UK: Annual Reporting Deadline for 2023 PIC Chemical Exports and Imports Approaches

On 23 January 2023, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued a reminder to all companies involved in the export and import of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) chemicals. Companies are required to submit detailed reports of their activities in 2023 by 31 March 2024. This annual reporting is a legal requirement under Article 10 of the GB PIC Regulation.

Detailed reporting required

Companies must provide the HSE with the exact quantities, measured in kilograms, of PIC chemicals they have either exported from or imported into Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) during the previous year. The HSE has made templates available on its website to facilitate this process and  ensure that companies can efficiently comply with the reporting requirements.

This annual report must also include the movement of PIC chemicals to or from Northern Ireland (NI). When reporting exports and imports within the European Union, companies are not required to specify the EU country involved. However, reporting the movement of these chemicals to or from Northern Ireland will be useful for record-keeping purposes.

Exemptions from reporting

It is important to note that not all PIC chemical transactions are subject to this reporting requirement. Exemptions include:

• Special reference identification number (RIN) requests for exports for research and analysis purposes in quantities not exceeding 10 kg per year to each importing country.

• Imports for research and analysis purposes in quantities not exceeding 10 kg per year from any country.

For mixtures and articles, companies are only required to report the quantity of the PIC chemical contained in the mixtures and articles.

NIL returns

In cases where a company has not exported a particular PIC-listed chemical in 2023, despite having submitted an export notification for it, it must submit a NIL return to confirm this.

Submission guidelines

Completed templates should be sent to ukdna@hse.gov.uk no later than the 31 March 2024. The subject line of the email should include the text "GB PIC - Annual Reporting - Article 10 - 2023 - [company name]" to ensure the correct categorisation of the submission.

Publication of data

Later in the year, the HSE plans to publish the aggregated and anonymised data on its website, providing an insight into the trends and volumes of PIC chemical trade in 2023.