Anyone who receives this email from HETAS should ignore it and call HETAS, trading standards or their MP to complain, they have well and truly overstepped the mark claiming in the email that "Smaller suppliers who sell volumes under 600m³ must be registered by May 2022 to comply with legislation.", this is a blatant lie. If you are selling firewood from a supplier who is already accredited you DO NOT need to register to comply with legislation, for that matter, no firewood seller needs to register regardless of how much they sell if they sell already accredited firewood.
A great ruse to fill their coffers that will enable them to employ more people, pay bigger salaries, pay bigger pensions at the expense of the firewood merchant.
Good afternoon,
I hope you are keeping well, I tried calling to speak with you in regards to the DEFRA Ready to Burn scheme for companies selling firewood, as I haven’t been able to speak with you, please see the information below;
The law for selling firewood has changed;
Firewood sold in volumes of less than 2m³ must be certified as Ready to Burn by Law from 1st May 2021.
Certification is mandatory from 1st May 2021 for suppliers of wood fuel for use in domestic households who sell in excess of 600m³ loose volume of wood fuel per year.
Smaller suppliers who sell volumes under 600m³ must be registered by May 2022 to comply with legislation.
Currently, companies selling under 600m³ have a grace period until May 2022 to be compliant, however we do encourage companies to register sooner rather than later due to the benefits of being Ready to Burn certified;
Consumers will be looking for the Ready to Burn logo on firewood packaging
You will be advertised on the Woodsure suppliers list (consumers can search their local postcode and your company will flag up)
We offer technical support
You will have your personal Ready to Burn logo/certification accredited to you and your business only
You will be complying with legislation
Companies are using their creditation as a selling point for new/potential customers
What does this mean for you?
Wood sold in volumes of up to 2m³ will have to be certified as having a moisture content of 20% or less.
Suppliers selling quantities of wood over 2m³ will have to provide their customers with an advisory note with advice on how to store and season the fuel so that is it dry to burn and has moisture of less than 20%.
Enforcement of the legislative requirements will be undertaken by local authorities.
Please note, if you sell over 600m³ annually in England, you may not be complying with legislation and will be a risk of being fined from your local authority.
Woodsure Ltd is the DEFRA appointed Certification Body to administer the Ready to Burn Scheme as recognised in The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020. You can find out more on the guidance about selling wood for domestic use by clicking here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-wood-for-domestic-use-in-england
Please click the link www.readytoburn.org to view the application form and the terms and conditions.
I have also included some guidance on to help you work through the form and its supporting documents below:
Section 1: Business Contact Details
Please complete this section with your business details. We will address all correspondence to the Main Contact provided.
Section 2: Fuel Sales
We need to understand what product you sell and how you sell it. Please tick all the relevant boxes which apply. If you have ticked ‘wholesale’ or ‘retail outlets’ ……
You need to provide us with your annual figures for the previous year. This can either be recorded in Loose m³, Stacked m³ or Tonnage. This determines whether additional POS fees are applicable and if so, which category you fall into.
If you sell under additional brand names, please provide us with the details.
Section 3: Fee Structure
The cost to register is £507.60 Inc. VAT. This includes the one-off new supplier application fee which covers the administration, testing and audit costs.
Annual renewal drops to £385.20 Inc. VAT.
Point of Sale fees
Depending on the size of your operation (number of declared sales) per annum in loose m³, there may be additional sample checks required. If applicable, they will be invoiced separately to your application. Please don’t worry too much about this section, we’ll be happy to cover this when receive your application.
For businesses selling wood fuel to direct customers only e.g. collection, delivery or web sales, please refer to the table on page 2.
For businesses selling wood fuel via retail outlets including wholesale etc. please refer to the 1st table on page 3.
If you sell under 600m³, there are no additional sample checks required.
Section 4: Business Procedures Declaration
We need to see evidence that you have the following business procedures in place;
1. *Proof of legality – this can be evidenced by a suppliers invoice, felling license, woodland management plan or FSC number.
2. *You have processes in place to check moisture content – tell us how you measure your moisture content and how you log the results, i.e. with a pin metre across the grain and then recorded on a spreadsheet/notebook.
3. *You have a system in place to deal with customer complaints – tell us how you acknowledge, deal with and record the complaint.
4. You have Product and Public Liability Insurance to cover the business activities
All fields marked with an asterisk(*) are mandatory and need to be provided.
Your Auditor will go through these points with you in more depth at your assessment so please have these documents handy.
Section 5: Declaration
This section relates to your audit(s) and gives Woodsure permission to visit your depots.
This must be signed and dated by the Main Contact (the individual listed in Section 1 of the form).
Final checklist:
Have you completed all sections fully, including boxes marked with (*)?
Have you confirmed which products you sell and how?
Have you provided us with your annual figures? This can either be recorded in Loose m³, Stacked m³ or Tonnage.
Have you enclosed your evidence for Business Procedures Declaration (section 4)?
Has the Main Contact signed and dated the declaration?
Once we have received your application, supporting documents and payment, the registrations team will arrange for an auditor to contact you directly and organise a date and time to visit. Your auditor will then come out to conduct a light touch audit, with the focus being on the storage of the final product and checking the submitted documents. Please bear in mind that timings can vary depending on area of the country and how many other audits are being conducted. They are also available for any questions you may have.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind regards,
Rare
