German Product Safety Act (ProdSG) for non-EU sellers

You are selling a consumer product to buyers in Germany. GPSR applies as in the rest of the EU (see GPSR: what it is, and who it reaches). Germany adds three things on top, all in the Produktsicherheitsgesetz (ProdSG): German-language safety information, enforcement by the authority of each Land, and a fine list for the Regulation. It does not add a German representative. A responsible person established anywhere in the EU is enough.

Safety information goes in German

ProdSG §6 requires five items to be written in German. An English text alone does not meet it.

§6 sets the language only. Whether the product needs instructions at all is the Regulation’s test; instructions and safety information covers it. §6 names no other item.

The Länder enforce it

ProdSG §25(1) gives market surveillance to the authorities that each Land names under its own law. The environment ministry says the same: it is an enforcement task of the Länder. Where GPSR applies on top of other product law, the authority for that other law enforces it too, which for radio equipment and electromagnetic-compatibility products can be a federal body, the Bundesnetzagentur (BAuA).

The BAuA does not enforce. It is the national contact point for the Safety Gate rapid alert system (BAuA). The Länder coordinate through a working committee and the ZLS, which in certain cases also enforces for all Länder. To find the authority for a postal code and a product law, use the authority search in ICSMS, which the BAuA describes.

An authority can also order an online marketplace to remove an offer of a dangerous product, block access to it, or show a warning (§25(3)). The marketplace must act within two working days (Art. 22(4)). An operator can also demand specific information on German product-safety rules from the authorities, free of charge (§25(10)).

What a breach costs

The fine list for the Regulation itself is ProdSG §28(2). It came with the law of 3 February 2026 (BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 29), in force from 19 February 2026. Negligence is enough for a fine.

§29 makes a EUR 100,000 offence a crime when it is done on purpose and persistently repeated, or on purpose in a way that endangers life, health or another person’s property of significant value: up to one year in prison or a criminal fine. The amounts and the other countries are in GPSR fines.

What you do as a seller outside Germany

1. Name a responsible person established in the EU, in any country. Its name and contact details go on the product, the packaging, the parcel or a document in it (Art. 16(3)). See EU Responsible Person.
2. Write the instructions and safety information in German, and the warnings in your offer in German.
3. Show the manufacturer, the responsible person, a picture and a product identifier in every offer (Art. 19(a) to (c)).
4. Keep the technical documentation ten years (guide).
5. If you learn a product is dangerous, take the corrective measure at once, inform consumers, and inform the authorities through the Safety Business Gateway (Art. 9(8)). The steps are in product recall.

If you do nothing

The authority can require corrective action: bring the product into compliance, stop its sale, withdraw or recall it, destroy it, add warnings or set conditions. Germany applies the measures of Art. 16 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 to these products (MüG §8) and may direct them at any economic operator (§9). The BAuA names manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors and, where relevant, fulfilment service providers as the parties sanctioned. Ignoring an enforceable order costs up to EUR 100,000 (MüG §21). An order to the marketplace can take your listing down within two working days (Art. 22(4)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.), with no fine procedure first.