The Poisons Standard is a Legislative Instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003. The Poisons Standard consists of decisions regarding the classification of medicines and poisons into Schedules for inclusion in the relevant legislation of the States and Territories. The Poisons Standard also includes model provisions about containers and labels, a list of products recommended to be exempt from these provisions, and recommendations about other controls on drugs and poisons.

The Poisons Standard has been presented with a view to promoting uniform scheduling of substances and uniform labelling and packaging requirements throughout Australia.

The Poisons Standard is the legal title of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP).

Electronic version of the Poisons Standard

• SUSMP No. 34 (Poisons Standard October 2021)

The SUSMP is available in electronic form, free of charge, on the Federal Register of Legislation (FRL) website. The FRL is a repository and authoritative source of Commonwealth Acts, legislative and notifiable instruments, explanatory statements for legislative instruments, and other relevant documents and information.

Please note that on the FRL the SUSMP goes by its legal title, the Poisons Standard. Additionally, rather than referring to the edition number, the publication will be named according to the month and year of publication (i.e. the month and year it is published on the FRL). For example, SUSMP No.7 is known as Poisons Standard June 2015 on FRL.

Please note that the SUSMP No.9 and all future editions of the Poisons Standard will only be available online.

The SUSMP

The Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP):

• is a record of decisions regarding the classification of medicines and chemicals into Schedules for inclusion in relevant legislation of the states and territories;
• includes model provisions about containers and labels, and recommendations about other controls on medicines and chemicals; and
• is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation as the Poisons Standard.

Recent changes

The Poisons Standard October 2021 (SUSMP No. 34) is the current edition. This supersedes the Poisons Standard June 2021 (SUSMP No. 33). The Poisons Standard October 2021 incorporates numerous changes to the Poisons Standard June 2021. These changes are detailed in the explanatory statement supporting SUSMP No. 34 (Poisons Standard October 2021).