Poisons Rules

In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires —[Deleted by S 555/2016 wef 01/11/2016][Deleted by S 555/2016 wef 01/11/2016](2) In these Rules —

A licence to import, store and sell by wholesale poisons included in the Poisons List shall be in Form A of the Eighth Schedule.

A licence to import and deal generally in poisons by wholesale and retail shall be in Form C set out in the Eighth Schedule.

A person so licensed shall keep a record of the arrival and sale of poisons in a book or other form of record kept solely for that purpose but shall not be required to comply with section 6 (3) (b) of the Act.

The record shall be kept in Form E set out in the Eighth Schedule or otherwise recorded in such manner as to provide all the particulars required in that Form.

A person so licensed shall obtain an order in writing in accordance with rule 10 in respect of the sale of any poison and shall enter a reference to such order in the record kept in pursuance of paragraph (2).

Section 6(3) of the Act as modified by rule 10 —

So much of section 6(3) of the Act as requires an entry in a book to be signed by the purchaser of a poison shall not, as respects the sale of a poison to a person for the purpose of his trade, business or profession, apply if the following requirements are satisfied: (a)the seller obtains before the completion of the sale an order in writing signed by the purchaser stating his name and address, trade, business or profession, and the following particulars in regard to the article to be purchased, that is to say, the purpose for which it is required and the total quantity to be purchased, or, in the case of an article packed in ampoules, either the total quantity to be purchased or the total quantity intended to be administered or injected; (b)the seller is satisfied that the signature is that of the person purporting to have signed the order, that the person carries on the trade, business or profession stated in the order, and that it is one in which the poison to be purchased is used; and (c)the seller inserts in the appropriate entry in the record prescribed by rule 4 or 5 the words, “signed order” and a reference number by which the order can be identified.

Where a person represents that he urgently requires a poison for the purpose of his trade, business or profession, the seller may, if he is reasonably satisfied that the person requires the poison and is, by reason of some emergency unable before delivery either to furnish to the seller an order in writing duly signed or to attend and sign the entry in the book, deliver the poison to the purchaser on an undertaking by the purchaser to furnish such an order within the next 24 hours.

If the purchaser by whom any undertaking has been given under paragraph (3) fails to deliver to the seller a signed order in accordance with the undertaking, or if any person for the purpose of taking delivery of any poison under paragraph (3) makes a statement which is to his knowledge false, he shall be deemed to have contravened this rule.

Where the seller of a poison is satisfied that the poison is required by way of wholesale dealing or for the purpose of medical, dental or veterinary treatment, there shall not apply —

Nothing in the Act or these Rules applies to —

In paragraph (1) —

The prohibition under section 5 of the Act against the possession for sale, sale or offer for sale of any poison without a licence from a licensing officer shall not apply to a pharmacist who sells any poison by retail in a licensed retail pharmacy.

Section 6(1)(a) of the Act shall not apply to a pharmacist who sells any poison by retail in a licensed retail pharmacy.

It shall not be lawful to sell any poison included in the Third Schedule, except on and in accordance with a prescription given by a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon in a form complying with the requirements of this rule.

This rule shall apply to the sale of such poisons notwithstanding that it consists of or is an ingredient of a medicine dispensed or supplied in the circumstances set out in section 7 (1) (b) and (c) of the Act, and in accordance with that section, but shall not apply to the sale of any such poison in the circumstances set out in section 8 of the Act.

For the purposes of this rule, a prescription shall —

The person dispensing the prescription shall comply with the following requirements: (a)the prescription shall not be dispensed more than once unless the prescriber has stated thereon that it may be dispensed more than once; (b)if the prescription contains a direction that it may be dispensed a stated number of times but no interval is specified, it shall not be dispensed more than once in 3 days, and if the intervals are specified without direction as to the number of times the prescription may be dispensed, it shall not be dispensed more than 3 times; (c)at the time of dispensing there shall be noted on the face of the prescription above the signature of the prescriber the name and address of the seller and the date on which the prescription is dispensed; and (d)in the case of a prescription to be repeated it shall be retained after being dispensed the second or third time, as the case may be, by the last person dispensing the prescription.

Notwithstanding paragraph (4)(b), in an emergency a pharmacist may supply a poison included in the Third Schedule on the verbal instructions of a medical practitioner who has undertaken to give a prescription (or a written order where he is a medical practitioner in a hospital) within the next 24 hours.

