EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR): key changes

# EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR): key changes

Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR), applicable from 13 December 2024, replaced the General Product Safety Directive with directly applicable rules across all member states. It keeps the general safety requirement for consumer products outside sector-specific law, and adds duties: traceability, accident reporting through the Safety Business Gateway, responsible-person requirements for distance sales, and duties for online marketplaces.

Key facts

• Regulation (EU) 2023/988 is directly applicable in all member states from 13 December 2024; it repealed Directive 2001/95/EC, ending national transposition differences.
• It applies to consumer products not covered by sector-specific EU harmonisation legislation, filling the gaps around toys, electronics, machinery and other regulated categories.
• Manufacturers must draw up technical documentation and keep it available; importers and distributors must verify that it exists and that products carry traceability information.
• Accidents that pose a serious risk must be reported by manufacturers and importers through the Safety Business Gateway, with corrective action duties attached.
• Products offered for sale online or through distance sales need an EU-based responsible economic operator whose contact details are available to authorities and consumers.
• Online marketplaces have explicit duties: cooperate with market surveillance authorities, act on notices about dangerous products, and provide trader traceability.

1. From directive to regulation: what changed structurally

The old General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC) required each member state to transpose its principles into national law, which produced twenty-seven slightly different implementations. The GPSR, as a regulation, applies directly: the same articles bind a brand in every member state from the same date. For companies selling across the EU, that removes the need to track national variants of the general safety duty, though sector rules and national penalty regimes still differ.

The substance of the change is larger than the instrument. The GPSR is a modern product-safety code for the online era. It codifies duties that previously lived in guidance or in sector legislation: the responsible person for distance sales, traceability labelling down the supply chain, structured accident notification, and a defined role for online marketplaces. Businesses that were compliant with the directive need to close these gaps; businesses new to the EU market inherit them all at once.

Products already on the market before 13 December 2024 were generally assessed under the old rules, but anything placed on the market from that date must meet the GPSR. Documentation, labelling and processes should be rebuilt to the regulation, not grandfathered from directive-era practice.

2. The general safety requirement and how safety is assessed

The GPSR's core is the general safety requirement: only safe products may be placed or made available on the market. It applies to consumer products, including new, used, repaired or reconditioned products, where no sector-specific Union harmonisation legislation sets its own safety rules for the relevant risks. Where sector legislation does apply, for example the Toy Safety Directive or the Machinery Regulation, that legislation takes precedence for the risks it covers, and the GPSR fills the remaining gaps.

Safety is assessed against a set of criteria: the product's characteristics, including its design, composition and packaging; its presentation and labelling; the categories of consumers at risk, with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly; and the product's foreseeable use and reasonably foreseeable misuse. Compliance with European standards cited in the Official Journal gives a presumption of conformity for the risks they cover, but standards are a tool, not a shield: the underlying duty is that the product must actually be safe.

The practical consequence is that a risk assessment must exist for every product, documented and proportionate to the product's risk profile. For simple low-risk goods it can be brief; for products used by children, the elderly or other vulnerable groups, or products with foreseeable misuse patterns, it must be thorough.

3. Traceability and technical documentation

Economic operators must be able to identify who supplied them and to whom they supplied products, one step back and one step forward, and must make that information available to market surveillance authorities on request. Manufacturers must draw up technical documentation containing a general description of the product and its essential properties relevant for assessing safety, and must keep it up to date and available.

Importers must verify that the manufacturer has drawn up the technical documentation, that the product bears the required traceability information, and that the manufacturer can be identified. Distributors must verify that the product bears traceability information and that the importer or manufacturer can be identified, and must not make available products they have reason to believe are unsafe.

The documentation chain matters most at the border and in marketplace enforcement. When an authority asks for the technical file, the answer must arrive quickly and completely. Brands should centralise files, version-control them, and ensure that the EU-based economic operator named on the product can actually produce them.

