Applies for: iPublisher
Where: PCN (Poison Centre Notification)

What is a PCN?

A Poison Centre Notification (PCN) is a regulatory notification that gives EU/EEA poison centres the information they need to help in a medical emergency. If someone is exposed to a hazardous mixture — swallows it, splashes it in their eyes, inhales the fumes — a doctor or poison centre can look up the product and immediately get the composition, hazards, and first-aid information they need to treat the person correctly.

The link between “product on a shelf” and “information poison centres can act on” is a code called the UFI (Unique Formula Identifier). It's usually printed on the product label or the packaging. When someone calls a poison centre with that code, the centre can pull up exactly the formulation that was notified — no guessing, no delay.


Why does it exist?

PCN is a legal obligation under the CLP Regulation (EC No 1272/2008), Annex VIII. It applies to hazardous mixtures — not substances — that are classified for health or physical hazards (not just environmental hazards) and placed on the EU/EEA market for consumer, professional, or industrial use.

Since 1 January 2025, the transition period under CLP Annex VIII has ended. This means:

  • Only harmonised PCN submissions, in the standardised ECHA/IUCLID format, are accepted.
  • Mixtures that were previously notified under old national systems have had to be re-notified in the harmonised format.
  • The notification must be submitted before the hazardous mixture is placed on the market — not after.


Who needs to notify, and where?

Importers and downstream users (for example, formulators) placing hazardous mixtures on the market are responsible for notifying. It's a per-Member-State obligation: if a product is sold in multiple EU/EEA countries, a notification is needed for each one, and language/national acceptance requirements can differ by country.

Some mixtures fall outside the scope of PCN — for example, R&D mixtures, medicinal or veterinary products, cosmetics, medical devices, food and feed, mixtures classified only for environmental hazards, gases under pressure, and certain explosives. If you're ever unsure whether a specific product needs a PCN, that's a case-by-case regulatory question worth double-checking rather than assuming.


What information goes into a PCN dossier?

A PCN dossier captures a structured, IUCLID-compatible picture of the product, including:

  • Product identity — trade name, UFI
  • Composition — the substances in the mixture and their concentrations
  • Classification — hazard classification and hazard statements
  • Toxicological information — what a poison centre needs to advise on treatment
  • Physical properties — form, colour, pH
  • Packaging and intended use — how the product reaches the end user, and in what context (consumer, professional, or industrial)

All of this is sent to the ECHA Submission Portal, in the IUCLID format.


When does a PCN need to be updated?

A notification isn't necessarily a one-time event. Certain changes to the product trigger an update requirement, including changes to:

  • the product identifier,
  • the classification,
  • new toxicological data, or
  • a significant change in composition.

What's next

This covers the what and why of PCN. The next article, How iPublisher Supports Poison Centre Notification (PCN), covers the how: the practical workflow inside iPublisher for preparing, validating, publishing, and exporting a PCN dossier — including the most common places people get tripped up and how to fix them.