For the purpose of this rule, “dentist” shall not include any dentist whose name does not appear in the first division of the Register of Dentists maintained and kept under section 13(1)(a) of the Dental Registration Act 1999.

It shall not be lawful to sell or supply strychnine except as an ingredient in a medicine.

This rule shall not apply to the sale of strychnine —

Subject to any provision of these Rules to the contrary, the particulars with which the container of a poison is required to be labelled under section 6(2) of the Act and under these Rules shall appear in a conspicuous position on the container in which the poison is sold and on the box or other covering of whatever nature enclosing the container, and the particulars shall be clearly and distinctly set out and not in any way obscured or obliterated.

Where the poison is contained in an ampoule, cachet or similar article, it shall not be necessary to label the article itself, if the box or other covering in which the article is enclosed is duly labelled.

Nothing in section 6(2) of the Act or in these Rules shall require the labelling of any transparent cover or any wrapper, hamper, packing case, crate or other covering used solely for the purpose of transport or delivery.

Subject to this rule, the name of a poison shall, for the purpose of the provisions relating to labelling, be the term under which it is included in the Poisons List.

Where the term referred to in paragraph (1) describes a group of poisons and not the poison specifically, the name of the poison shall be —

Notwithstanding anything in paragraphs (1) and (2), if the poison consists of, or is contained in, any preparation in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Formulary of the Pharmaceutical Codex, or any dilution or admixture of such a preparation, the name of the poison may, for the purposes of this rule, be the name or synonym or abbreviated name used to describe the preparation in the British Pharmacopoeia or the Formulary of the Pharmaceutical Codex, with the addition of the letters B.P. or P.C., as the case may be.

The label of a container of a preparation which contains a poison as one of the ingredients shall include a statement of the proportion, whether stated as a percentage or not, which the poison bears to the total ingredients of the preparation, and where the proportion is stated as a percentage, the container shall be so labelled as to indicate whether the percentage is calculated on a basis of weight in weight, weight in volume or volume in volume.

In the case of a preparation containing a poison specified in the first column of the Fourth Schedule, it shall be sufficient to state on the label the particulars specified in the second column of that Schedule against the description of the poison.

In the case of a preparation derived from nux vomica or from opium and containing one or more alkaloids of nux vomica or of opium named in the Poisons List, it shall be sufficient, so far as these alkaloids are concerned, to state on the label the proportion of strychnine or of morphine, as the case may be, contained in the preparation.

In the case of a preparation in the British Pharmacopoeia or the Formulary of the Pharmaceutical Codex which is named in accordance with rule 20(3) it shall not be necessary to state on the label the proportion of poison contained in the preparation, and in the case of any dilution or admixture of such a preparation, it shall be sufficient to state the proportion which the preparation bears to the total ingredients of the dilution or admixture.

Where the poison is in tablets, pills, cachets, capsules, lozenges or similar articles, or in ampoules, it shall be sufficient if the label of the box or covering in which the articles are enclosed states the number of the articles and the amount of the poison, or in the case of such a preparation as is mentioned in paragraph (4), the amount of the preparation contained in each article.

Instead of being labelled with the word “Poison”, the container of any article specified in the first column of the Fifth Schedule is to be labelled with the words specified opposite that article in the second column.

The said words or the word “Poison”, as the case may be, shall not be modified in meaning by the addition of any other word or mark, and shall —

The Malay, Tamil and Chinese versions of the words prescribed in paragraph (2) shall be as set out in the Tenth Schedule.

It shall not be lawful —

This rule shall be in addition to the other requirements of the Act and of these Rules with respect to labelling and shall apply to poisons dispensed or supplied in accordance with section 7 of the Act.

The Malay, Tamil and Chinese versions of the words prescribed in paragraph (1) shall be as set out in the Tenth Schedule.

Section 6(2)(d) of the Act shall not apply in the case of an article sold for the purpose of resale in the same container.

The requirements of section 6(2)(d) of the Act shall be deemed to be satisfied in the case of a poison supplied from a warehouse or depot, if the container of the poison is labelled with the address of the supplier’s principal place of business, or, in the case of a limited company, of the registered office of the company.

