Packaging and loading best practice guidance for trade - loose loads (plants and plant products).

This guidance has been developed to support trade regarding safe and effective packaging and loading of loose loads (plants and plant products) to ensure that efficient inspections can be undertaken by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) at Border Control Posts (BCPs) and Control Points (CPs). 

Definitions

Finished plants – plants imported and intended for final users, in line with the examples provided on the Plant Health Portal.

Propagation material - Plants intended for further propagation, growing on or multiplying. Including young plants/cuttings imported by a commercial nursery, to retain on site for growing on to a different state, before sale to other businesses or final consumers.

High-risk commodities – categories of plants and plant products as listed on the Plant Health Portal that can only be brought into Great Britain if accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and pre-notification of landing.  

Medium-risk A commodities – categories of plants and plant products as listed on the Plant Health Portal that can only be brought into Great Britain if accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and pre-notification of landing. 

Packaging/labelling guidance

Ensure primary and secondary packaging are clearly labelled with genus, species and unique identifiers (e.g. Bill of Lading, CMR number or equivalent).    

Where material is boxed, ensure that the corresponding box numbers are detailed on at least one of the accompanying documents (phytosanitary certificate, packing list or invoice). 

Additionally, consider sealing boxes of high-risk and medium-risk A commodities with a coloured tape, and include a description of this coloured tape when pre-notifying the goods on IPAFFS so they can be easily identified.  

Ensure that primary packaging does not impede APHA’s ability to undertake their inspection.  

Ensure each consignment can be easily distinguished (by labelling with consignee and consignor) and is loaded together on the vehicle. 

Where applicable, ensure that the consignee is authorised to issue UK Plant Passports. 

Loading guidance

Lorries and trailers must be loaded and presented to inspectors in a safe and accessible manner to ensure the goods may be inspected as required. Where this is not the case, consignments may be refused, in whole or in part, and instructed to be reloaded or re-exported at the importer’s expense. 

Where possible, within each consignment, group genera together as opposed to splitting across separate packaging units or trolleys. This avoids offloading an entire lorry where only a few items, or trolleys, need to be inspected. 

When loading, try to ensure that high-risk and medium-risk A goods are easily accessible within the consignment (i.e. loaded at the back of the vehicle and towards the top of pallets). These risk categories are available for reference on the Plant Health Portal. 

Where practicable, prioritise loading consignments of propagation material over finished plants towards the rear of rear unloaded trailers, i.e. closer to the doors. 

For curtain siders, prioritise loading consignments of larger, heavier finished plants to the sides of the vehicle to enable visual inspection from a platform, where possible and if offloading is likely to be difficult.  

For mixed (groupage) loads, where possible, group consignments together to enable offloading by individual consignment and point of entry. Ensure that these consignments are clearly labelled and the labels are facing outward so that the commodity type, consignee and consignor are easily read and identified by inspectors. 

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