The scope of this paper is to assess the performance of the Brazilian Notification System for Health Surveillance, with respect to the registration of information on adverse drug-related effects on health (Notivisa/medication) based on previously selected attributes. A cross-sectional health evaluation study was conducted between 2008 and 2013 using eight attributes established by international guidelines to assess public health surveillance systems: simplicity, acceptability, representativeness, completeness, validity, consistency, positive predictive error and timeliness. In the study period, 63,512 registrations were identified in Notivisa/medication, the majority being considered severe (60.5%). The performance of Notivisa/medication was considered satisfactory with respect to two of the eight attributes (validity and positive predictive error) and deficient in six of the remaining attributes (simplicity, acceptability, representativeness, completeness, consistency and timeliness). Quality improvement strategies to remedy the system need to be discussed and implemented in order to provide complete, timely and reliable surveillance information for different segments of Brazilian society, especially health surveillance managers.