What is the GPSR and what does it mean for online sellers?

What is the GPSR and which products does it cover?

GPSR stands for General Product Safety Regulation: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety. It entered into force on 12 June 2023, applies since 13 December 2024 and replaces the old General Product Safety Directive.¹³ As a regulation it applies directly in every member state, without national transposition.

Which products

• Consumer products. Any item intended for consumers or likely to be used by them under reasonably foreseeable conditions, even if not intended for them.¹
• New, used, repaired or reconditioned. Only products clearly marked as to be repaired before use fall outside it.¹
• Every sales channel, so your online store and marketplaces too.³

Exclusions include medicinal products, food, feed, living plants and animals, plant protection products and antiques.¹ If specific EU legislation already applies to your product, for example for toys or cosmetics, the GPSR only covers the risks that legislation does not.¹³

What must an online offer show?

Article 19 of the GPSR lists four types of information that every offer in a distance sale must show clearly and visibly:¹

1. The manufacturer: name, registered trade name or trade mark, plus the postal and electronic address where it can be contacted.
2. The responsible person in the EU, if the manufacturer is established outside the EU: name, postal and electronic address.
3. Product identification: a picture of the product, its type and any other product identifier, such as an EAN code.
4. Warnings and safety information that must be on the product, the packaging or in the accompanying document, in a language consumers in that country can easily understand.

The same details belong on the product itself. The manufacturer puts a type, batch or serial number on it and states its name and address on the product, or where that is not possible on the packaging or in an accompanying document. Instructions and safety information come in the language of the country of sale.¹

Who is the responsible person in the EU?

A product covered by the GPSR may only be placed on the market if there is an economic operator established in the EU who is responsible for it.¹ That can be:²

• a manufacturer established in the EU;
• an importer, where the manufacturer is outside the EU;
• an authorised representative with a written mandate from the manufacturer;
• a fulfilment service provider in the EU, for the products it handles, where none of the other three is established in the EU.

This party checks, among other things, that the product matches the technical documentation and that identification, contact details and safety information are in order. Its name and contact details, with postal and electronic address, go on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document.¹

Do you sell from outside the EU?

Then arrange one of these parties in the EU before you sell, and show its name, postal and electronic address in every online offer.¹ An importer also states its own name and address on the product or its packaging.¹

What must marketplaces do?

The GPSR gives providers of online marketplaces obligations of their own (Article 22):¹

• a single point of contact for authorities and one for consumers, and registration in the Safety Gate Portal;
• an interface in which sellers can enter the four Article 19 details per product, which are then shown with the offer;
• acting on an order from an authority to remove a dangerous offer within two working days;
• processing product safety notices within three working days.

That is why marketplaces such as bol and Kaufland ask for an economic operator or product safety contact with your offer. Safety Gate is the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products; if you find out yourself that a product is dangerous, you report it through the Safety Business Gateway.³⁴

How does StoreLinkr help?

StoreLinkr sends the product data you maintain, such as titles, images, EAN and attributes, to your sales channels. For the GPSR there is also the economic operators section:

• Record economic operators. You enter name, email address, phone number and address once. The first one becomes the default; you assign others to products by brand or exact EAN.
• bol. The matching economic operator is sent with new and updated offers to bol. Operators you already had at bol can be imported.
• Kaufland. Economic operators are created and updated at Kaufland, and the product data includes the product safety contact.

What we do not do: judge whether a product is safe or check your details legally. Manufacturer details, warnings and the right economic operator come from you or your supplier.

Frequently asked questions