Government urges timber trading businesses to prepare for transition period end

Article summary

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy have urged businesses trading timber between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI) to prepare for change and take action before the end of the transition period. The government has confirmed that due diligence checks are to take place on timber travelling from GB to NI, as well as from the EU to GB and GB to the EU. However, it also states that there will be no new due diligence checks for timber travelling from NI to GB and from the EU to NI. To comply with these new changes, timber traders will be required to let the Office for Product Safety and Standards know who they bought their timber from and who they sold it to. In addition, both traders and operators will be required to keep records for five years.