GB Poison Centre Notifications – IMPORTANT UPDATE

Poison Centre Notifications (PCNs) for Great Britain will remain voluntary via submitting the products Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) until further notice.

It’s recently been communicated in the industry that the UK is adopting EU Annex VIII to the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) of Substances and Mixtures Regulation (EC No 1272/2008). This apparently would lead to mandatory, not voluntary, PCNs in the harmonised format for GB for hazardous products. This differed from the information given during the Brexit transition, where it was advised that notifications would be voluntary and require only the submission of a SDS to the NPIS, the UK's appointed receiving body for poison centre notifications.

Since this recent announcement, the NPIS has now confirmed that, for the time being, it will accept poison centre notifications in either the EU Annex VIII harmonised format, or the UK voluntary notification format.

The UK Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is still seeking legal clarity on the legislation. We will keep you informed of any further updates.

How does this impact organisations placing mixtures on the market in GB?

• If you have done Annex VIII notifications in GB, you are compliant. We believe it is unlikely that you will need to take any additional action in the near future.
• If you completed voluntary notifications in GB via submitting SDS to the NPIS, you are compliant. However, this may change in the near future.
• The requirements in Northern Ireland (NI) are not impacted by this change and Annex VIII continues to be mandatory.

In simple terms, for GB, PCNs will remain voluntary via submitting SDS to the NPIS until further notice.

Please contact us for any further information.

EU Annex VIII: EU Annex VIII was brought into EU law to provide immediate access to relevant information on products containing hazardous properties. Those placing products on the market in the EU and Northern Ireland are required to submit a notification to the respective poison centre, which will be used for emergency health response purposes in the case of incidents involving the product. The Poison Centre Notification (PCN) is required to be in the harmonised format, which includes the creation and submission of a Unique Formula Identifier (UFI).

Information from The National Chemical Emergency Centre (NCEC)