Where any poison (other than a substance included in the First Schedule) is sold in a container and outer covering, being the container and outer covering in which it was obtained by the seller, it shall be sufficient if the name of the seller and the address of the premises on which the poison was sold appear only on the outer covering.

Where the names of more than one person or more than one address appear on any label, there shall also be words on the label indicating clearly which person is the seller and at which of the addresses the poison was sold.

It shall not be lawful to sell, whether by wholesale or by retail, or supply any poison unless —

This rule shall apply to poisons dispensed or supplied in accordance with section 7 of the Act.

It shall not be lawful to store any poison except in a container impervious to the poison and sufficiently stout to prevent leakage from the container arising from the ordinary risks of handling and transport.

It shall not be lawful to store any substance included in the First Schedule in any retail shop or premises used in connection therewith unless the substance is stored —

Where any substance mentioned in paragraph (2) is to be used in agriculture or horticulture, it shall not be lawful to store the substance on any shelf, or in any such part of the premises if food is kept in that part, or in any cupboard or drawer unless the cupboard or drawer is reserved solely for the storage of poisons to be so used.

It shall not be lawful to consign for transport by a carrier any substance or article, other than a medicine, consisting of or containing any poison included in the Sixth Schedule, unless the package containing the substance or article is labelled conspicuously with the name of the poison and a notice indicating that it is to be kept separate from foodstuffs and from empty containers in which foodstuffs have been kept.

It shall not be lawful for any person knowingly to transport any such substance or article, either on his own behalf or for another person, in any vehicle in which food is being transported, unless the food is carried in a part of the vehicle effectively separated from that containing the substance or is otherwise adequately protected from the risk of contamination.

The provisions of the Act and of these Rules shall not apply to —

The medicine shall only be supplied by, or on and in accordance with a prescription of, a medical practitioner for the purposes of medical treatment, or a dentist for the purposes of dental treatment, or a veterinary surgeon for the purposes of animal treatment.

In a case where a substance included in the First Schedule is supplied, a record shall be kept on the premises in such a way that there can readily be traced at any time during a period of 2 years after the date on which the substance was supplied the following particulars: (a)the name and quantity of the poison supplied; (b)the date on which the poison was supplied; (c)the name and address of the person to whom the poison was supplied; and (d)the name of the person who supplied the poison or who gave the prescription upon which it was supplied.

The container of the medicine shall be labelled —

The container of a poison shall —

This rule and rule 31 shall apply to any hospital, infirmary, dispensary, clinic, nursing home or other institutions at which human ailments are treated (referred to in this rule and in rule 31 as an institution).

In any institution in which medicines are dispensed in a dispensing or pharmaceutical department in the charge of a person appointed for that purpose, no medicine containing a poison shall be supplied from that department, except in cases of emergency, for use in the wards, operating theatres or other sections of the institution, except in accordance with the requirements contained in paragraphs (3), (4) and (5).

The medicines shall only be supplied upon a written order signed by a medical practitioner, dentist, or by a registered nurse in charge of a ward, theatre or other section of the institution.

The container of the medicine shall be labelled —

The container of a poison shall —

The requirements contained in this rule shall apply to the storage of poisons in institutions.

In any institution in which medicines are dispensed in a dispensing or pharmaceutical department in charge of a person appointed for the purpose, all poisons other than those issued for use within the institution shall be stored in that department.

In any institution to which paragraph (2) does not apply all poisons other than those issued for use within the institution shall be stored —

Where a poison to which paragraph (3) applies is stored on a shelf, the container of the poison shall be rendered distinguishable by touch from the containers or articles other than poisons stored on the same premises.

In every institution, every substance included in the First Schedule (other than thermolabile substances) which is stored in the wards shall be stored in a cupboard reserved solely for the storage of poisons.

All places in which poisons are required by this rule to be stored shall be inspected at regular intervals of time not exceeding 3 months by a pharmacist or by some other person appointed for the purpose by the governing body or person in control of the institution.

It shall not be lawful to sell any poison included in the Seventh Schedule and intended for use in agriculture or horticulture for the destruction of bacteria, fungi, insects or vermin or as weed-killer or for the preservation of buildings or other structures liable to be destroyed by termites or other insects unless there has been added to the poison a dye which is of a distinctive colour and which is soluble in water if the poison intended to be used is dissolved or mixed in water.

This rule shall not apply to —