EU General Product Safety Regulation FAQ

The GPSR applies to products placed or made available on the EU market when no more specific EU product-safety rule regulates the same safety objective. If a product is covered by specific EU safety requirements, the GPSR still applies to aspects and risks not covered by those specific requirements.

The scope is consumer-focused. A product is covered when it is intended for consumers or is likely, under reasonably foreseeable conditions, to be used by consumers. New, used, repaired, and reconditioned products are covered, except products made available for repair or reconditioning before use when they are clearly marked as such. Exclusions include medicinal products, food, feed, living plants and animals, certain transport equipment operated by a service provider, certain aircraft, and antiques.

GPSR duties follow the actor's role in the supply chain. Manufacturers must design and manufacture products in line with the general safety requirement, perform an internal risk analysis, draw up and keep technical documentation for 10 years, identify products, provide manufacturer contact details, supply instructions and safety information where needed, investigate complaints and accidents, and act immediately when they believe a product is dangerous.

Importers must check the manufacturer's technical documentation and product-identification information before placing a product on the market, keep technical documentation available for 10 years, provide importer contact details, ensure instructions and safety information are available, and act when a product is dangerous. Distributors must verify required manufacturer and importer information, protect product safety during storage or transport, and help trigger corrective action where they believe a product is dangerous or non-compliant.

A product covered by the GPSR may not be placed on the EU market unless there is an economic operator established in the Union responsible for the Article 4(3) tasks from the Market Surveillance Regulation as applied by the GPSR. The GPSR also requires that person's name, registered trade name or trademark, postal address, and electronic address to be indicated on the product, packaging, parcel, or accompanying document.

For GPSR-covered products, the responsible economic operator must, where appropriate for the product risk, regularly check that the product matches the technical documentation and the GPSR product-identification, operator-contact, instruction, and safety-information requirements. It must provide documented evidence of those checks to market surveillance authorities on request.

A provider of an online marketplace must register with the Safety Gate Portal, publish contact routes for authorities and consumers, and maintain internal product-safety processes. When a market surveillance authority orders removal, disabling access, or a warning for dangerous-product content, the marketplace must act without undue delay and in any event within two working days.

For each online product offer, the marketplace interface must enable traders to provide and consumers to access the manufacturer name and postal and electronic address, the EU responsible person's name and postal and electronic address when the manufacturer is not established in the Union, product identification including a picture and type or other identifier, and required warnings or safety information in a consumer-understandable language for the target Member State.

When a manufacturer believes a product it placed on the market is dangerous, it must immediately take corrective measures, inform consumers under the GPSR consumer-notice rules, and inform the market surveillance authorities of the Member States where the product was made available through the Safety Business Gateway. Importers and distributors have parallel escalation duties tied to their roles, including Safety Business Gateway notification where applicable.

Manufacturers must provide public channels for consumers to submit complaints and report accidents or safety issues, investigate complaints and accident information concerning allegedly dangerous products, and keep an internal register of complaints, recalls, and corrective measures. Online marketplaces must notify through the Safety Business Gateway without undue delay about accidents they are informed of that result in a serious risk or actual damage to consumer health or safety from a product made available on their marketplace.

When affected consumers can be identified, economic operators and, where applicable, marketplaces must notify them directly and without undue delay. Where not all affected consumers can be contacted, they must disseminate a clear and visible recall notice or safety warning through appropriate channels with wide reach, such as websites, social media, newsletters, retail outlets, and where appropriate mass media.

A written GPSR product safety recall must use a recall notice. It must be understandable to consumers, available in the language or languages of the Member States where the product was made available, identify the product, describe the hazard without downplaying risk, tell consumers what to do including stopping use immediately, describe the remedies, provide a free phone number or interactive online service, and encourage sharing where appropriate.

Safety Gate Rapid Alert System is the authority-to-authority rapid alert system for exchanging information on corrective measures concerning dangerous products. Member States notify serious-risk corrective measures through it, generally within four working days after a corrective measure is taken, and other Member States report follow-up action on the same product.

The Safety Gate Portal is the public interface that provides selected Safety Gate information to the public and includes a route for consumers and other interested parties to inform the Commission about products that might present a safety risk. The Safety Business Gateway is the web portal for economic operators and online marketplace providers to report dangerous products, accidents, and related information to market surveillance authorities and consumers.