT mark. One of the two options adds kiln drying below 20% moisture content, shown by a KD mark. The note sets other options by origin and genus
Ash (Fraxinus)	Belarus, Canada, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the USA	Ionizing irradiation to a minimum 1 kGy, or origin in an area free of the emerald ash borer with no part within 100 km of a known outbreak
Oak (Quercus)	Canada and the USA	Origin in an area free of Bretziella fagacearum, plus options including squared wood, bark-free wood under 20% water content, or hot air or hot water disinfection
Chestnut (Castanea)	Any third country	Controlled except wood that is bark free

The note says the combined nomenclature codes it presumes for solid fuel wood are 44011100 for conifers and 44011200 for non-conifers, and that reconstituted wood in pellets and briquettes is not regulated because heat and pressure in manufacture remove the plant health risk. Woodchips are not treated as solid wood fuel. Wood packaging material entering Great Britain must comply with ISPM 15.

Legislation named in the note

The note names Regulation (EU) 2016/2031, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 as amended by UK Statutory Instrument 2020 No. 1527, and Regulation (EU) 2017/625, retained after EU exit, and says they are given effect in England by the Official Controls (Plant Health and Genetically Modified Organisms) (England) Regulations 2019, in force January 14, 2020. It says similar legislation applies in Scotland and Wales and that importers are advised to check for updates. The Forest Research publications entry for the earlier third edition of the guide, published August 31, 2018, says a later version has been published by the Forestry Commission.

Not published

A penalty for failing to notify the Forestry Commission: not published on the pages read.
Rules for moving firewood within Great Britain: no official page found on October 9, 2026.

Contains public sector information published by the Forestry Commission and Forest Research and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Rules for selling firewood are on selling firewood in England. For other states and provinces see the table on moving wood and firewood.