Running a safe plant is one half of the job; the other is meeting the rules that attach to wood and wood products themselves before they reach the market. Which apply depends on what you make and where it goes. Work through the sections that fit your products. Different bodies are involved: the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) for timber legality and as the market-surveillance authority for construction products, OPSS and local Trading Standards for general product safety, and the Forestry Commission and its plant-health partners for treated wood packaging.
A. Source timber legally — UK Timber Regulation due diligence
If you place timber or timber products on the Great Britain market for the first time, the UK Timber Regulation prohibits placing illegally harvested timber on the market and requires you to operate a due-diligence system — gathering information on your supply, assessing the risk that it is illegal, and mitigating any significant risk. It applies to a wide range of timber and wood products. The regime is enforced by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Set up and maintain your due-diligence system and keep the records for at least five years.
B. Mark construction products to their standard
Structural timber, glued-laminated timber, wood-based panels for construction, and similar products covered by a designated standard need a declaration of performance, the supporting technical documentation, and conformity marking before you place them on the Great Britain market. Use UKCA marking, or CE marking, which continues to be accepted on the GB market — with an approved body involved where the standard requires it. If you supply Northern Ireland, check the position there separately, as it follows EU rules under the Windsor Framework.
C. Control formaldehyde and meet your UK REACH duties
Wood-based panels — particle board, MDF, fibreboard, plywood and OSB — release formaldehyde from the resins used to bond them. In Great Britain there is not yet a specific emission-limit restriction for placing these panels on the market — the Health and Safety Executive is reviewing formaldehyde under UK REACH — so control rests on two things: making your boards to the recognised product emission class that customers and specifiers expect (the E1 class under the harmonised panel standards), and controlling worker exposure to formaldehyde under COSHH. For the Northern Ireland and EU markets a formaldehyde-release restriction under EU REACH does apply (from 2026), so if you supply there, check that position separately. Use low-emission boards and resins and keep the supplier information and any test evidence for the emission class you meet.
More broadly, the substances in your resins, adhesives, preservatives, glues and finishes are subject to UK REACH, including its restrictions on named hazardous substances and the duty to pass safety information down the supply chain.
D. Meet general product safety for consumer goods
Wood and cork consumer goods that fall outside a specific regime — household and decorative items, cork products, tool handles, brush backs and the like — must still be safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, the residual catch-all enforced by OPSS and local Trading Standards. In Northern Ireland the EU General Product Safety Regulation applies instead.
E. Treat and mark solid-wood packaging for export
If you make pallets, crates, cases, dunnage or other solid-wood packaging that travels internationally, it must be treated and marked to the international phytosanitary standard ISPM 15 — normally heat treatment, then the ISPM 15 mark applied by a business registered and audited under the scheme. In the UK the scheme is run by the Forestry Commission with its plant-health partners. Get registered before you mark wood packaging, and keep treatment records.
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1. Set up your UK Timber Regulation due-diligence system
If you place timber on the GB market for the first time, gather supply information, assess and mitigate the risk of illegal harvest, and keep records for at least five years.
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2. Mark your construction products
For structural timber and construction panels, draw up a declaration of performance and apply conformity marking (UKCA, or CE which is still accepted on the GB market) to the designated standard.
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3. Control formaldehyde from your panels
Make wood-based panels to the recognised emission class (E1) and control worker exposure under COSHH; there is no in-force UK REACH emission restriction in Great Britain yet, but the EU REACH restriction applies for the NI and EU markets from 2026. Keep supplier information and test evidence.
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4. Check general product safety for consumer goods
Make sure wood and cork consumer goods outside a specific regime are safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
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5. Register for ISPM 15 if you export wood packaging
If you make solid-wood packaging for international transport, register under the ISPM 15 scheme, heat-treat and mark it, and keep treatment records.
What to do next
With your safe-plant spine and your product-market duties in place, confirm the whole picture with the wood-products manufacturer compliance checklist. Start from the router if you are not sure which guides apply to you.
Official sources
Authoritative product-conformity, timber-legality and wood-packaging guidance.