The Euro pallet is the most standardised object in European logistics, and also one of the most misunderstood. Buyers routinely ask for "EUR pallets" when they mean EPAL, accept pallets that are not exchangeable, or pay for a quality class they do not need. Here is what the specification actually says.
The specification
An EPAL Euro pallet — formally EPAL 1 — is 800 × 1200 × 144 mm, weighs approximately 25 kg, and has a safe working load of 1500 kg. When laden pallets are stacked on a solid, even surface, EPAL states the bottommost pallet must not carry more than 5500 kg.
It is built from exactly 11 boards, 9 blocks and 78 nails. Board thickness is 22–24 mm. The bottom boards are chamfered along the upper edge of both long sides, which is what lets a pallet truck ride up onto them without catching. Entry is four-way.
Two numbers rarely quoted but worth knowing: the plan dimensions are held to ±3 mm, and moisture content is capped at 22%. That tolerance is why 33 pallets fit a trailer in practice while 34 fit only on paper — a few millimetres per pallet, multiplied across a load, is the whole margin.
One more fact with real commercial value: since 1 January 2010, every newly produced EPAL Euro pallet has been heat treated to ISPM 15. A compliant new EPAL pallet is export-ready with no additional treatment and no separate charge.
Reading the corner blocks
A genuine EPAL pallet carries the EPAL oval branded on both the left and right corner blocks. This changed in August 2013 — before that, the layout paired an EPAL mark with a EUR mark, and a great deal of published material still describes that older arrangement. If a supplier's photographs show EPAL on one block and EUR on the other, you are looking at a pre-2013 pallet or an out-of-date source.
The centre block carries the phytosanitary information: the IPPC wheat-ear symbol, the ISO country code, the producer's registration number, the treatment code HT, and the licence number with year and month of production. So the centre block tells you when and by whom the pallet was made — genuinely useful when assessing a used batch.
You will also find an EPAL control staple on one of the middle blocks. If the pallet has been through a quality-assured repair, it carries a repair nail stamped with the EPAL trademark and the repairer's licence number.
EUR is not EPAL any more
This trips up buyers with long memories. EPAL was founded in 1991 and for two decades licensed pallets jointly with the UIC, the international railway union — hence pallets marked both EUR and EPAL. The two organisations separated in August 2013 and continued licensing independently.
In February 2017 the EPAL board voted to terminate the exchangeability agreement, effective 1 May 2017, citing shortcomings in the UIC pool's quality assurance and the volume of counterfeit UIC/EUR pallets in circulation. A transitional period ran to 31 December 2021, after which UIC/EUR-marked pallets are no longer part of the EPAL exchange pool.
EPAL's own advice to buyers is refreshingly blunt: assess pallets by one single mark — the EPAL oval — and state explicitly in supply contracts that exchange is restricted to EPAL Euro pallets. If your contracts still say "EUR pallets", they are describing a pool that no longer works the way you assume.
The wider family
The official range is EPAL 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and the box pallet. There is no EPAL 4 or EPAL 5, whatever you may read.
- EPAL 2 — 1200 × 1000 × 162 mm, ~35 kg, safe working load 1250 kg. Has a base frame for chain and roller conveyors.
- EPAL 3 — 1000 × 1200 × 144 mm, ~30 kg, safe working load 1500 kg. A conventional block pallet.
- EPAL 6 — 800 × 600 × 144 mm half pallet, ~9.5 kg, 750 kg.
- EPAL 7 — 800 × 600 × 163 mm half pallet, ~9.5 kg, 500 kg in racking or forklift transport. Built on three blocks with steel angle brackets rather than nine blocks.
- EPAL box pallet — 800 × 1200 × 970 mm, 70 kg, 1500 kg load, 0.75 m³.
Note the counter-intuitive detail: EPAL 2 is heavier than EPAL 3 and shares its footprint, yet is rated lower — 1250 kg against 1500 kg. If someone offers you "a 1200 × 1000 Euro pallet", ask which one, because the load rating differs by 20%.
The quality classes
EPAL publishes a quality classification — NEW, A, B, C and UNSORTED — but it is worth understanding its status. The Terms of Exchange are binding; the quality classification is explicitly non-binding and applies only where both parties agree to it. Without that agreement, new and used EPAL pallets of classes A, B and C are all exchangeable without restriction.
In broad terms: A is used but mainly light-coloured, B is used and mainly dark, and C shows heavy use, permits slightly twisted blocks and permits adhesions such as old labels and tape. All three must be free of dirt that could contaminate your payload.
The distinction that matters operationally is MCH suitability — whether a pallet is fit for automated conveyors and high-bay racking under the GS1 recommendation. Classes NEW, A and B are; class C is not. If you run an automated warehouse and buy on price alone, class C is where the jams come from.
EPAL also adds a caution worth repeating: lightness alone does not guarantee a quality class. A pale pallet is not automatically class A.
What this means when you buy
Specify the class you actually need rather than defaulting to new. If pallets go into automation, exclude class C in writing. If they leave the EU, remember that new EPAL pallets already carry HT treatment, so you should not be paying a separate treatment line. And if exchange matters to you, say EPAL, not EUR — the difference has been real since 2017.
We build and repair pallets to specification in Judrėnai, and we are happy to talk through which class fits your operation rather than selling you the highest one.
