GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation)

GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation) is the EU law requiring that all non-food consumer products sold in the EU — online or offline — be safe, traceable to a responsible business, and accompanied by clear safety information. It replaced the older General Product Safety Directive and has applied since December 13, 2024, closing gaps the previous rules left around e-commerce and imported goods.

The regulation's defining requirement, and the one that catches non-EU brands off guard, is this: every product needs a responsible person established in the EU before it can legally be sold there — a named entity, with an address, that EU authorities can hold accountable.

Who must GPSR-comply, and who is the "responsible person"?

What does GPSR actually require?

• A responsible person named on the product or its packaging, with a postal and electronic address EU authorities and consumers can use.
• Traceability information — manufacturer details, a model or batch identifier, and origin — so any unit can be traced back through the supply chain.
• Instructions and safety warnings in the language(s) required by each member state where the product is sold — not just English.
• A general safety obligation: products must be safe under normal and reasonably foreseeable use, assessed against relevant standards or a documented risk analysis where no standard exists.
• Internal risk and complaint processes, including the ability to accept and act on safety complaints and report serious incidents.
• Online marketplace-facing information — GPSR requires certain safety and responsible-person details to be displayed on the listing itself, not just the physical product.

Does GPSR apply to marketplace sellers?

Yes — and this is where GPSR bites hardest for brands scaling on Amazon and other EU marketplaces. GPSR places direct obligations on online marketplaces themselves, which means marketplaces now require sellers to submit responsible-person and safety information before a listing goes live in the EU — and will suspend or remove listings that don't provide it. A brand that was selling compliantly before December 2024 may already be non-compliant simply because the marketplace's own GPSR data fields were never filled in.

GPSR vs. CE marking: what's the difference?

The two are complementary, not alternatives: a CE-marked electronic product still needs a GPSR responsible person and traceability information; a simple product with no CE requirement at all still falls fully under GPSR.

What do brands get wrong with GPSR?

• Assuming a US or UK entity can be the responsible person. It cannot — the role legally requires an EU establishment, which is exactly why non-EU brands need a local partner or entity before selling.
• Treating it as a one-time label change. GPSR also demands ongoing processes: monitoring safety complaints, cooperating with market surveillance authorities, and reporting serious incidents through the EU's Safety Business Gateway.
• Missing the marketplace data fields. Compliant packaging means nothing if the marketplace listing itself is missing the responsible-person details it now demands — check the seller dashboard, not just the box.
• Assuming one responsible person covers every market. GPSR is EU-wide, but language requirements for instructions and warnings are set per member state — a single English-only insert does not clear every country's bar.

FAQ

What is a GPSR responsible person?
An entity established in the EU — the manufacturer, an importer, or a formally designated representative — that takes legal responsibility for a product's compliance and can be contacted by authorities and consumers. Non-EU brands must appoint one before selling into the EU.

When did GPSR come into force?
GPSR has applied since December 13, 2024, replacing the EU's previous General Product Safety Directive and extending obligations explicitly to online sales and marketplaces.

Does GPSR replace CE marking?
No. GPSR is a general safety and traceability regime that applies to virtually all consumer products; CE marking covers conformity with specific technical directives for certain product categories. Many products need to satisfy both at once.

Appointing an EU responsible person, keeping marketplace listings compliant, and managing safety obligations across every country you sell in — that's exactly the kind of EU market-entry infrastructure eBrands provides as your Merchant of Record — see how it works for physical-goods brands.