Belgium's New UFI Code Price System Starting 2026

As of 1 January 2026, Belgium implemented a revised UFI code price system for Poison Centre Notifications (PCNs). The new approach changed both the timing and the logic of fee collection, placing greater emphasis on the annual volume of mixtures notified by each operator, rather than on individual submissions alone.

How the UFI Code Price System Has Been Applied

Under the new rules, PCNs submitted during a calendar year will been invoiced at the beginning of the following year by the Federal Public Service (FPS) Health. This means that companies only received a consolidated invoice once their total number of notified mixtures for the year is known.

The fee will been calculated per operator, as defined in Article 45(1ter) and 45(1quater) of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, using a tiered model that increased with the number of mixtures notified during the year.

PCN Fee Structure Applied in Belgium

Since 2026, the following fee structure has been applied:

Number of mixtures notified annually by the operator	Annual fee (EUR)
1–5	0
6–20	500
21–75	1,000
76–100	2,000
101–250	3,000
251–500	5,000
501–1,000	7,000
1,001–2,000	10,000
2,001–5,000	15,000
5,001–10,000	20,000
More than 10,000	40,000

This structure has directly linked regulatory costs to the size and complexity of a company’s notified product portfolio.

One-Time Fees and Ongoing Obligations

The fee has been applied as a one-time charge per properly submitted notification. Once a PCN is accepted and the corresponding fee paid, the notification remained valid indefinitely.

However, this validity depend on the stability of the notified information. Whenever a change in mixture composition triggered an update obligation under Annex VIII, Part B, point 4 of the CLP Regulation, a new notification and a new payment is required. Each such update contributed to the annual notification count used for fee calculation.

Impact on Industry Practices

Since the introduction of the new system, many companies reassessed their PCN strategies.

Common responses include:

• stricter internal control of formulation changes,

• more cautious use of multiple trade names,

• consolidation of notifications where legally feasible,

• closer coordination between regulatory, R&D, and marketing teams.

Conclusion

Belgium’s revised UFI code price model has transformed PCNs from a one-off administrative task into a manageable regulatory lifecycle with clear financial consequences. While the underlying CLP data requirements have remained unchanged, the cost implications of portfolio size and update frequency have become far more visible — encouraging companies to take a more strategic, long-term approach to compliance.