What are the European General Product Safety Regulations?

The General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) are a set of rules designed to ensure that consumer products sold in the market are safe for use. 

First created in 2005, they have recently undergone some significant changes.. Any British firm intending to export to the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), and even to Northern Ireland needs to be aware of these changes and comply.

Why is it such a big deal for British businesses specifically?

The UK does already have legislation for general product safety in place. But this legislation is based upon the EU’s old directive regulating product safety, the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD). 

We would advise any British business serious about exporting to comply with the new European GPSR rather than sticking to the British legislation. That way you will be keeping open the possibility of exporting to Europe - even if you have no intention of doing so right away. 

And you will be avoiding having parallel processes inside one organisation - always a source of complexity and extra costs.

What products and which businesses need to comply? 

Most consumer products, including digital products, are covered by the regulation. 

All businesses, including e-commerce merchants need to comply. So this means that if you have a website in the UK selling to EU consumers, you need to comply. The same is true if you are selling in Europe via Amazon.com.

What are the Key Features of the new GPSR?

Several important changes have been included in the new GPSR. In this article we will highlight 5 aspects which we would advise all businesses to consider carefully:

1.    Stricter Obligations for Manufacturers

• Manufacturers must conduct internal risk analyses for all products.
• Technical documentation regarding products must be retained for at least 10 years.
• Any party making substantial changes to a product, physically or digitally, assumes the role and responsibilities of a manufacturer.
• Manufacturers need to put in place safety instructions for the use and storage of all products sold.

Hopefully any company would have a product management process that includes much of these processes already. But we would advise any British business to take these regulations as an opportunity to become a little bit more rigorous. 

In particular, we would advise any business to nominate a product manager or product management team to compile all the information pertaining to the company’s product portfolio, and store it carefully in a designated folder on the company’s hard drive.

2.    Improved Traceability and Reporting

• Businesses need to implement systems for precise identification of a product's origin and supply chain journey. Use batch codes or serial numbers, for example.
• Have clear safety recommendations set up for each product that you make or sell. If you are selling on Amazon.com, you will be doing this already. But making it a standardised process would be our suggestion, whether you are selling on your own website, on Amazon or via a wholesaler or via your European subsidiary.

2.    Establish Reporting Mechanisms

• Manufacturers are required to promptly report serious accidents related to product safety to authorities via the Safety Business Gateway. via this link: 

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/safety-business-gateway/screen/public/home

Once again, your product management team should be made responsible for this

4.    Responsible Person in the EU

Non-EU manufacturers are required to appoint a 'responsible person' within the EU to ensure product compliance.

If you have a subsidiary in the EU, someone working in the subsidiary can be the responsible person. But if not, you will at least have to set up an address (post box, email, phone number etc) at one place in the EU and make sure that messages sent to this address are capable of being retrieved. 

5.    Language requirements

Product information, labels, and warnings must be translated into the official language(s) of each EU country where you sell your products. Since the EU has 24 official languages, this is perhaps one of the most burdensome requirements that businesses face, especially if they are planning on selling to every country in Europe.

We would advise businesses to at the very least make sure that labels are in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish, Dutch and Portuguese. That is already 8 languages!

So how do you get 8 languages onto a label?

Be creative and look at what other manufacturers do. You can place labelling information printed onto the inside of the box if you use a box, for example. 

Peelable labels with different languages on the back are another solution.

Additional labels can also hang from the top of your product (Swing tags).

Your website listing should also have information available in all the languages. We would recommend that all product labels mention the URL so that consumers can go there easily when they wish to find out more information about one of your products - in their language, of course.

Conclusion

The General Product Safety Regulations December 2024 do represent a tightening in product safety standards for the EU market. 

These changes aim to enhance consumer protection, improve product traceability, and address the challenges posed by new technologies and online marketplaces. 

While primarily affecting the EU, EEA, and Northern Ireland, these regulations are recommended for all British manufacturers.

We would advise you to take some time to review your products and processes and make sure you are complying with these regulations.

Above all, if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of exporting, don’t hesitate to contact an International Growth Advisor via the form below: