ECHA Poison Centre Notification (PCN)
ECHA Poison Centre Notification (PCN)
Selling a hazardous mixture in the EU? No valid PCN means no legal sale.
If your product is classified as hazardous for health or physical effects, EU law requires it to be notified to the Poison Centres before it goes on the market. Get it wrong and you're looking at blocked listings, customs holds, enforcement action, and fines from national authorities. We handle the entire notification for you — fast, compliant, and EU-based.
What is a PCN?
Under Article 45 and Annex VIII to the CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, anyone placing a hazardous mixture on the EU/EEA market must submit a Poison Centre Notification through the ECHA Submission Portal. The notification gives emergency responders and poison centres instant access to your product's full composition, hazards, and toxicology so they can respond correctly to an exposure incident.
Each notified product is assigned a UFI (Unique Formula Identifier) — a 16-character code that must appear on your label. The UFI is only valid once your PCN has been submitted and accepted, so a self-generated UFI alone does not make you compliant.
Does this apply to you?
A PCN is triggered when your mixture is classified as hazardous for health or physical effects (think certain hair dyes, nail products, aerosols, solvent-based formulations, and many professional-use products). Most everyday finished cosmetics are not classified as hazardous and won't need a PCN — so the first thing we do is confirm whether you actually need one, before you pay for work you don't require.
Not sure? Add this service and we'll assess your formulation first.
What's included
- Applicability check — we review your classification and SDS to confirm whether a PCN is genuinely required
- UFI generation — a valid 16-character UFI linked to your accepted notification
- Full PCN dossier preparation in the ECHA PCN/IUCLID format
- Submission via the ECHA Submission Portal to the relevant Member State(s) where you sell
- National-language elements handled where a Member State requires them
- Validation and corrections against ECHA's automated rules so your dossier passes first time
- Update support when your composition, classification, or product identity changes
Why Phoenix?
We're an EU-established consultancy (Phoenix Safety Consultants OÜ, Estonia), which matters more than it sounds. Non-EU brands can appoint an EU-based third party to file the PCN on their behalf — keeping your confidential formulation protected (the UFI reveals nothing about your recipe) while still meeting your legal obligation. You stay compliant; your trade secrets stay yours.
How it works
- Order this service and send us your formulation and SDS.
- We assess whether a PCN is required and flag anything missing.
- We prepare and submit the notification and generate your valid UFI.
- You receive your UFI, confirmation, and labelling guidance — ready to sell.
What we'll need from you
Full mixture composition, your latest SDS (especially Section 11 toxicological data), product name(s) and packaging details, intended use/product category, and the list of EU/EEA countries you're selling into.
Place your products on the EU market with confidence — start your PCN today.