EU General Product Safety Regulation Checklist

Start the checklist with the product, sales channel, and economic-operator role. GPSR applies to consumer products placed or made available on the EU market where there is no more specific EU safety rule with the same objective, and it also captures products sold online or by distance sales when the offer targets consumers in the Union.

Record whether the product is new, used, repaired, or reconditioned; whether it is excluded from GPSR scope; whether another Union harmonisation law covers the same risk; and who is acting as manufacturer, importer, distributor, fulfilment service provider, authorised representative, or online marketplace provider.

Before placing the product on the market, the manufacturer should have an internal risk analysis and technical documentation. The minimum file should describe the product and essential characteristics relevant to safety, then expand to the risk analysis, test outcomes, mitigation choices, and standards or safety requirements used where the product risk makes those items relevant.

The safety assessment should cover design, technical features, composition, packaging, assembly, installation, use, maintenance, interaction with other products, presentation, labelling, warnings, vulnerable consumer groups, food-imitating appearance, cybersecurity features where safety-relevant, and evolving or predictive functionality where applicable.

The physical product, packaging, parcel, or accompanying document must make the responsible parties and product identity traceable. This checkpoint should be run before label approval, marketplace upload, fulfilment handoff, and any distributor acceptance review.

The checklist should also confirm a Union-established economic operator responsible for the Article 16 tasks, including regular checks against technical documentation and required product information where product risks make that appropriate.

For distance sales, the listing is part of the compliance surface. The offer should clearly and visibly show the manufacturer identity and contact details, the EU responsible person when the manufacturer is not established in the Union, product identification including a picture and type or other identifier, and any required warnings or safety information in the consumer language required for the target Member State.

If an online marketplace is involved, add a separate platform check. Marketplace providers need product-safety contact points, Safety Gate Portal registration, internal product-safety processes, listing fields that let traders provide the required information, notice processing, cooperation on recalls and accidents, and Safety Business Gateway notifications when they have actual knowledge of dangerous products offered through their interface.

The post-market part of the checklist should connect complaint intake, accident review, risk re-assessment, corrective actions, consumer communication, and authority notification. Manufacturers and importers should maintain channels for complaints and safety issues, investigate safety complaints and accident information, and keep registers of complaints, recalls, and corrective measures.

When a product is dangerous, the relevant operator should take corrective measures such as bringing the product into conformity, withdrawal, or recall as appropriate; inform consumers; and notify market surveillance authorities through the Safety Business Gateway with the risk, corrective measures, and available quantities by Member State.

If a product safety recall is needed, prepare both the direct consumer notice plan and the public recall notice. Directly notify affected consumers that can be identified without undue delay, use customer data collected for safety purposes where available, and use wider channels when not all affected consumers can be contacted.

A written recall notice should use the GPSR recall-notice structure: headline, clear product description, picture and identifiers, sales information where available, hazard description without risk-minimising language, immediate consumer action, remedies, contact route, and an encouragement to share the recall where appropriate.