4. The responsible person for distance sales

One of the GPSR's most consequential changes is the treatment of online and distance sales. A product offered for sale online or through other distance-sales means is considered made available on the EU market when the offer is targeted at consumers in the Union. Such products must have an EU-based economic operator, a manufacturer, importer, authorised representative or fulfilment service provider established in the Union, who is responsible for the product's compliance and whose name and contact details are available.

For non-EU brands selling direct to EU consumers through their own websites or marketplaces, this ends the model of shipping into the EU with no local presence. The responsible person must be designated before the first sale, must be named in a way authorities and consumers can reach, and must hold or be able to obtain the technical documentation. Fulfilment houses can fill this role only where they meet the legal definition and accept the duties.

5. Online marketplace duties

The GPSR gives online marketplaces explicit product-safety obligations rather than relying on general platform law. Marketplaces must cooperate with market surveillance authorities, including by providing trader traceability information so authorities can identify the seller behind a listing. They must act on notices about dangerous products, removing or disabling access to listings when notified, and must inform authorities and consumers about product safety issues where required.

For sellers, this means marketplace listings are no longer a compliance grey zone. Traceability information, responsible-person details and safety documentation must be in order before listing, because takedown and information requests arrive with short deadlines. Brands selling through multiple marketplaces should standardise the compliance data pack they give to each platform.

6. Accident reporting and corrective action

Manufacturers, and importers where the manufacturer is outside the EU, must notify accidents caused by a product that has resulted in serious risk to health or safety, or death, through the Safety Business Gateway, the Commission's notification portal. The notification must be made without undue delay once the operator knows about the accident, and it triggers duties to take corrective action, which can range from warnings to withdrawal and recall.

An incident process is therefore a compliance requirement, not just good practice. It must define how customer complaints, returns data and media reports are triaged for safety signals, who decides whether an accident meets the notification threshold, and how the Safety Business Gateway notification is prepared. Companies should rehearse the process before they need it: the first notification should not be the first time the team opens the portal.

7. Interaction with sector rules and the US comparison

Where sector-specific harmonisation legislation applies to a product, it takes precedence for the risks it covers. A toy follows the Toy Safety Directive's essential requirements; a radio device follows the RED; machinery follows the Machinery Regulation. The GPSR adds the horizontal layer: traceability, documentation, accident reporting, marketplace duties and the general safety requirement for any residual risks the sector rules do not cover.

FAQs

Does the GPSR apply to second-hand or refurbished products?

Yes. It covers new, used, repaired and reconditioned consumer products placed or made available on the market, subject to the same safety requirement. Refurbishers and resellers are economic operators with their own duties.

What must appear on the product or packaging for traceability?

Products must carry information allowing their identification and the identification of the manufacturer, and where applicable the importer. The exact elements depend on the product, but the principle is that an authority must be able to trace the product to the responsible operator without guesswork.

Who is the responsible person if we sell only through a marketplace?

You still need an EU-based economic operator designated for the product. The marketplace has its own duties, but they do not replace yours. Many non-EU brands appoint an authorised representative or use their EU importer or fulfilment provider.

How fast must accident notifications be made?

The regulation requires notification without undue delay after the operator becomes aware of the accident. Build the decision process in advance, because the clock starts when you know, not when you are ready.

Do we need to re-certify products that complied with the old directive?

Products placed on the market from 13 December 2024 must meet the GPSR. Existing test evidence and risk assessments usually remain valid, but documentation, labelling, responsible-person arrangements and marketplace listings must be brought into line.

How does the GPSR relate to the Market Surveillance Regulation?

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 provides the enforcement framework: border controls, authority powers, and cooperation between customs and market surveillance. The GPSR sets the substantive safety duties that those authorities enforce.

Official sources

• Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on EUR-Lex (GPSR)
• European Commission: General Product Safety Regulation
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on EUR-Lex (Market Surveillance)
• CPSC: Regulations, Laws and Standards

Last verified: 2026-09-29. The Commission's guidance pages carry the current detail on notification procedures and marketplace cooperation; confirm consolidated text on EUR-Lex before finalising documentation.