The Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regime in Great Britain regulates the export and import of certain hazardous chemicals.
It requires the first export of a listed chemical in any calendar year, to any country, to be notified to the Designated National Authority (DNA), currently the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), at least 35 days before the intended date of export.
The HSE has now issued an invitation to companies to submit notifications for exports of chemicals in the GB PIC list if they are expected to take place during 2027.
It has reminded companies that export in this context includes the movement of a listed chemical from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The DNA said, “Early notification ensures HSE has sufficient time to process notifications and seek the explicit consent of the importing country, where required. It also allows time to consider evidence for granting a waiver where there is no response to repeated requests for consent.”
Companies will no longer need to notify the HSE about small quantities of listed chemicals for research or analysis if they are being exported in quantities that are unlikely to affect human health or the environment and do not exceed 10kg from each exporter to each importing country or Northern Ireland in any calendar year.
This is because the Special Reference Identification Number (Special RIN) procedure has been removed from the GB PIC Regulation.
Information on the Exporting GB PIC-listed chemicals notification process is available here and completed forms should be sent to ukdna@hse.gov.uk.
