GPSR compliance checklist for online sellers
Last reviewed: 9 October 2026
The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 — usually shortened to GPSR — sets the safety rules for consumer products sold in the European Union. It applies from 13 December 2024 and replaced the older General Product Safety Directive. If you sell physical products to customers in the EU, it changes two things you can act on today: what your product listings have to show, and who is answerable for safety inside the EU.
What the GPSR is
Regulation (EU) 2023/988 applies from 13 December 2024 and repeals Directive 2001/95/EC, the previous general product safety directive. It sits alongside product-specific EU law: where another EU act already regulates the same safety objective, the GPSR applies only to the aspects those rules do not cover.
Who this applies to
You do not need a warehouse or a company inside the EU to be in scope. What matters is whether your offer is aimed at consumers in the Union.
You sell physical products to EU customers
A product offered online is treated as placed on the EU market when the offer is targeted at consumers in the Union — that is, when you direct your activity at one or more member states. Selling through your own store, a marketplace or a reseller all count.
Your product is not on the excluded list
The regulation excludes specific categories, including medicinal products, food, feed, living plants and animals, genetically modified organisms, animal by-products and plant protection products; certain transport equipment is also excluded. Where product-specific EU safety law already applies to your product, the GPSR only fills the gaps that law leaves.
Someone in the EU has to be responsible
A product covered by the regulation cannot be placed on the EU market unless an economic operator established in the Union takes responsibility for it. If you are based outside the EU this is usually the biggest practical step: you appoint such an operator, or you sell through an importer who takes that role.
What to prepare
Most of the paperwork sits with the manufacturer, but as the seller you are usually the one who has to produce it.
Technical documentation
Before a product is placed on the market, an internal risk analysis has to be carried out and technical documentation drawn up describing the product and the characteristics relevant to its safety.
Keep records for ten years
The technical documentation has to be kept up to date, held available to market surveillance authorities for ten years after the product is placed on the market, and provided on request.
An EU responsible person
Their name, registered trade name or trade mark and contact details — including a postal and an electronic address — have to be indicated on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document.
Traceability information
You need to be able to identify the product and follow it through the supply chain, so that a safety problem can be traced back to a specific batch or unit.
A route for accident reporting
Accidents caused by a product are notified to the competent authorities of the member state where the accident happened, through the Safety Business Gateway, without undue delay once the manufacturer knows about them.
What your listing has to show
For distance sales, the offer itself — your product page — has to state the following clearly and visibly. This is the part sellers most often get wrong, because the information belongs on the listing, not only on the product.
| What it is | What the offer has to state |
|---|---|
| Who made it | The name, registered trade name or trade mark of the manufacturer, plus a postal and an electronic address where they can be contacted. |
| The EU contact | Where the manufacturer is not established in the EU, the name, postal and electronic address of the responsible person inside the Union. |
| Which product it is | Information identifying the product, including a picture of it, its type and any other product identifier. |
| Warnings and safety information | Any warning or safety information that has to be affixed to the product, its packaging or an accompanying document — in a language consumers can easily understand, as determined by the member state where the product is sold. |
Common mistakes
These four come up most often. Each is cheap to fix before a product goes live and expensive to fix afterwards.
| Mistake | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Putting the details only in the manual | The distance-selling rules attach to the offer, not only to the product. Manufacturer details and the EU responsible person have to be visible on the listing itself. |
| Selling into the EU with nobody responsible there | A product without an economic operator established in the EU cannot be placed on the market, and marketplaces increasingly ask for those details before they will list a product. |
| Assuming English is enough | Safety information has to be in a language consumers in the member state you sell into can easily understand. That is determined per member state, so English is not automatically sufficient. |
| Treating documentation as a one-off | Technical documentation has to stay up to date and be kept for ten years. A file that was accurate at launch and never touched again does not meet that. |
A practical checklist
Work through these in order. Each step produces something you can keep in a folder and hand to a marketplace or an authority.
- Confirm you are in scope
Check that you sell physical consumer products and that your offer targets EU consumers. Rule out the excluded categories, and note any product-specific EU law that already covers your product's safety.
- Decide who is responsible in the EU
If you are outside the EU, appoint an economic operator established in the Union or sell through an importer who takes that role. Get their details in writing.
- Collect the details your listing has to show
Gather the manufacturer's name or trade mark and postal and electronic address, the EU responsible person's details, a product picture and identifier, and any required warnings.
- Update every product listing
Add the required information to the offer on each channel you sell through, and translate any safety information into the language used in the member states you sell into.
- Assemble and maintain the file
Keep the risk analysis, technical documentation and traceability records together, review them when the product changes, and retain them for ten years.
Common questions
When did the GPSR start to apply?
It applies from 13 December 2024, when it also repealed the previous general product safety directive (2001/95/EC).
I am based outside the EU. Does it still apply to me?
Yes, if your offer is targeted at consumers in the Union. An online offer counts as placing a product on the EU market when you direct your activity at one or more member states.
Does all of this have to be printed on the product?
No. The EU responsible person's details have to appear on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. For distance sales the offer — your product page — has to state the information listed above as well.
Which products are excluded?
Medicinal products, food, feed, living plants and animals, genetically modified organisms, animal by-products, plant protection products and certain transport equipment are excluded. Where product-specific EU safety law applies, the GPSR covers only what that law does not.
What counts as targeting EU consumers?
An offer is treated as targeted at consumers in the Union when the economic operator directs its activities, by any means, at one or more member states. It is assessed case by case.
Tools that cover parts of this
These tools help with the pieces above. They produce drafts and checks for you to review — they do not certify compliance.
Source and scope
Everything on this page summarises Regulation (EU) 2023/988, published on EUR-Lex. Read the regulation itself for the authoritative text, including the full list of excluded products in Article 2 and the obligations that attach to your role in the supply chain.
This page is a checklist based on Regulation (EU) 2023/988 as published on EUR-Lex. It is information rather than advice: what applies to you depends on your product, your role in the supply chain, and the member states you sell into.