Proof of delivery

Explained

A proof of delivery documents who received which version of a document at what time. Typical entries are the recipient, the document, its version and the time it was sent and, where possible, opened or downloaded. REACH does not prescribe a particular record. Under a widely held reading, including ECHA guidance, keeping a safety data sheet on a website is not enough: the supplier has to provide it actively, for example as an email attachment or a personal link (Art. 31(8) REACH). In an inspection, or after an accident at a customer, the record shows that the duty was met. It also helps with Article 31(9): a new version goes to every recipient supplied in the preceding twelve months, which is hard to do completely without a distribution list.