What a UFI code means

A UFI identifies a mixture for poison centres. It is not a public formula lookup

Direct answer. A UFI (Unique Formula Identifier) is a code the company creates so a poison centre can link a product on the market to the mixture information submitted for that product. ECHA’s UFI generator page says generating it is an industry obligation: you enter a company VAT number (or a company key) and a mixture-specific formulation number. ECHA’s generate-your-UFIs page says the code is required in the submission and on the label, or in some cases on the packaging, of products that contain a hazardous mixture, under CLP Annex VIII. The same Poison Centres materials say the code itself does not reveal the composition: what can be retrieved from it is a VAT number and a formulation number, not the formula. There is no public lookup on those pages that returns the mixture. Confirm Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, including Annex VIII. Showing a code you already have on a Shopify product page is a different job: UFI on the Shopify product page. This page is not legal advice.

CLPLens: CLP Hazard Display (Shopify App Store · Write a review) records CLP hazard display data, syncs app-owned product metafields, and shows storefront hazard information with audit records. It does not generate a UFI or look up a formula. This page is what the code means — not the product-page display job.

Related: Prop 65 Warning Manager — Prop 65 warning with a chemical name on 2028 product pages.

Free check first: CLP label element checker runs in your browser and sends nothing. Paste CLP label text and see which Article 17 label elements it mentions or lacks.

Checklist before you treat a code as a UFI

Who generates it

ECHA’s UFI generator page says creating the code and keeping it visible on the product is an industry obligation. The web tool generates one code or many, and it can validate a code. The inputs it names are the company’s VAT number — a company key from the same tool is the alternative if you do not use the VAT number — and a formulation number that is specific to that mixture. The same page says a company with many formulations may put the algorithm in its own systems; the UFI developers manual on that page is the guide for that path. A poison centre does not hand the code out from a public directory.

Where Annex VIII puts it

ECHA’s generate-your-UFIs page says the UFI will be required both in the submission of information and on the label, or in some cases the packaging, of products that contain a hazardous mixture. It says the acronym “UFI:” precedes the code so it is not confused with other identifiers. It also says that where products are not packaged, or as an alternative to the label for products used on industrial sites, the UFI needs to be available in section 1.1 of the safety data sheet. Which mixtures are in scope, and which of those placements apply, is Annex VIII of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. Confirm the live annex. This page does not restate the distance-sale timeline; that reading is UFI on the Shopify product page.

There is no public lookup of the formula

ECHA’s Poison Centres briefing What is a UFI? says the code links a product on the market to the mixture information that was submitted, and that it is not possible to retrieve the composition from the UFI. After the transformations ECHA describes, what the code can yield is a VAT number and a formulation number. The formula stays in the notification to the appointed bodies and poison centres, which is the point of the link. The generator page validates the shape of a code. It does not, on the pages cited here, return the mixture. Do not paste a UFI into a public form expecting a recipe.

What this page is not

Related pages

Not legal advice. Confirm ECHA’s Poison Centres pages and Annex VIII of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on EUR-Lex before you treat a code as in or out of scope. The app displays hazard content you enter. It does not generate a UFI or reveal a formula.