Aug 7th, 2023
4 mins
New substances will be regulated under The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 from 1 October 2023
What are these regulations?
Many common substances utilised within detergents and disinfectants can be re-purposed as poisons or to create homemade explosive devices such as those used in the Manchester Arena and Parsons Green attacks. Since 2021, legislation has been in force across the EU and Northern Ireland to control the sale and supply of these substances and from 1st October 2023 Great Britain will be following suit.
Will I still be able to source these products?
Yes, however in order to comply with these regulations you must verify the legitimacy of your use with the supplier through a request for information on your business and an authorised person on site (including a photographic I.D.) for products containing regulated substances.
What are the products?
In general, substances present in hygiene products fall into two categories: –
| Regulated Substances | Reportable Substances |
| Hydrochloric acid above 10% w/w | Potassium hydroxide above 17%w/w |
| Hydrogen Peroxide above 12 w/w | Sodium hydroxide above 12%w/w |
| Nitric acid above 3% w/w | Sodium hypochlorite above 6%w/w available chlorine |
| Phosphoric acid above 30% w/w | Hydrogen Peroxide above 2% w/w |
| Sulphuric acid above 15% w/w | |
| Oxalic acid above 10% w/w |
What are my responsibilities?
Take all reasonable steps to control and manage the stocks held on your site and restrict access to only those authorised persons.
For both products containing either Regulated or Reportable substances, any suspicious activity must be reported to the “Report Suspicious Chemical Activity Service” and significant disappearances or thefts of these products to the Police on 0800 789321 within 24 hours.
As part of your supplier’s conditions of sale, they will be required to collect the following information for any product formulation containing Regulated substances prior to supplying you – this information must be collected every 18 months:
- Business name, address and nature of business
- VAT number (if VAT registered)
- Name of authorised person and job title
- Photo I.D. of the authorised person.
This statement will be required for each delivery address so must be completed on a site-by-site basis. Please be aware that without this Customer Statement being fully completed the supplier cannot, and will not, supply products containing Regulated substances.
Where can I go for further information?
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supplying-explosives-precursors
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