Latest 48 hours before placing a hazardous mixture on the Belgian market, the responsible for placing on the market must send all information to the Poison Centre that it deems necessary for performing the tasks entrusted to him (Royal decree of 19 December 1997 on hazardous substances and formulations and on pesticides for non-agricultural uses. This also pertains to products sold to the general public and those meant for professional uses.

In order to simplify the transmission of data and avoid 'paper' format, the Poison Centre has created an electronic reporting form.

Contact details of the Poison Centre:

Hôpital Militaire Reine Astrid
rue Bruyn    B-1120  Brussels
Tel. in case of accident: 070/ 245 245
Tel. industry contact for notification (Reporting Secretariat):
00 32-(0)2-264 96 36   Fax: 00 32-(0)2-264 96 46 
www.poisoncentre.be

Since the 1st January 2022 it is also possible to submit your notifications for Belgium through the ECHA’s PCN Portal:
https://poisoncentres.echa.europa.eu/prepare-your-submission

Note related to the hazardous mixture notifications to Belgian Poison Centre

Notification system

Hazardous products have to be notified to the Belgian Poison Centre once they are placed on the Belgian market. No matter which kind of firm is placing it on the market.
Belgium chose to use two different systems in parallel:

  • The already existing national system in Belgium using a XLS tool (EDF file on the Poison Centre website)
  • The e-Delivery system from the ECHA PCN Portal using a IUCLID tool

You may now choose between one of those two systems to notify your products to the Poison Centre. It is not necessary to notify via the two systems for the products placed on the market in Belgium.

Warning: in the case you would submit your notifications through both systems in parallel, you would be charged with the double amount of fee. It is indeed technically compulsory to process the double notifications coming from both systems. It therefore leads to a double work of our team.

Obviously, notifications that will already be listed in our database at the date of 1st January 2022 will not have to be re-notified via the PCN Portal and will remain valid.
 
Identification number UFI

The UFI is a new number that has to be put on the label of the hazardous mixture from the 1st January 2021 for the new mixtures, and in  2025 for mixtures already on the market on the 1st January 2021. It is a unique number for a mixture/producer than can be generated via the ECHA website. It is useful for the hazardous mixture notification to the Poison Centre.
If you want to update your label for mixture already on the market before 2021 by placing the UFI number on it, it is possible. In this case we ask you to inform the Poison Centre by using the XLS file with the following information:

  • The responsible for the placing on the market
  • Name of the product
  • UFI number (only 1 UFI per row in the Excel sheet)

Updates related to the addition of a UFI only are free of charge.

Mixtures subject to notification

All hazardous mixtures, as defined in regulation 1272/2008, must be notified to the Poison Centre.  However, some of these mixtures benefit from special treatment:

  • Medicines for human or veterinary use authorized in application of the Law of 24 January 1977 do not need to be notified to the Poison Centre.
  • Cosmetics are notified directly through the European Commission’s CPNP database (Cosmetic Products Notification Portal).  This European notification replaces the notification to the Poison Centre.
  • Pesticides for agricultural use authorized according to the Royal Decree of 28 February 1994 follow a specific regime:


    The application for authorization contains a separate section devoted to the declaration for first aid instructions.  That section has to be be sent to the Federal Public Service.  The  FPS forwards these instructions to the Poison Centre.  When the application is accepted and you receive the authorization certificate, you must provide the label to the Poison Center.

There is no obligation to notify non-classified mixtures to the Poison Centre.  We nevertheless encourage companies to notify these mixtures.

Fee to be paid for each notified hazardous mixture

In compliance with Article 9 of the Royal decree of 13 November 2011 laying down the charges and contributions to be paid to the Budgetary fund of raw materials and products, the person responsible for placing a hazardous mixture on the Belgian market must pay a one-time fee (i.e. he must pay only once) for each notified mixture or group of equivalent mixtures.

The payment of the fee must happen before the notification.  Proof of payment has to be included in the notification file sent to the Poison Centre.

In the case of a notification made through the ECHA’s PCN Portal, it is unfortunately not possible to upload the proof of payment directly in the technical dossier of the PCN. We therefore ask you to send your proof of payment directly to the Poison Centre.
In the case of a notification send directly to our national system and for which a contribution is required, the proof of payment has to be included in the file directly sent to the Poison Centre.

The fee(s) must be paid to the postal cheque account no. BE26 6792 0042 4329  of the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain and Environment (Banque de la Poste  - Brussels); the transfer must state the firm's contact details and contain the following communication: "Art.9 + month and year of the notification+ name of the firm responsible for placing on the Belgian market + name(s) of the concerned product(s)] ".

In case of payments made outside Belgium, the specific  account
BE26 6792 0042 4329  
BIC :  PCHQBEBB
FOD Volksgezondheid – grondstoffenfonds- Fonds matières premières, Av. Galillée 5, 1210 Bruxelles

The payment is made through free transfer. No transfer slip is sent by the Poison Centre or by the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain and Environment after a declaration/notification to the Poison Centre.

The notification to the Poison Centre is legally not admissible without payment of this fee.

The month following your notification to the Center, our secretariat will send you an Excel file that we ask you to fill out in order to verify the payments and link the notifications and the fees correctly.

Amount of the fee

Notification type

200 €

35 €

No fee

Mixture classified as hazardous on the basis of its health or physical effects (except pesticides for agricultural use)

x

    

Update of the name of an already notified hazardous mixture classified as hazardous on the basis of its health or physical effects

  

x

  

Update of the nature or quantity of a hazardous component in a hazardous mixture already notified

x

    

Creation of a group of equivalent hazardous mixtures*

x

    

Addition of a new hazardous mixture to an already notified group of equivalent hazardous mixtures

  

x

  

Mixture not classified as hazardous on the basis of its health or physical effects

    

x

Update of a mixture not classified as hazardous on the basis of its health or physical effects

    

x

Specific exemptions foreseen in article 9, §3, of the Royal Decree of 13 Novembre 2011

 

 

x

Cosmetic product notified via CPNP

    

x

Medicinal product

    

x

* a group of equivalent hazardous mixtures is a group of several hazardous mixtures that have the same trademark, are placed on the market by the same person and whose components determining the hazard classification and labelling are identical.  The quantities of these components may vary, as long as the hazard classification and labelling remains the same.

There is a general derogation for pesticides for agricultural use. If the producer submits a draft label for specific advice by the Poison Centre, a fee of 102 euro will be required. The Poison Centre will send an invoice. For all other cases, no fee is required.