**This article reflects our understanding of the new product safety rules but cannot be relied on as legal advice. If you have any concerns, you should consult a lawyer. **
If you sell products to customers in the EU or Northern Ireland, you’ll know that the rules have changed since Brexit. EU regulations now treat suppliers in the UK in much the same way as suppliers based in any other country outside the EU, while special rules cover sales to Northern Ireland.
New EU product safety rules (GPSR) came into effect on 13 December 2024. This has left many UK sellers worried that they may no longer be able to sell to the EU or NI. The rules may also affect you if you sell through platforms like Amazon, eBay or Etsy – even if you don’t sell to EU or NI customers at all.
What is GPSR?
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a new EU safety regulation. It requires consumer products sold in the EU to be safe, and sets out what businesses must do to make sure they are. GPSR applies to most consumer goods, though food, medicine and a few other types of product are excluded.
Importantly, GPSR requires any business selling into the EU from outside to have a ‘responsible person’ based within the EU to handle product safety issues. If you don’t have an operation based within the EU or Northern Ireland, you must work with an organisation that takes on this role. That leaves you with four broad options:
- Set up a subsidiary business or appoint a representative in the EU/NI to act as the responsible person. This will only be worthwhile if you make significant EU sales.
- Sell to an EU/NI importer who acts as the responsible person.
- Appoint a compliance agent to deal with GPSR (including appointing a responsible person) for you.
- Stop selling to EU/NI.
What else does GPSR require?
GPSR aims to ensure that consumer goods are safe. Manufacturers must assess product safety, ensure product traceability and take effective action if a product recall is needed.
Information required by GPSR includes:
- manufacturer’s name, trade name or trade mark, postal and electronic address
- information such as batch or serial numbers to help with product tracing
- any instructions, safety information or warning labels
Where information cannot be included on the label, it may be provided in accompanying documentation.
GPSR and selling online
If products are sold online, key information needs to be provided on the website, including contact details for the ‘responsible person’. GPSR also sets out specific requirements for online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, to help ensure that sellers on the marketplace are complying with GPSR.
If you don’t want to sell to customers in the EU or NI, some marketplaces may let you specify that your goods are not for sale within the EU or NI. Provided you do this, it will not be necessary to comply with GPSR.
If this is not an option, or if you want to sell to EU/NI, you must ensure that all your product listings make it easy for customers to find essential information. You can find out more in the seller support pages for each marketplace:
You may also want to search through seller discussion groups to see how other sellers are dealing with GPSR.
Signpost
- Find European Commission guidance on the General Product Safety Regulation.
- Find UK government guidance for businesses selling to Northern Ireland.