Who Is Responsible for Producing a Safety Data Sheet?

Article 31 of UK REACH sets out both who has to issue a Safety Data Sheet and what has to be in it. Knowing which role you occupy in the supply chain (manufacturer, importer, formulator, distributor or downstream user) determines whether producing an SDS is your legal responsibility, or whether you're entitled to expect one from someone else in the chain.

What Article 31 Actually Requires

Article 31 of UK REACH states that the supplier of a substance or mixture must provide the recipient with a Safety Data Sheet, compiled to Annex II, wherever the substance or mixture meets the criteria for classification as hazardous under GB CLP, is persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic or very persistent and very bioaccumulative, or appears on the Article 59(1) candidate list for other reasons (Article 31).

An SDS is also required, on request, for mixtures that fall just below the classification threshold but still contain a low concentration of a substance with human health, environmental, carcinogenic, reproductive or sensitising effects, or a substance with a workplace exposure limit (Article 31). A supplier does not have to wait to be asked for the sheets covered by the main duty. Those must be issued automatically, free of charge, in English, no later than the date the substance or mixture is first supplied.

Who Counts as the "Supplier"?

UK REACH defines several roles in the supply chain, and the SDS duty follows whichever of them places the product on the market at each step. A manufacturer produces the substance in Great Britain. An importer brings it in from outside Great Britain. A downstream user who blends, dilutes or repackages substances into a new mixture becomes a formulator for that mixture, and takes on the same Article 31 duty for it. A distributor, by contrast, only stores and moves a product between the supplier and the next recipient without changing it (Article 3).

This distinction decides who owes you the paperwork. If you buy a chemical directly from the company that made or imported it, that company is your legal supplier and the SDS is their responsibility. If you buy through a distributor, the distributor must still make sure a compliant SDS reaches you, but they are passing on a document someone further up the chain compiled, not authoring their own from scratch (Article 3; HSE REACH definitions).

Do Distributors Have to Write Their Own SDS?

No. A distributor's obligation is narrower than a manufacturer's or importer's. Where the manufacturer or downstream user further up the chain has prepared a chemical safety report with exposure scenarios, the distributor must pass on the relevant exposure scenarios and other relevant information when compiling their own version of the sheet, rather than generating new technical content (Article 31). In practice this usually means the distributor's sheet reflects the same hazard data and precautions as the original, updated only for their own contact details and translated if required, staying consistent with what the original supplier issued.

Who Inside the Company Actually Compiles It?

REACH does not specify a job title or formal qualification for whoever writes the SDS. Annex II requires only that it be prepared by a "competent person" who understands both the underlying hazard data and the needs of the audience who will read it, and that the supplier ensures that person has received appropriate training, including refresher training (ECHA, Guidance in a Nutshell). In practice this is usually a regulatory affairs specialist, product safety officer or qualified chemist within the manufacturer's or formulator's own organisation, sometimes supported by external consultants for the toxicological and ecological sections. What matters legally is not the individual's title, but that the supplier organisation stands behind the accuracy of the document.

What if You Formulate Your Own Mixture From Purchased Chemicals?

A business that buys in raw substances and blends them into its own product changes role. Once you place a new mixture on the market, you become the manufacturer or formulator of that mixture for REACH purposes, and the Article 31 duty transfers to you for anything you supply onward (Article 3). You are entitled to use the exposure scenarios and hazard data from your suppliers' Safety Data Sheets as an input, but the sheet you issue for your own product is your own legal responsibility, not theirs.

What Is the Employer's Role, if Not Producing the SDS?

An employer who simply uses a hazardous substance at work, rather than manufacturing, importing or reformulating it, is not required to produce an SDS. Their duty sits under separate legislation: they must obtain the current Safety Data Sheet from their supplier and use it to inform a COSHH risk assessment before the substance is used. That responsibility, and how to carry it out, is covered in our guide to carrying out a COSHH risk assessment. The distinction between an SDS itself and the risk assessment built from it is also worth understanding on its own, covered in SDS vs MSDS: What's the Difference?.

When Must a Supplier Update the SDS?

A supplier must update the Safety Data Sheet without delay whenever new information emerges that could affect the risk management measures or the hazard classification, once an authorisation under REACH has been granted or refused, or once a restriction has been imposed (Article 31). The revised, dated version, marked "Revision: (date)", must be issued free of charge to everyone the supplier has supplied that substance or mixture to in the preceding 12 months. This is the supplier's ongoing responsibility. It does not pass down the chain to distributors or employers, though both should make sure they are working from the current version.

When Is an SDS Not Required at All?

Hazardous substances or mixtures sold to the general public, rather than for industrial or professional use, do not require a full Safety Data Sheet if sufficient safety information is already provided with the product to allow safe use, for example on the label (Article 31). Even then, a downstream user or distributor can still request the full sheet, and the supplier must provide it. This exemption does not apply to ordinary workplace supply chains, where the general duty under Article 31 stands.

What if a Safety Data Sheet Looks Out of Date?

Responsibility for the accuracy of an SDS stays with the supplier who compiled it, since Article 31 places the duty on them rather than on the business using the document downstream. If a sheet looks outdated, for example one issued before current GHS classification rules took effect, HSE's guidance points to contacting the supplier for the current version rather than relying on an old one for a risk assessment. This is also why UK REACH ties the update duty to the original supplier rather than to anyone further down the chain: they are the only party with the technical basis the sheet was built on.

Why Getting the Wrong SDS Causes Problems Later

Knowing which business is responsible for producing an SDS doesn't help much if you can't tell whether the sheet in front of you is the right one. A Safety Data Sheet issued by a different manufacturer for a similarly named product can describe a different formulation entirely. An SDS found through a general search may not match the exact product, pack size or revision your workplace actually uses. And a sheet for a single ingredient is not the same as the SDS for a finished mixture that contains it, even where that ingredient is the one giving the product its hazard classification.

None of this changes who was responsible for producing the document. It does mean that checking the product identifier, manufacturer name and revision date against what's actually in your workplace matters as much as knowing who to chase for a copy in the first place.