Submitting chemicals information to the National Poisons Information Service
Date published:
The Birmingham Unit of the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) acts as the appointed body responsible for accepting information submitted by importers and downstream users of hazardous mixtures placed on either the Great Britain (GB) or Northern Ireland (NI) markets.
On 1 January 2021, the GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemical Substances and Mixtures (CLP) Regulation came into force. GB-based importers and downstream users, and Northern Ireland based downstream users directly supplying the GB market with qualifying Northern Ireland goods (QNIGs), are encouraged to voluntarily submit information relating to emergency health response, and preventative measures on hazardous mixtures placed on the GB market, to NPIS using a safety data sheet (SDS).
In NI, chemicals (substances or mixtures) placed on the market must comply with the EU CLP Regulation. Importers and downstream users placing hazardous mixtures on the NI market are required to provide specific information on their products to the NPIS in accordance with Annex VIII.
As NPIS does not have access to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) poison centre notification (PCN) tools, submissions for NI must be provided in the form of a PCN and sent directly to NPIS Birmingham.
Guidance has been published to support you to submit information to the NPIS. It outlines the type of information companies placing hazardous mixtures on the UK markets (such as manufacturers, importers, downstream users and distributors) should submit.
Further information is available on the European Chemicals Agency website at the link below: