GPSR: Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the complete reference

Regulation (EU) 2023/988 is the EU’s general safety law for consumer products. This page reads the text end to end: what it is, who it binds, what each role owes, what happens if a product turns dangerous, and what you can skip. Every claim carries its article; where the text is silent, this page says so.

What GPSR is, and what it replaced

The objective of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 is to improve the functioning of the internal market while providing a high level of consumer protection, and it lays down essential rules on the safety of consumer products placed or made available on the market (Art. 1). It has applied since 13 December 2024 (Art. 52).

That date is also when it repealed the two instruments it replaces: Directive 2001/95/EC and Directive 87/357/EEC, both repealed with effect from 13 December 2024 (Art. 50). References to those directives are now read as references to Regulation (EU) 2023/988 and to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 (Art. 50(2)).

Repeal is not retroactive: Member States may not impede the making available on the market of products that complied with Directive 2001/95/EC and were already placed on the market before 13 December 2024 (Art. 51).

Whether it applies to you

Regulation (EU) 2023/988 applies to a product only insofar as no specific Union law with the same objective already regulates its safety; where specific safety requirements do exist, GPSR applies only to the aspects and risks they do not cover (Art. 2(1)). Where a product falls under Union harmonisation legislation, the effect goes further: Chapter III, Section 1 of GPSR (Articles 9 to 18) plus Chapters V, VII and IX to XI does not apply at all (Art. 2(1)(b)).

A further set of product categories sits outside GPSR regardless of sector law, from medicinal products and food to antiques (Art. 2(2)); the full list is in what you can skip, below.

GPSR applies whether a product is new, used, repaired or reconditioned. The one exception is a product genuinely sold to be repaired or reconditioned before use, provided it is clearly marked as such (Art. 2(3)).

Distance sales get their own trigger. An online offer counts as making a product available on the EU market if the offer is targeted at consumers in the Union - meaning the economic operator directs its activities, by any means, to one or more Member States (Art. 4). That test runs on targeting, not on where a warehouse or a company sits. “Making available on the market” is any supply of a product for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in a commercial activity, paid or free (Art. 3(6)); “placing on the market” is the first such making available (Art. 3(7)).

This is the short version of scope. Use does GPSR apply to you if you are not yet sure the regulation reaches you at all; its five-question scope test settles it in full, including the manufacturer-versus-importer distinction that decides which row below is yours.

What GPSR requires, and of whom

GPSR does not set one duty list for every business. Each role in the supply chain carries its own duties, and a business can hold more than one role for the same product. The table below gives one row per role with the article that carries its duties.

Scroll the table sideways to see the source column.

Who answers for the product inside the EU

A product covered by GPSR shall not be placed on the market unless there is an economic operator established in the Union responsible for the tasks set out in Art. 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 in respect of that product (Art. 16(1)). That operator must regularly check, where appropriate to the risk, that the product matches its technical documentation and meets the identification, marking and instruction requirements, and must produce documented evidence of those checks to a market surveillance authority on request (Art. 16(2)). Their name, registered trade name or trademark, and postal and electronic address must be indicated on the product, its packaging, the parcel, or an accompanying document (Art. 16(3)).

Who can hold that role, and what drives its price, is a separate question with its own closed list of eligible operators: see the EU Responsible Person guide.

What must appear where you sell

Where a product is made available online or through another distance-sales channel, the offer must clearly and visibly show at least four things (Art. 19):

1. the manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trademark, and postal and electronic address;
2. where the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the name, postal and electronic address of the responsible person;
3. information identifying the product, including a picture of it, its type, and any other product identifier; and
4. any warning or safety information required to be affixed to the product, its packaging or an accompanying document, in a language easily understood by consumers as determined by the Member State where the product is made available.

Two more marking duties sit on the product itself, not the offer page: an identifying number, visible and legible or on the packaging where size or nature does not allow it (Art. 9(5)); and the manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trademark and postal and electronic address, placed the same way (Art. 9(6)).

Article 18 is not a general duty: it lets the Commission set up, by delegated act, a traceability system for specific products or categories judged likely to present a serious risk (Art. 18(3)). Unless your product has been named under that mechanism, Article 18 does not apply to it. Whether GPSR reaches your product at all is answered in full in does GPSR apply to you.

If something goes wrong

The manufacturer must ensure that an accident caused by the product is notified, through the Safety Business Gateway, to the competent authority of the Member State where it occurred, without undue delay from the moment the manufacturer knows of it (Art. 20(1)). That notification duty is triggered by an occurrence associated with the product’s use that resulted in a person’s death, or in serious adverse effects on health and safety, permanent or temporary, including injuries, other bodily harm, illness and chronic health effects (Art. 20(2)). Importers and distributors with knowledge of such an accident must inform the manufacturer without undue delay, and the manufacturer then makes the notification or instructs one of them to (Art. 20(3)). Where the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the responsible person who has knowledge of the accident must ensure the notification happens (Art. 20(4)).

In a product safety recall, or wherever a safety warning is needed, the economic operators involved must notify identifiable affected consumers directly and without undue delay; where not everyone can be reached that way, the notice goes out through other channels with the widest reach available, including the company’s website, social media and retail outlets (Art. 35(1), 35(4)). Written recall information takes the form of a recall notice: a headline reading “Product safety recall”, a clear description of the product and the hazard, the action consumers should take, the remedies on offer, a free phone number or online service, and encouragement to share the notice (Art. 36(1)-(2)).

Where a recall is initiated by the economic operator or ordered by a national authority, that operator must offer the consumer an effective, cost-free and timely remedy, giving a choice between at least two of repair, replacement with an equivalent safe product, or a refund of at least the price paid (Art. 37(1)-(2)). The remedy must not create significant inconvenience: the consumer does not bear shipping or return costs, and for a product that by its nature is not portable, the operator arranges collection (Art. 37(5)).

What you can skip

For the wider set of obligations a business selling into the EU carries outside product safety - customs, VAT, consumer rights and the rest - see sell into the EU.

What we have not verified

• Which products currently sit under an Article 18 traceability system. Article 18 lets the Commission designate products by delegated act; those delegated acts are not in the source text this page was built from, so this page cannot say which categories, if any, are currently covered.
• Whether Article 14 is a fulfilment service provider’s only obligation under this Regulation. The text defines the role (Art. 3(12)) and gives economic operators a general internal-processes duty (Art. 14), but we found no article setting the role a dedicated duty list the way Articles 9, 11 and 12 do for manufacturers, importers and distributors. That may be a deliberate gap in the Regulation or a limit of what this page read; it is stated here rather than guessed at.
• How the substantial-modification test in Article 13(3) applies to a specific, borderline product change. The criteria are in the text, but applying them to a real case is a judgment this page is not making.
• National penalty rules under Article 44. The Regulation requires penalties to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and leaves the figures to Member States; no national figure is verified or repeated here.

Who can do this for you

Nobody is listed here yet.When this page lists providers, it will say exactly which job each one does.We would rather show an empty box than fill it with names we have not checked.

Disclosure, in advance. When providers are listed here, each entry will show whether we earn from it. Any entry that has paid for its placement will be labelled as paid placement in the entry itself - not in a footnote, and not on another page. Listings will never change what the guide above says you do or do not have to do.