About poisons and prohibited substances
From 27 September 2021, the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 (MPA) and supporting regulations replace the repealed Health Act 1937, Pest Management Act 2001, Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 (HDPR), Health Regulation 1996 and Pest Management Regulation 2003 with a new regulatory framework. The MPA modernises and streamlines the regulation of medicines, poisons, pesticides and fumigants, simplifies existing licence requirements and improves national uniformity.
The Medicines and Poisons (Poisons and Prohibited Substances) Regulation 2021 (Poisons Regulation) together with the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021 replaces the Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation.
Key objectives of the Poisons Regulation include:
- protecting the public from the health risks associated with the inappropriate access to, and use of, poisons
- adopting a contemporary approach to regulating pesticides and fumigants in Queensland that introduces a more responsive and outcomes-focused regulatory framework
- streamlining the regulatory controls governing poisons to reduce the associated regulatory costs for industry, consumers and government
- enhancing consistency with national regulatory frameworks by implementing nationally-agreed decisions in relation to the regulation of poisons
- improving security controls in the use and storage of poisons to prevent diversion for unlawful purposes.
Related information
- Regulated Poisons Disposal Requirements (PDF 139 kB)
- Transitional arrangements (PDF 253 kB) – information for current authority holders regarding arrangements to transition to the new Act
- Do I need a Substance Management Plan? (PDF 253 kB)
- Commonwealth’s Poisons Standard (Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) – national classification of medicines and poisons into Schedules. It also includes model provisions about containers and labels.
- Poisons terms – quick guide to terms and definitions (PDF 392 kB)
- Guidelines for storage of poisons and prohibited substances (PDF 165 kB)
Contactso
Environmental Hazards Unit: environmentalhazards@health.qld.gov.au.