What Is GPSR? EU General Product Safety Regulation Explained (2026)

By SafeCart · Updated 25 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.

If you sell physical products to consumers in the European Union, you have probably seen the acronym GPSR come up more and more often. Maybe a supplier mentioned it. Maybe a marketplace sent you a compliance notice. Maybe you noticed competitors adding new details to their listings.

This guide explains what GPSR is and what it requires: first in plain language, then obligation by obligation for the businesses that have to comply. Read the first sections for the basics; use the rest as a reference to the regulation itself.

GPSR stands for the General Product Safety Regulation

GPSR is short for the General Product Safety Regulation, officially Regulation (EU) 2023/988. It is the EU's central product safety law for non-food consumer goods. It was adopted on 10 May 2023 and has applied across the EU since 13 December 2024.

In one paragraph: GPSR sets a general safety requirement for consumer products placed on the EU market, defines the obligations of every business in the supply chain, and modernises EU product safety rules for online selling. It repealed and replaced the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD, Directive 2001/95/EC), which had been in force since 2001.

Because GPSR is a regulation rather than a directive, it applies directly and identically in all 27 member states without national transposition. The rules are the same whether you sell to customers in Germany, France, Poland or any other EU country.

Key dates

Products that complied with the old directive and were placed on the market before 13 December 2024 can continue to be made available. That protection depends on when the particular goods were placed on the market, not on when the model was launched.

What products does GPSR cover?

GPSR applies to non-food consumer products placed or made available on the EU market, whether new, used, repaired or reconditioned. That includes most physical goods a consumer might buy: electronics, toys, clothing, furniture, kitchen items, personal care products, sporting goods, tools and decorations. It also covers products likely to be used by consumers under reasonably foreseeable conditions, even if they were not designed for them.

Where harmonised EU legislation (for example the Toy Safety Directive or the Low Voltage Directive) governs specific safety aspects of a product, that legislation takes precedence for those aspects. GPSR then works as a safety net for risks and obligations the sector-specific rules do not address. For those products, map both sets of rules rather than assuming one replaces the other.

Products outside the scope of GPSR include:

• Food, feed, and living plants and animals
• Medicinal products for human or veterinary use
• Plant protection products
• Antiques

The core obligation: the general safety requirement

At the heart of the regulation is one principle: only safe products may be placed on the market. A product is safe when, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, it presents no risk or only the minimum acceptable risk to the health and safety of consumers.

When assessing whether a product is safe, businesses and authorities must consider factors including:

• The product's characteristics, composition, packaging and instructions
• The effect on other products it is reasonably foreseeable to be used with
• The presentation, labelling, age-appropriateness and warnings
• The categories of consumers using the product, especially vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly
• The appearance of the product, particularly where it may be mistaken for food
• Cybersecurity features where relevant, and evolving, learning or predictive functionalities

Who must comply with GPSR?

Anyone involved in placing a consumer product on the EU market has obligations. GPSR assigns clear, role-specific duties to each economic operator: manufacturers, importers, distributors, authorised representatives, fulfilment service providers and, for the first time explicitly, online marketplaces. Most ecommerce businesses are importers or distributors; some are manufacturers.

There is no exemption for small sellers or low-volume shops. If you sell consumer products to EU buyers, GPSR applies to you. That includes dropshipping: the regulation looks at who places the product on the EU market, not where the warehouse is.

Manufacturers

Manufacturers carry the primary responsibility. Under GPSR they must:

• Ensure products are designed and manufactured to be safe
• Carry out an internal risk analysis and prepare technical documentation
• Keep that documentation for 10 years after placing the product on the market
• Mark products with a type, batch or serial number for identification
• Provide their name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal address and electronic contact
• Provide clear instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers
• Take corrective action and notify authorities through the Safety Business Gateway when a product is dangerous

Importers

Importers must verify that the manufacturer has met its obligations before placing a product on the EU market. They check that technical documentation exists, that the product carries the required identifiers and manufacturer details, and that it comes with the right instructions and warnings. Importers must also add their own name and contact details and keep records.

Distributors

Distributors, which includes most resellers and many online sellers, must act with due care. Before making a product available they verify that it bears the required labelling and documentation, that the manufacturer and importer have met their obligations, and that they are not supplying a product they know or should presume to be dangerous.

The EU responsible person

A product covered by GPSR may not be placed on the market unless an economic operator established in the EU is responsible for it. Depending on the supply chain, this can be the manufacturer, the importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate, or a fulfilment service provider. Their name and contact details must appear on the product, its packaging or an accompanying document. For sellers sourcing from outside the EU, this is one of the most significant practical changes GPSR introduced.

