ESMA’s Position Statement on Poison Centre Notification for Sulphuric Acid in relation to the European Union Explosive Precursors Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 on the marketing and use of explosives precursors impacts ESMA members. ESMA has produced this statement to clarify the position for sulphuric acid, which falls into scope of the regulation.

Sulphuric acid status according to the Explosive Precursors Regulation

Sulphuric acid

CAS registry number 7664-93-7

Sulphuric acid is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the marketing and use of explosives precursors.

Explosive precursors are chemical substances that may be misused to manufacture homemade explosives.

Substances listed in Annex I are “substances that are not to be made available to, or introduced, possessed or used by, members of the public whether on their own or in mixtures or substances that include those substances, unless the concentration is equal to or lower than the limit values set out in Column 2, for which suspicious transactions and significant disappearances and thefts are to be reported within 24 hours”.

The limit value for sulphuric acid is 15% w/w (Annex I, column 2).

Members of the general public are permitted to ‘acquire, introduce, possess or use some explosives precursors at concentrations above those limit values for legitimate purposes’, provided that they hold a licence to do so and the upper limit value for the purpose of Licensing is not exceeded (Article 5(3)).

The upper limit value for sulphuric acid is 40% w/w (annex I, column 3)

Sulphuric acid can continue to be made available to professional users i.e. for those users that intend to use the substance “for purposes connected with that person’s specific trade, business, or profession, including forestry, horticultural and agricultural activity, conducted either on a full-time or part-time basis and not necessarily related to the size of the area of land on which that activity is conducted.”

Regulation (EU) 2019/ of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the marketing and use of explosives precursors, amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 98/2013 (europa.eu)

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