# PIF help? (UK)



## speckledfawn (Mar 3, 2013)

Hi, I have my first craft stall selling my soaps in just under a week. I have completed most of my PIFs for my products but I want to make doubly sure I have everything in there that I need so I'll have it with me on the day just incase it's needed.

What is all the information you are REQUIRED to have in there?

I had a sample PIF sent to me by my assessor and it's incredibly complicated. It basically covers everything, quite a bit of which I know isn't relevant to me. But of course I don't want to take anything out that should stay in there. My main issues are that there's an empty table for this information:



INCI Name
Description
INN Name 
Ph. Eur. Name
CAS #
EINECS/ELINCS #



My main issues are INN name, Ph. Eur. Name and EINECS/ELINCS #. I don't think a lot of ingredients I use have these? And how/where do I find out if they do? Is a description really necessary in the PIF if I have the MSDS attached later on in the file? 

Is this information essential?

Also another question I have is: do I HAVE to have my soap pieces weighed? I have heard that if you sell it by the piece you don't necessarily have to, can anyone give me any clarification on this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


----------



## Lindy (Mar 5, 2013)

Speckled Fawn the PIF sent to you by your assessor is the information you are required to have.  Have you chatted with trading standards yet?


----------



## cliff (Mar 5, 2013)

Sorry, I'm new... what is PIF?


----------



## speckledfawn (Mar 5, 2013)

the PIF sent to me by my assessor was a general example that included info for different types of product as well as cold process soap, and info that i had in seperate files like MSDSs and such, i was just having trouble weeding out the bits i didn't need and didn't want to accidentally take out anything i needed but didn't know about.

i have spoken to trading standards yes, but the man i spoke to didn't really know much and in fact just sent me a couple of long and complex things to read that i can't find all the answers to my questions in!


----------



## radar-78 (Mar 5, 2013)

Hi, Had no idea what those terms meant as I'm not certified. I wanted to know the answer though so I googled and found this.http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cosmetics/cosing/. Thought it might be useful to you as you type in the common name like sodium hydroxide or olive oil and it tells you the CAS# and EINECS/ELINCS #. Also found this http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/busi...cts_safety/cosmetic_labelling_conditions.aspx which tells us what INN Name and Ph. Eur. Names are. Could be wrong but this site says that they are only required if there is no INCI. I looked up European Pharmacopoeia name and International Non-proprietary Name (INN) they seem to refer to medicinal type ingredients but you can google a bit more on that. Must be a minefield to start out but once you've got it done for each product that should be it, unless you change ingredients or formula. Hope I helped a bit and I've learned something as well! All the best of luck - Rachel x


----------



## Lindy (Mar 5, 2013)

PIF = Product Information Form.

You do need the description in there even though you have your MSDS attached.  I am sending you a PM that might help...


----------



## radar-78 (Mar 6, 2013)

I have no personal interest in selling, was just trying to help the OP. Lindy-did you mean to pm me or was it meant for speckledfawn? Thanks anyway - Rachel x.


----------



## Lindy (Mar 6, 2013)

Rachel it was meant for you too....


----------

