General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)
EU regulation that sets safety and traceability duties for consumer products sold in the Union, applicable since 13 December 2024.
Aliases: GPSR, EU General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, 通用产品安全条例
What the regulation changed
The General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, replaced the General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC. It applies from 13 December 2024 and operates as a safety net: it covers consumer products that no other Union harmonisation rule covers, and it fills gaps for products that other rules cover only partially.
Two design choices matter for sellers. First, the regulation is written around the product life cycle rather than around a single certificate, so obligations continue after the sale. Second, it treats distance selling and online marketplaces as regulated actors rather than passive channels.
Who carries the obligation
Duties are distributed across the supply chain. Manufacturers must run internal risk assessment, keep technical documentation and correct unsafe products. Importers must verify that the manufacturer has met those duties. Distributors must act on signs of non-compliance. Online marketplaces have their own set of duties, including a single contact point for authorities and cooperation on recalls.
For a seller outside the Union, the practical anchor is the requirement to name an EU responsible person. A product page also has to carry the identity and contact details of the economic operator behind the offer, plus product identification and any warnings in a language consumers understand.
What listing-level compliance looks like
- A named EU-established responsible person with a postal address and email
- Product identification, including model or batch where relevant
- Warnings and instructions in the language of the destination member state
- Traceability records that let an authority reconstruct the supply chain
- A process for incident logging and notification when a risk appears
Products that already fall under a CE marking directive keep those obligations and add the GPSR layer on top. A toy still needs its conformity assessment; it also needs the GPSR traceability and responsible-person elements.
Enforcement pattern
National market surveillance authorities act on complaints, test purchases and Safety Gate alerts. Their powers include ordering withdrawal, recall or destruction, and publishing the measure. Penalties are set by each member state, so the cost of a defect depends on where the product is found.
Where sellers usually fail
The most common gaps are a responsible person that exists on paper but cannot answer a technical file request, a declaration of conformity copied from another product, warnings that were never translated, and no record of complaints. EPR registration is a separate obligation and does not substitute for any of this.
Compliance here is evidence-based. A seller should be able to produce the technical file, the risk assessment and the supplier contacts within days of an authority request.
Primary source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council.