GPSR compliance guide for manufacturers and online sellers
GPSR sets EU consumer product safety duties. It covers who needs a responsible person, what listings must show, and when businesses must report risks.
GPSR means the EU General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, which has applied since 13 December 2024. Businesses must supply safe consumer products, and where the relevant provisions apply they must assess risks, identify the product and the responsible businesses, show required information in online offers, and report dangerous products and qualifying accidents. A US or Great Britain seller that targets EU consumers is not exempt because it operates from outside the EU.
What is GPSR and which products does it cover?
The EU GPSR covers consumer products supplied commercially, whether the supply is paid or free. A product is in scope if it is intended for consumers, or if it is likely, under reasonably foreseeable conditions, to be used by consumers even when it was not intended for them. New, used, repaired and reconditioned products generally fall within scope. Products clearly marked as needing repair or reconditioning before use are out. Articles 2 and 3 draw those lines.
Some categories are excluded, including food, medicines, feed, plant protection products and antiques. An old product is not automatically an antique. The exclusions sit in Article 2.
For overseas sellers, the test is whether an online or distance offer targets EU consumers. A website that anyone can open from the EU is not enough, on its own, to settle that question. Article 4 asks whether the business directs its activities to one or more Member States. Operating from the US or Great Britain does not itself create an exemption.
Check sector rules before using a checklist
GPSR deals with safety aspects and risks that more specific EU rules do not already cover. Where a product is subject to Union harmonisation legislation, Articles 9 to 18 do not apply. Do not paste the manufacturer documentation checklist onto every sector-regulated product. But sector legislation does not, by itself, switch off every GPSR distance-selling, accident-reporting or recall duty. Article 2 is the overlap rule. One checklist will not fit every product.
What happened to the General Product Safety Directive?
GPSR replaced that directive from 13 December 2024. Products that complied with Directive 2001/95/EC and were placed on the EU market before that date may continue to be made available. Article 51 sets no blanket sell-through deadline. Articles 50 to 52 contain the transition.
The transition is about individual products already first made available on the Union market. An existing design, an earlier manufacture date, or stock sitting in a US or GB warehouse does not, by itself, prove pre-deadline placement.
GPSR compliance duties by business role
The duties below apply where GPSR Articles 9 to 18 govern the product. Your role follows the supply chain, not the job title in a sales contract. An importer is an EU-established person who places a third-country product on the EU market. Arranging shipment from abroad does not automatically make an overseas seller that importer. Articles 3 and 9 to 13 define the roles.
| Role | Main duties where these provisions apply |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Ensure safe design and manufacture. Complete an internal risk analysis and technical documentation before placement. Keep production in conformity, provide identifiers and contact details, and supply necessary instructions. Investigate relevant complaints and act on dangerous products. |
| Importer | Before placement, verify safety and the specified manufacturer documentation and identification duties. Add importer details and ensure necessary instructions. Protect compliance during storage and transport, retain documentation and act on dangerous products. |
| Distributor | Check the required manufacturer and importer identification and instructions. Protect compliance during storage and transport. Withhold non-compliant products and make sure the required corrective measures and notifications happen. |
Article 12(4) covers specified identification and instruction failures as well as dangerous products.
Manufacturer technical documentation must include a product description and the essential safety characteristics. Where appropriate to the possible risks, it also includes the risk analysis, the mitigation, relevant test results and the standards used. Keep it current and available to authorities for 10 years after the product is placed on the market. The importer keeps a copy for 10 years after it places that product on the market. None of this is a universal third-party certificate. Articles 9 and 11 set the documentation duties.
Selling under your own brand can make you the manufacturer. A substantial physical or digital modification can do the same. These provisions have no general handmade or small-business exemption. Read Article 13 before you treat an own-brand listing as a pure resale.
Who needs an EU responsible person?
Where Article 16 applies, the product cannot be placed on the market without a qualifying economic operator established in the EU. The responsible operator can be:
- An EU-established manufacturer.
- An importer, where the manufacturer is outside the EU.
- An authorised representative with the written manufacturer mandate required for the tasks.
- An EU fulfilment service provider, but only where none of the three operators above is established in the EU.
The order comes from GPSR Article 16 and Article 4 of Regulation 2019/1020. You don't always need to buy a separate representative. An existing qualifying importer may already fill the role. An ordinary carrier or distributor does not qualify just because it sits in the supply chain.
