PCN according to EU CLP Annex VIII required for UK
Poison Centre Notifications (PCNs) in the format of Annex VIII (the new harmonised format) of Regulation (EU) 1272/2008 on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals (CLP) will be mandatory in the UK.
Recently, knoell was informed by the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS), the body responsible for receiving PCNs in the UK, that NPIS considers Annex VIII of the CLP Regulation to be applicable in the UK from 01 January 2021. Therefore, any product placed on the UK market for consumer or professional use from 01 January 2021 will need to comply with Annex VIII and, from this perspective, simply submitting an SDS to NPIS is no longer acceptable. Product notifications must be in the harmonised format of Annex VIII.
What are the practical implications for your hazardous mixtures in the UK?
- Importers and downstream users of consumer or professional mixtures classified as hazardous to health or for their physicochemical properties will now have to submit mandatory PCN dossiers in accordance with CLP Annex VIII
- All PCNs submitted in 2021 only by submitting SDSs must be resubmitted in the new format (as IUCLID *.i6z files)
- If PCN dossiers in the new format (*.i6z files) have already been submitted to NPIS because they were placed on the market in Northern Ireland, this will be considered sufficient for the UK
- For importers and downstream users placing mixtures on the UK market for industrial use only, the deadline for compliance with this requirement is 01 January 2024
This will come as quite a surprise to all industry stakeholders as no information was available until the end of 2021, and to date no information has been available via the NPIS, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) websites or the respective newsletters announcing this requirement.
Our PCN experts at knoell can support you with your PCN tasks in both the UK and EU. Please contact us if you need assistance.