When a UK import from India needs a phytosanitary certificate

The plant-health chain for goods from India: which lines need a certificate, who issues it, what the UK importer files and what holds consignments.

By Rahul Sharma, Director6 October 20269 min read

On this page

Which goods from India need a phytosanitary certificate in Great Britain?
Do wooden, bamboo and cane handicrafts need a phytosanitary certificate?
How is a phytosanitary certificate issued in India?
What must the UK importer do before the goods land?
How does the plant health risk category decide checks and the port of entry?
What does ISPM 15 require for pallets and crates from India?
How do CITES rules for sheesham differ from plant health?
Which paperwork mismatches hold a consignment at the border?
Questions buyers ask
Sources

In short

As of October 2026, high, medium A and medium B risk plants and plant products from India need a certificate in Great Britain; low-risk goods, fresh mango among them, do not.
Finished articles of mango wood, sheesham, teak or acacia from India need only ISPM 15 packaging; conifer, ash and chestnut timber and untreated ash furniture and objects need a certificate, and elm needs one only if it is Ulmus davidiana or comes from an area with Asian longhorn beetle.
India's NPPO, the DPPQS, issues certificates through its plant quarantine stations after an online PQMS application, and Great Britain accepts only the paper original from India.
High risk and medium risk A goods need IPAFFS pre-notification by the UK importer and entry through a border control post whose cargo handler holds the right designation.
Sheesham items containing more than 10 kg of Dalbergia wood each need CITES documents, a check that runs separately from plant health.

Which goods from India need a phytosanitary certificate in Great Britain?

Plants and plant products from India need a phytosanitary certificate in Great Britain when they are high, medium A or medium B risk under the Border Target Operating Model, as does certain regulated wood. Low-risk goods need none, and as of October 2026 fresh mango is low risk.

The risk category also sets the rest of the paperwork:

High and medium risk A: IPAFFS pre-notification and a border control post (BCP) that handles plants.
Medium risk B: no pre-notification.
Low risk: no certificate, though ISPM 15 still applies to wood packaging.

The table reflects checks made on 6 October 2026. Categories may change, so run each product through Defra's plant health import rules service before each season.

Goods from India	GB position as of October 2026	Certificate needed?
Fresh mango	Low risk, listed as needing no certificate	No
Chillies, aubergine, bitter gourd, basil, ginger and turmeric root	Medium risk A	Yes, plus IPAFFS and a plant BCP; fresh chillies also need a food health certificate and laboratory report
Cut roses, chrysanthemums, carnations, gypsophila, orchids, solidago, aster and lisianthus	Medium risk A	Yes, plus IPAFFS and a plant BCP
Other fresh fruit and vegetables, cut flowers, fresh foliage, fresh bamboo or rattan	Medium risk B unless listed as medium A or low risk	Yes, unless low risk
Dried flowers, cane, dried bamboo, coir, jute, basketwork	Not on the GB certificate list	No, but confirm each line
Finished mango wood, sheesham, teak or acacia articles	ISPM 15 packaging only	No (sheesham has a CITES check)
Deodar or pine, ash or chestnut timber, and untreated ash furniture or objects	Regulated wood	Yes, via the Forestry Commission
Elm timber	Regulated only if Ulmus davidiana or from an area with Asian longhorn beetle	Only then, via the Forestry Commission
Fresh conifer branches and foliage	Prohibited from India	Cannot be imported

Contrary to some trade sources, Indian mango needs no certificate for Great Britain, and has not since 31 December 2020. For labelling and marketing standards, see how to import mangoes from India to the UK.

Do wooden, bamboo and cane handicrafts need a phytosanitary certificate?

Most finished handicrafts from India do not. GB law treats wood as a plant product only while it keeps a natural round surface, is sawn, cut or cleaved, is chips, sawdust or unprocessed waste, or is used as packaging.

Annex XI Part A of the GB version of Regulation 2019/2072 lists wood under tariff codes such as 4401, 4403 and 4407, not 4420 or 4421 (articles of wood), 9403 (furniture) or 4602 (basketwork). For mango wood, sheesham, teak, acacia and walnut from India, Defra's service returned the same answer on 6 October 2026: ISPM 15 for the packaging and exemption from systematic controls at the border.

The exceptions turn on species and on the form of the wood:

Conifer timber, including deodar and chir pine, needs a certificate, Forestry Commission notification and the additional declarations in Annex VII points 113 and 117. Kiln-drying below 20% moisture with a KD mark, or bark-free wood without grub holes over 3 mm, satisfies both; heat-treated or fumigated wood must also be bark-free or from an Ips pest-free area. Annex XI Part A lists conifer timber forms such as logs, sawn wood and sleepers, not finished articles, so confirm finished pieces with the Forestry Commission.
Ash needs an official statement of 1 kGy irradiation or pest-free-area origin, a rule that expressly covers furniture and other objects of untreated wood. Chestnut wood also needs a certificate. Elm needs one only if it is Ulmus davidiana or comes from an area where Asian longhorn beetle is known to occur.
Fresh bamboo, rattan, reeds and foliage need a certificate. Fresh conifer branches, including pine or deodar decorations, are prohibited from India.
Soil with organic matter and most organic growing media are prohibited from outside the EU, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, though media made entirely of unused coir fibre or peat are excepted.