The responsible person keeps documentation available, answers authorities, notifies risks and cooperates on corrective action. Where the product's risks make it appropriate, Article 16 also requires regular checks that the product matches the technical documentation and the identification and instruction rules, with documented evidence available on request. GPSR Article 16 and Article 4 of Regulation 2019/1020 set those tasks.
What labels and online offers must show
Information on the product and information in the online offer are separate duties. Compliant packaging in the parcel does not, by itself, satisfy the listing rule. Articles 9, 11, 16 and 19 keep them apart.
Where Articles 9 and 11 apply, the product needs an identifier, plus manufacturer details and importer details where an importer is involved. Those details include postal and electronic addresses. Instructions and safety information, where required, must use the language the destination Member State requires. Article 9 does not demand instructions if the product can be used safely and as intended without them.
The identifier moves to the packaging or an accompanying document when the product's size or nature prevents marking. Manufacturer and importer details move there only where they cannot be placed on the product. The responsible person's name or trade identification, and postal and electronic addresses, may appear on the product, packaging, parcel or accompanying document under Article 16. That wider choice does not let you move every other required detail onto the parcel.
For an online or distance offer, Article 19 requires a clear, visible display of:
- The manufacturer's name or trade identification, postal address and electronic address.
- The responsible person's name, postal address and electronic address, if the manufacturer is outside the EU.
- A product picture, type and other identifier.
- Warnings and safety information that the destination Member State requires, in the language it requires.
A QR code may add digital information. It is not a general substitute for mandatory physical information. Article 21 allows the digital layer on top, not instead.
Reporting dangerous products and accidents
Businesses report through the Safety Business Gateway. That portal is not the public Safety Gate alerts database. Use the Commission's business obligations page for the official reporting entry point.
Where Article 9(8) applies, a manufacturer that considers, or has reason to believe, that a product it placed on the market is dangerous must act immediately. It takes the necessary corrective action, informs consumers, and notifies, through the Safety Business Gateway, the authorities of the Member States where the product was made available. The notice covers the risk, the action taken and, if available, the quantities still on the market by Member State. Do not wait for an injury, and do not limit the report to serious-risk cases. Importer and distributor duties differ under Articles 11 and 12. Articles 9, 11, 12 and 27 are the provisions.
Accident reporting is separate. Article 20 covers death, or serious adverse effects on health and safety, whether permanent or temporary, including injury, illness and chronic health effects. Once the manufacturer knows, it must ensure the accident is notified through the Safety Business Gateway, without undue delay, to the authorities of the Member State where it occurred. Importers and distributors who know of the accident must promptly tell the manufacturer. If the manufacturer is outside the EU, the responsible person who knows of the accident must ensure the notification is made. A complaint or a near miss is not automatically an Article 20 report. Either one can still show that the product is dangerous.
For a recall, tell identifiable affected consumers directly, without undue delay, and use wider channels where you cannot reach everyone that way. The notice has to identify the product and the hazard, give a stop-use instruction, set out the remedies and give contact details, without playing down the risk. The operator responsible for the recall must offer an effective, timely and cost-free remedy. Normally that is a choice of at least two options from repair, replacement with a safe product of the same type and at least the same value and quality, and an adequate refund at least equal to the price paid. If another remedy is impossible or disproportionately costly, one remedy is enough. Consumers do not pay to ship the product back. Articles 35 to 37 set those recall rules.
Does GPSR require CE marking?
GPSR alone does not put a CE mark on every product. Marking is required only where the specific harmonised legislation that applies to the product says so. If it does not, the mark must not be used. The EU CE-marking guidance states that limit.
There is no universal "GPSR certificate" that replaces a check of the product's own duties. Technical documentation under Article 9 is not a blanket notified-body assessment.
Does GPSR apply in the UK?
Separate Great Britain from Northern Ireland. GOV.UK's Northern Ireland guidance says GPSR replaced the 2005 general product safety regulations there from 13 December 2024. For the NI market, the responsible economic operator may be established in Northern Ireland or the EU.
In Great Britain, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 still apply, according to GOV.UK's GB guidance. A GB address alone does not meet the NI or EU establishment test. An appointment that works for Northern Ireland does not automatically cover every EU supply chain.
RegAffairs AI has a public answer on GPSR duties, responsible persons and reporting.