GPSR for online sellers: what the EU General Product Safety Regulation requires

Which products the GPSR covers

The General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, replaced the General Product Safety Directive on 13 December 2024. As a regulation it applies directly in every member state, with no national transposition.

• Consumer products with no specific EU safety legislation (homeware, clothing, jewellery, outdoor gear, most everyday goods): the GPSR applies in full.
• Products with sector legislation (toys, electrical equipment, cosmetics): the GPSR fills the gaps, for example product page information and accident reporting.
• Medicines, food, feed, live plants and animals, and antiques are out of scope.

Why your own store counts

Article 4 says a product offered online is made available on the EU market when the offer targets consumers in the EU. Shipping to EU countries, pages in an EU language and prices in euros are typical signs of targeting.

A Shopify store run from China, the US or the UK with no EU company still has to meet the GPSR for its EU customers. Marketplaces now enforce this at listing time; for your own store nobody checks in advance, but market surveillance authorities and customs can.

The EU responsible person

Article 16 says a product covered by the regulation may only be placed on the market if an economic operator established in the EU carries out the tasks in Article 4 of the Market Surveillance Regulation (2019/1020). That operator can be:

1. a manufacturer established in the EU;
2. an importer;
3. an authorised representative with a written mandate from the manufacturer;
4. where none of these exists, a fulfilment service provider established in the EU, for the products it handles.

Sellers shipping directly from outside the EU usually have no EU manufacturer or importer, so they appoint an authorised representative in writing. The responsible person checks the technical documentation and labelling, keeps records, cooperates with authorities and informs them of risks.

Its name, postal address and electronic address must appear on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Article 16(3)).

What the product and packaging must show

What every product page must show

Article 19 is the requirement online stores miss most often. A distance-selling offer must clearly show:

• the manufacturer’s name, postal address and electronic address;
• if the manufacturer is outside the EU, the name, postal address and electronic address of the EU responsible person;
• information identifying the product, including a picture, its type and other identifiers;
• warnings and safety information, in a language consumers in that country easily understand.

On Shopify this is usually a “Product safety” block on the product template filled from metafields per product, with warnings translated for each language version of the store.

Risk analysis and technical documentation

Before placing a product on the market, the manufacturer carries out an internal risk analysis and draws up technical documentation, including a general description of the product and its essential safety characteristics (Article 9(2)). The documentation is kept for 10 years (Article 9(3)) and handed to authorities on request. The responsible person checks it periodically.

Accidents and recalls

If a product causes death or serious harm to someone’s health, the manufacturer reports it through the EU Safety Business Gateway without delay (Article 20); when the manufacturer is outside the EU, the responsible person makes sure this happens. If a product is found to be dangerous, corrective action, withdrawal or recall follows immediately, and consumers are informed (Article 9(8)). Recall notices follow Articles 35 and 36.

Penalties and enforcement

Penalties are set by each member state (Article 44). Germany’s revised Product Safety Act (ProdSG), in force since 19 February 2026, allows fines of up to €100,000 for serious breaches and €10,000 for others.

Enforcement is rising. The European Commission reports that Safety Gate, the EU rapid alert system for dangerous products, recorded 4,671 alerts in 2025, 13% more than the year before and a record, and that follow-up actions, including removals from online platforms, rose by 35%.

Checklist for your store

• List the products you sell to EU consumers.
• Appoint an EU authorised representative with a written mandate covering all of them.
• Make sure each product or its packaging carries a type, batch or serial number.
• Add manufacturer and responsible person names, postal and electronic addresses to the product or packaging.
• Translate instructions and safety information into the languages of the countries you sell to.
• Show manufacturer, responsible person, identifiers and warnings on every product page.
• Keep a risk analysis and technical file per product for 10 years.
• Decide who reports accidents in the Safety Business Gateway.