EU General Product Safety Regulation — GPSR Compliance Guide.

No. GPSR and Digital Product Passports are separate obligations created by different regulations. GPSR (Regulation (EU) 2023/988) requires manufacturers to hold technical documentation under Article 9, gives economic operators traceability duties under Article 15, and places specific duties on providers of online marketplaces under Article 22. Digital Product Passports are created by other EU law, principally ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) and sector regulations such as the Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. Holding a Digital Product Passport does not discharge a GPSR obligation, and GPSR compliance does not discharge a Digital Product Passport obligation.

Article 2(2) sets out a closed list of exclusions: medicinal products for human or veterinary use, food, feed, living plants and animals, genetically modified organisms and micro-organisms in contained use, animal by-products and derived products, plant protection products, certain aircraft, transport equipment operated by a service provider, and antiques. Sector-regulated products such as toys, medical devices and cosmetics are not blanket-excluded. For those, sector-specific EU law governs safety and GPSR complements it for risks that law does not cover (Article 2(1)). Used and refurbished consumer products stay in scope; only products explicitly marketed as needing repair or reconditioning before use are excluded (Article 2(3)).

Yes. Article 22 creates a distinct set of duties for providers of online marketplaces, defined in Article 3(14), which are separate from the duties on fulfilment service providers defined in Article 3(12). Marketplaces must register on the Safety Gate Portal, appoint a single contact point for authorities and one for consumers, act on removal orders within two working days, process product-safety notices without undue delay, notify affected consumers directly about recalls, and cooperate on traceability of dangerous products. These duties sit alongside obligations under the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065).

Under Article 9(2), before placing a product on the market a manufacturer must carry out an internal risk analysis and draw up technical documentation. It must contain at least a general description of the product and its characteristics relevant for assessing safety and, where relevant, an analysis of the risks and the standards or other elements applied to meet the general safety requirement. Article 9(3) requires that documentation to be kept up to date and at the disposal of market surveillance authorities for 10 years after the product has been placed on the market. Importers hold the same 10-year duty under Article 11(6). Note that GPSR uses the term technical documentation, not product information file, which belongs to the Cosmetics Regulation (EC) 1223/2009.

Article 44 requires each Member State to lay down its own penalties for infringements by economic operators and providers of online marketplaces, and those penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and GPSR Chapter V, market surveillance authorities can order withdrawals or recalls and restrict market access, and under Article 22(4) they can order an online marketplace to remove a listing or display a warning. Whether an infringement can also carry criminal liability is a matter for the national law of the relevant Member State rather than for GPSR itself.

GPSR entered into force on 12 June 2023 and has applied since 13 December 2024, replacing Directive 2001/95/EC on that date. Under the transitional provision in Article 51, products that were placed on the EU market before 13 December 2024 and complied with Directive 2001/95/EC can continue to be made available afterwards, and GPSR sets no cut-off date for that. Any product first placed on the EU market from 13 December 2024 must comply with GPSR. The relevant test is the date the product was first placed on the market, not the date it is later sold to a consumer.

The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), Regulation (EU) 2023/988, is the horizontal product safety framework for consumer products placed on the EU market where no sector-specific EU law covers the safety aspect in question. It replaced the 2001 General Product Safety Directive from 13 December 2024 and strengthens obligations for manufacturers, importers and distributors, including technical documentation under Article 9, traceability under Article 15, accident notification through the Safety Business Gateway under Article 20, and specific duties for providers of online marketplaces under Article 22.

GPSR creates a chain of responsibility across the economic operators who place or make products available on the EU market. Manufacturers carry the primary duties under Article 9, covering the general safety requirement, technical documentation, traceability and cooperation with market surveillance. Importers must verify manufacturer compliance before placing a product on the market under Article 11, and distributors must check required markings and information under Article 12. Separately, Article 16 provides that a product may not be placed on the market at all unless there is an economic operator established in the Union responsible for the tasks in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 for that product. That is a per-product requirement, not a registration each operator holds.

Yes. GPSR replaced the 2001 General Product Safety Directive (Directive 2001/95/EC) from 13 December 2024. Unlike a directive, a regulation is directly applicable and needs no national transposition, so the same text applies across all EU Member States. GPSR adds obligations the Directive did not contain, including duties for providers of online marketplaces and accident notification through the Safety Business Gateway. Sector-specific safety legislation continues to govern within its own scope.