Regulatory status varies by jurisdiction

There is no single global rule about what a research laboratory may buy, import or hold. Each country has its own framework, and within countries, states and provinces add their own. A material that is unremarkable in one place may need a licence in another and be prohibited in a third, and those rules change. A supplier shipping to many jurisdictions cannot know the current rule in each of them for each material — and would be wrong to claim it could.

The purchaser is solely responsible for determining whether they may lawfully purchase, import, possess and use a material where they are located, and for complying with all applicable federal, state, local and international law. We make no representation that any material is lawful in any particular jurisdiction. That is the term on the research use only page, and it is the honest one: the laboratory is the party that knows where it is, what it holds a licence for, and what its institution permits.

The term names four things, and they are separate questions with separate answers:

• Purchase. May a laboratory in your jurisdiction buy this material?
• Import. May it be brought across your border, and under what declaration or permit? For international orders you are the importer of record — see international orders and the importer of record.
• Possession. May it be held on your premises, and are there storage, record-keeping or licensing conditions on holding it?
• Use. May it be used in the research you intend, under the rules that govern that research?

A "yes" to one does not imply a "yes" to the others.

The authoritative sources are the regulator, the customs authority and the institution — not a supplier's website, including this one. A workable routine:

• Identify the material by its name as it appears on the certificate of analysis.
• Check it against your national regulator's published lists and your customs authority's import rules.
• Check your institution's own policies, which may be stricter than the law.
• Record the check — date, source, conclusion — in the same place you record the material's arrival. See a lab notebook and chain of custody.

We sell only to purchasers who confirm they are acquiring material for legitimate laboratory research, we declare international shipments accurately, and we may refuse, limit or cancel any order where we cannot reasonably satisfy ourselves that the purchaser is a qualified researcher. Registration attaches a name to the research attestation — see why registration is required. None of that substitutes for the purchaser's own check.

A laboratory inside a university, a hospital or a company answers to more than the law. Institutional policies on chemical procurement, approved supplier lists, biosafety and ethics committees, and departmental storage rules all sit on top of the statutory framework, and they are often stricter. A material that a country permits may still need an internal approval before it can be ordered on an institutional account, and a purchasing department may require the certificate of analysis to be on file before payment is released. Wholesale accounts exist partly for this reason: certificates are attached to every invoice, and net terms fit an institutional purchasing process — see wholesale accounts for labs. None of it changes the principle. The purchaser knows their institution; we do not.

If the check says a material may not be imported or held where you are, do not order it. A parcel refused at a border does not arrive, and clearance is decided by the destination country, not by us. If you are unsure whether we can ship to your destination at all, contact support before ordering — but questions about your own country's rules can only be answered with authority by your own country.