Does the SDS in English really satisfy the majority of regulatory conditions in the EU?

This week, we got a question that I think, most of our customers are also asking. This question is - ''If I provide a SDS in English, can I sell the product in all EU countries? Can I do PCN notification for all EU countries with only the English SDS?''

Our short answer: No, English SDS are not accepted in all countries.

Which countries accept English SDSs? The REACH regulation states: "The safety data sheet shall be delivered in the official language of the Member State(s) in which (which) the substance or mixture is placed on the market, unless otherwise determined by the Member State concerned."

So, if we look at the countries where English is listed as an official language and they accept SDSs in English, they are (the countries are arranged alphabetically):
- Ireland,
- Malta.

Countries with several official languages are (the countries are arranged alphabetically):
- Belgium (dutch, french, german),
- Cyprus (greek, turkish),
- Denmark (danish, faroese, greenlandic),
- Finland (finnish, swedish),
- Luxembourg (dutch, french, german),
- Malta (maltese, english).

In this case, you can make the SDS in one of the given official languages.

Countries that require a SDS in the official language of the country are (the countries are arranged alphabetically):
- Austria (german),
- Bulgaria (bulgarian),
- Estonia (estonian),
- France (french),
- Greece (greek),
- Croatia (croatian),
- Iceland (icelandic),
- Italy (italian),
- Latvia (latvian),
- Lithuania (lithuanian),
- Liechtenstein (german),
- Hungary (hungarian),
- Germany (german),
- Netherlands (dutch),
- Norway (norwegian),
- Poland (polish),
- Portugal (portuguese),
- Romania (romanian),
- Slovakia (slovak),
- Slovenia (slovene),
- Spain (spanish),
- Sweden (swedish).

In these cases, the safety data sheet must be made in one official language.

We wrote about the countries that accept the English PCN notification here. 17 European Economic Area (EEA) countries accept PCN notification in English, while the remaining 13 still require PCN notification in the country's offical language.
If you think I can help you further, you can write me a short message at spela.hudobivnik@bens-consulting.eu.
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