The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a set of EU rules designed to make sure that consumer products being sold in the EU are safe. It covers nearly all products that aren’t food, regardless of the sales channel. By replacing the General Product Safety Directive and the Food Imitating Product Directive, the EU hopes to update and future-proof the product safety framework.
If you’re based outside the EU and selling goods to the EU or Northern Ireland, the change could significantly impact your business.
The old EU product safety rules are exactly that – old. There are lots of goods on the market that aren’t covered by the old legislation because they didn’t exist at the time – like smartphones. The old legislation also only covers products sold in physical stores, not through ecommerce, as it also didn’t exist when the rules were written.
GPSR requires all consumer products on the EU market to be safe, regardless of where they’re sold. To make sure this is the case, GPSR updates legal obligations for every step of the supply chain (Manufacturers, Importers, Distributors) and adds new obligations for Online Marketplaces.
Unless there are specific rules otherwise, GPSR applies to all products placed on or made available to the EU market. It doesn’t apply to:
Previously, the rules only covered new goods, but GPSR covers goods in all conditions: New, Used, Repaired or Reconditioned. However, if you’re selling goods listed as needing repair or refurbishment, GPSR won’t apply. Objects of historical significance often fall into this category. For example, vintage cars that people are buying as restoration projects aren’t covered by GPSR.
Distance sales – where the goods are sold without face-to-face contact with the buyer – are covered, if the buyer is in the EU or Northern Ireland. GPSR doesn’t apply to goods sold to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).
Generally speaking, you need to ensure the product you’re selling is safe. GPSR requires you to appoint a ‘Responsible Economic Operator’ (REO), whose job is to ensure that’s the case. The REO is responsible for ensuring your product complies with the law and that the relevant documentation is correct. You cannot sell your product in the EU without one. They need to:
Verify technical documents have been drawn up. Where appropriate, they should contain risk analysis and solutions to remove or mitigate that risk, plus a list of the relevant standards that apply to the product.
Verify that the product is correctly labelled or has an ‘accompanying document’. If the required information doesn’t fit on the product or its packaging, it has to be in the accompanying document. Accompanying documents can include things like store receipts or shipping documentation. You’ll need to show:
Store and provide documentation. Technical documentation needs to be stored for 10 years from the date the product is available. They need to be accessible, so they can be provided to Market Surveillance Authorities (MSA) if requested.
Notify Authorities of risk, and take action when necessary. If the REO believes that your product presents a risk, they have to notify the MSAs. They’re obligated to take action to mitigate that risk, even if it hasn’t yet been requested by an MSA.
Who can be the Responsible Economic Operator depends on where you’re based. They must be a part of the product’s supply chain. Manufacturers can be the REO of a product if they’re established in the EU. If they’re not, the Importer can be, if they are based in the EU. Your fulfilment service provider can be the REO if they provide at least two of the following services in the product’s journey to the customer: Warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatching. They can’t be the REO if they have any ownership of the product, and postal, parcel and freight services don’t count.
All these options can be individuals or businesses. If you don’t meet the requirements for these, you can use an ‘Authorised Representative’. Authorised Representatives are businesses or people based in Northern Ireland or the EU that you can appoint to act on your behalf. Without a Responsible Economic Operator, you can’t make your product available for sale in the EU or Northern Ireland.
Online Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and eBay have new responsibilities to help ensure goods entering the EU are safe:
Regulators or authorities need to know who to contact about product safety. Online platforms must have someone (or a team) available for communication about it.
Marketplaces need systems and procedures to ensure they follow product safety rules. Removing unsafe products quickly or verifying product information, for example.
They must work with product safety regulators to help keep unsafe products off their platforms. For example, they must provide information or take action when required.
Authorities don't require Marketplaces to actively hunt for non-compliant products or retroactively apply the new rules. Plus, the law makes allowances for Marketplaces to be REOs but does not require them to be so. The responsibility for your listings being compliant remains with you.
This article was first published 11th of December 2024 and has since been updated for comprehensiveness.