How is a phytosanitary certificate issued in India?

India's phytosanitary certificates are issued under the authority of its National Plant Protection Organisation, the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (DPPQS), headquartered in Faridabad, through its plant quarantine stations and the officers it authorises. The exporter of record applies online, DPPQS inspects, and the certificate follows the ISPM 12 model.

Whichever company is exporter of record, the sequence is:

Register once as an exporter on the Plant Quarantine Management System (PQMS). Applications can also go through the National Single Window System.
Apply before each shipment, typically with the invoice, packing list, shipping bill or airway bill, and any export licence, fumigation certificate or CITES clearance.
DPPQS inspects the goods and packing materials, sampling or testing where required.
A DPPQS-accredited provider carries out any treatment.
DPPQS issues the certificate, or refuses it if the goods are prohibited, infested or contaminated with soil.

DPPQS asks exporters to apply online well in advance of every export and publishes no current service time for export certificates, so build inspection and any treatment time into the booking.

Great Britain does not accept electronic certificates from India. Defra's ePhyto list names EU member states only, so the certificate goes as a paper original. The export compliance services page sets out who does what on each shipment.

What must the UK importer do before the goods land?

For high and medium risk A goods, the UK importer or their agent must be registered, pre-notify on IPAFFS (the CHED-PP) and use a BCP that handles plants. The paper original must then be posted to APHA in England and Wales, or SASA in Scotland, within 3 days of the consignment reaching Great Britain.

Pre-notification: at least 4 working hours before landing for air and roll-on roll-off freight, and at least 1 working day before arrival for sea freight.
Certificate date: issued no more than 13 days before or after the consignment left India.
Medium risk B: a certificate and ISPM 15 packaging but no pre-notification. The paper original must still be posted to APHA or SASA within 3 days, and checks may apply.

Regulated wood goes to the Forestry Commission instead: the importer registers as a professional operator, notifies landing on the same timings and presents originals within 3 days. Wood customs declarations must state produce of phytosanitary relevance and the certificate number, and goods are not cleared until inspection is complete.

Britbasket is not UK-established and makes none of these filings. Under DDP, a UK partner company is importer of record, so these filings fall to it as importer. Under DAP, the buyer is importer of record and files or appoints an agent, while the partner lodges the customs entry as the buyer's representative.

Plant health clearance has no bearing on duty. Tariff preference is a separate question that HMRC decides, covered in what the India-UK trade agreement means for UK importers.

How does the plant health risk category decide checks and the port of entry?

The risk category fixes the checks and the landing point. High and medium risk A goods must enter at a BCP designated for plants even if not selected for inspection; low-risk goods are exempt from systematic controls and, for plant health, can land at any gateway.

Controlled goods face documentary checks and, if selected, identity and physical checks, with fees.

Designation belongs to named cargo handlers, not whole airports. On the official list of plant border control posts, updated 5 October 2026:

Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham cover plants or plant products but not wood. Birmingham's two handlers are listed for plant products (PP) only, not plants (P); fresh fruit, vegetables and cut flowers count as plants, so do not route high or medium risk A fresh produce there unless APHA confirms it can be checked.
Stansted, Luton, Manchester (WFS terminal), London Gateway and Felixstowe also cover wood.
At Heathrow, the Perishable Centre and PrimeFlight hold plant products only, and at Stansted only Swissport and FedEx are designated.

Goods not presented at the required post are detained and refused entry, then destroyed, sent out of Great Britain or specially treated at the operator's expense, under Article 66 of the GB version of Regulation 2017/625.

Mixed loads follow their strictest line. Mango shipped with fresh chillies stays low risk, but the chillies bring the certificate, IPAFFS notice and plant BCP. Fresh chillies, okra and drumsticks from India also face high-risk food controls under the GB version of Regulation 2019/1793: an official health certificate with laboratory results, a CHED-D and a BCP designated for that food. Curry leaves, cumin and several spices face increased official checks under the same regulation.

What does ISPM 15 require for pallets and crates from India?

Solid wood packaging from India must be treated and carry the ISPM 15 mark, even when the goods inside are exempt. A certificate cannot replace the mark.

The rule covers cases, crates, drums, pallets, pallet collars and dunnage. The wood must be debarked, then heat-treated to 56°C for 30 continuous minutes through the whole profile, dielectrically heated to 60°C for 1 minute where pieces are under 20 cm across, or fumigated with methyl bromide or sulphuryl fluoride. In India, DPPQS-accredited providers apply the mark: heat-treatment facilities under NSPM-9 and methyl bromide agencies under NSPM-12.