What every seller must do in practice

Whatever your role, the day-to-day obligations come down to four things:

• Only sell safe products. Before selling, check there is no reason to believe a product is unsafe, including the required markings, documentation and safety information.
• Keep traceability records. Be able to identify who supplied each product and, where applicable, which businesses you supplied it to: suppliers, purchase orders, batch or serial numbers and sales records.
• Act when a product turns out to be unsafe. Stop sales, withdraw or recall as appropriate, inform authorities and affected customers, and do it "without undue delay".
• Cooperate with authorities. Market surveillance authorities can investigate products, request documentation, order recalls and impose penalties.

GPSR rules for online selling and marketplaces

The old directive was written before ecommerce became the dominant way consumers buy products. GPSR was written for online selling, and it removes the ambiguity about who is responsible for what.

For any product offered online, the listing must clearly display:

• The manufacturer's name, registered trade name or trade mark, and postal and electronic contact details
• The name and contact details of the responsible person established in the EU, if the manufacturer is not established in the EU
• Information identifying the product, including a picture, its type and any other product identifier
• Any warning or safety information, in a language easily understood by consumers in the member state where the product is sold

This applies to every listing on every sales channel you use to reach EU consumers: your own website, Amazon, eBay, Shopify or any other platform.

Online marketplaces have additional duties: registering with the EU Safety Gate Portal, designating a single point of contact for authorities, acting on authority orders to remove dangerous listings without undue delay (in principle within two working days), and cooperating to trace dangerous products and notify affected consumers.

Recalls, corrective action and Safety Gate

GPSR sets out what happens when a product turns out to be dangerous:

• Corrective action: businesses that consider, or have reason to believe, that a product is dangerous must immediately take corrective measures: stop sales, withdraw stock from the supply chain, or recall the product from consumers.
• Notification: they must alert authorities through the Safety Business Gateway and inform affected consumers.
• Recall notices: a recall notice must identify the product (name, photo, model, batch, barcode), describe the risk in plain language, tell consumers what to do, and offer an effective remedy such as repair, replacement or refund. For a ready-to-use structure, see our EU product recall notice template. For the full sequence of steps, see our GPSR recall obligations guide.

Safety Gate (formerly RAPEX) is the EU's rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products. When authorities in one member state find a product unsafe, the alert is published so that authorities, businesses and consumers across the EU are informed. Businesses are expected to monitor relevant alerts as part of their obligations: see how Safety Gate recalls reach businesses.

Checking Safety Gate by hand is possible when you sell a handful of products. With hundreds or thousands of SKUs it becomes impractical, and the obligation does not end at the point of sale. Read more on why continuous product safety monitoring is expected under GPSR.

Penalties for GPSR non-compliance

GPSR does not set fixed fines. Each member state lays down penalties that must be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive." In practice, non-compliance can lead to:

• Administrative fines imposed by national market surveillance authorities
• Mandatory withdrawal or recall ordered by authorities
• Removal of listings by online marketplaces acting on authority orders
• Civil liability if a consumer is harmed by an unsafe product
• Reputational damage from public association with a recalled product

For many small and medium ecommerce businesses, the operational cost of a forced recall (contacting buyers, processing returns, managing communications) is greater than the fine itself.

GPSR vs the old General Product Safety Directive (GPSD)

The General Product Safety Directive was adopted in 2001, before ecommerce became mainstream. GPSR keeps the same goal with rules designed for modern selling:

• Explicit obligations for online marketplaces and ecommerce sellers. The old directive did not address online sales channels directly.
• Mandatory product information in online listings. Manufacturer details, product identifiers and safety warnings must appear in every listing.
• A required responsible person in the EU for every product covered by the rule.
• Stronger traceability and recall rules, including clearer requirements for recall notices and remedies.
• Direct, uniform application in every member state instead of 27 national implementations.

For a side-by-side breakdown, see GPSD vs GPSR: what changed for EU product safety.

How to get started with GPSR compliance

If you sell in the EU and have not yet reviewed your GPSR readiness, start here:

1. Confirm your role and your responsible person. Work out whether you are a manufacturer, importer or distributor for each product, and verify there is a named responsible person with an EU address on the product or packaging.
2. Audit your product listings. Check every listing for the required manufacturer details, product identifiers, images and safety information.
3. Review supplier documentation. Make sure you can identify the manufacturer and supply path for each SKU.
4. Set up a monitoring process. Check Safety Gate for alerts that match your products, manually or with an automated tool.
5. Prepare a recall procedure. Decide in advance how you would stop sales, contact customers and notify authorities.
6. Document everything. Keep records of your compliance checks, supplier communications and safety decisions, so you can show authorities what you did and when.

For a version you can work through item by item, with a free spreadsheet download, use our GPSR compliance checklist.

Frequently asked questions about GPSR

How SafeCart helps with GPSR compliance

Continuous Safety Gate monitoring and documentation is where most ecommerce businesses struggle. SafeCart checks the EU Safety Gate database against your product catalogue, alerts you to matches, and keeps a record of product safety status and recall communications. It does not replace legal advice or official authority notifications. See our plans and pricing for what is included.