ISPM 15 does not apply to:

plywood, particle board, oriented strand board and veneer made with glue, heat or pressure
wood 6 mm thick or less
wine and spirit barrels heated during manufacture, and gift boxes made of processed wood
sawdust, wood shavings and wood wool
wood permanently attached to vehicles and containers

Packaging can be checked at the border or inland. Non-compliant packaging can be rejected or destroyed, leaving the importer to repack.

How do CITES rules for sheesham differ from plant health?

CITES is a separate protected-species check, run through APHA import permits and Border Force rather than plant health inspection. Sheesham and Indian rosewood are Dalbergia species, listed in CITES Appendix II and GB Annex B, so a sheesham table can pass plant health and still need CITES documents.

Annotation #15 exempts finished products with up to 10 kg of Dalbergia wood, and in GB law that limit is assessed per item, not across the whole shipment.

Pieces with more than 10 kg of Dalbergia wood, unfinished parts and sawn timber need an APHA import permit, which APHA aims to decide within 30 days, and must arrive at a CITES-designated point of entry; all eight gateways listed earlier qualify. Breaches can carry up to 7 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

India entered a reservation on the Dalbergia listing in January 2017, and while it remains in force the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts issues the Vriksh Shipment Certificate as India's comparable document in place of a CITES export permit. Confirm that APHA will accept it before shipping. Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) differs: GB's CITES import restrictions list blocks it from India for all specimens from wild, artificially propagated, assisted-production and confiscated sources.

Which paperwork mismatches hold a consignment at the border?

Consignments are held when documents disagree with the rules, with each other or with the goods. Check these before dispatch:

A certificate dated more than 13 days before or after departure.
A paper original not sent to APHA, SASA or the Forestry Commission within 3 days.
Names, quantities or descriptions on the certificate that differ from the invoice, packing list or IPAFFS notice.
Wood packaging without the ISPM 15 mark.
A vague description, such as wooden decor, that hides pine or ash.
Regulated wood booked into Heathrow, Gatwick or Birmingham, which list no wood category.
Fresh chillies, okra or drumsticks without the food health certificate and laboratory results.
Goods for Northern Ireland handled under GB rules. Northern Ireland follows EU plant health rules through DAERA, so Great Britain exemptions do not carry across.

Questions buyers ask

Does Britbasket issue the phytosanitary certificate?

No. In India only the NPPO, the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, issues phytosanitary certificates, and it does so after inspecting the consignment. The exporter of record, Britbasket or the producer, applies on PQMS; DPPQS inspects, and any treatment is by a DPPQS-accredited provider. The UK importer or their agent then handles any IPAFFS notice and posts the paper original within 3 days to APHA, or to SASA in Scotland, or to the Forestry Commission for regulated wood.

Can a fumigation certificate replace the ISPM 15 mark on pallets?

No. GOV.UK guidance states that certification cannot be used instead of the ISPM 15 mark, so each piece of solid wood packaging must carry the mark itself. Unmarked pallets can be rejected or destroyed at the border or inland, leaving the importer to repack. Pallets made wholly of plywood, oriented strand board or other processed wood fall outside ISPM 15 and need no mark.

Does a sheesham coffee table need CITES paperwork for the UK?

Not if it is a finished product containing 10 kg or less of Dalbergia wood. Great Britain assesses that limit item by item rather than across the shipment, so a container of small sheesham tables can qualify. A heavier piece, or any unfinished part or sawn timber, needs an APHA import permit plus the Indian export-side document, and must enter through a CITES-designated port or airport.

Which IPAFFS deadline applies to sea freight from India?

For high risk and medium risk A plant goods arriving by sea, the importer must pre-notify on IPAFFS at least 1 working day before the goods arrive in Great Britain. Air freight and roll-on roll-off freight need at least 4 working hours before landing. Medium risk B and low-risk goods need no pre-notification, and regulated wood is notified to the Forestry Commission instead.

Is a product's BTOM risk category fixed?

No. Defra states that risk categorisation is ongoing and may change, and its BTOM categorisation page was last updated on 3 August 2026. Check each product in Defra's plant health import rules service before every season and before a new line ships, and keep the result with the shipment file. A product moving from low to medium risk brings a certificate requirement with it.

Rahul Sharma

Director, BRITBASKET PRIVATE LIMITED

Britbasket exports from India to UK wholesale, retail and foodservice buyers, and has cleared shipments into the UK by air and by sea. Registered in India: CIN U47220HR2025PTC128831, GSTIN 06AANCB2770Q1Z2, IEC AANCB2770Q. About the company

Sources

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. Border, tariff and plant-health rules change. Check the sources above before relying on this guide for a specific consignment.

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