GPSR in plain terms
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), formally Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety, is the EU’s baseline safety law for consumer products. Its two objectives are the functioning of the internal market and a high level of consumer protection, and it pursues them with one essential rule: economic operators may place or make available on the market only safe products (Art. 1 and Art. 5). A safe product is one that, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use and over its actual duration of use, presents no risk or only the minimum risks compatible with its use (Art. 3(2)); everything else is a dangerous product (Art. 3(3)).
GPSR is a safety net. It applies wherever no specific Union law regulates the safety of the product, and where such law exists it still covers the risks that law leaves open (Art. 2(1)). Because it is a regulation rather than a directive, it applies directly in every Member State without national transposition (Art. 52). Compared with the Directive 2001/95/EC it replaced, it adds concrete duties on traceability, an EU-based responsible person, online listings, accident reporting through the Safety Business Gateway, recall notices and remedies, and a dedicated chapter for online marketplaces.
Official text Read the regulation on EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (CELEX 32023R0988), or the consolidated text of 29 May 2026 that includes the Regulation (EU) 2024/2748 amendment.
Scope
A product is any item, interconnected or not, supplied or made available with or without payment, including as part of a service, which is intended for consumers or is likely under reasonably foreseeable conditions to be used by consumers even if not intended for them (Art. 3(1)). That last clause is why products sold as professional equipment can still fall under GPSR. The regulation applies to new, used, repaired and reconditioned products alike; only products sold to be repaired or reconditioned before use, and clearly marked as such, are outside it (Art. 2(3)). An offer made online or by other distance means counts as making the product available on the market whenever the offer is targeted at consumers in the Union, which is the case as soon as the operator directs its activities to one or more Member States by any means (Art. 4).
Nine groups are excluded altogether: medicinal products for human or veterinary use, food, feed, living plants and animals together with GMOs and products relating to their reproduction, animal by-products, plant protection products, ride-on or travel equipment operated by a transport service provider, aircraft referred to in Article 2(3), point (d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, and antiques (Art. 2(2)). Antiques are products such as collectors’ items or works of art for which consumers cannot reasonably expect state-of-the-art safety (Art. 3(28)).
For products under Union harmonisation legislation, such as the CE-marking directives, GPSR applies only to the risks that legislation does not cover. Chapter II does not apply to the covered risks, and Chapter IIa, Chapter III Section 1 (the manufacturer, importer and distributor duties of Articles 9 to 18), Chapters V and VII and Chapters IX to XI do not apply at all (Art. 2(1) as amended). The distance-sales and accident provisions of Chapter III Section 2, the online marketplace chapter and the recall provisions of Chapter VIII still apply to those products.
The duties fall on economic operators: the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor, the fulfilment service provider and any other person with obligations in relation to making products available (Art. 3(13)), plus providers of online marketplaces (Art. 3(14)). Anyone who places a product on the market under their own name or trademark, or who substantially modifies a product in a way that affects its safety, is deemed the manufacturer (Art. 13). Every economic operator must keep internal processes for product safety (Art. 14) and cooperate with market surveillance authorities, holding risk and complaint information for 10 years and supplier and customer traceability for six years (Art. 15).
What you must do
General safety requirement and technical documentation
When assessing whether a product is safe, the regulation lists what counts: the product’s characteristics and packaging, its interaction with other products, its presentation, labelling and warnings, the consumers who will use it with particular attention to children, older people and persons with disabilities, whether it resembles food or appeals to children, and, where the nature of the product requires it, cybersecurity features and evolving, learning or predictive functionalities (Art. 6). A product that conforms to a European standard whose reference is published in the Official Journal is presumed safe for the risks that standard covers; absent such a standard, conformity with national health and safety requirements gives the same presumption (Art. 7). Where no presumption applies, authorities weigh other standards, certification schemes, Commission guidelines, the state of the art and reasonable consumer expectations (Art. 8).
Manufacturers must carry out an internal risk analysis and draw up technical documentation before placing a product on the market, keep it up to date, and hold it at the disposal of the authorities for 10 years (Art. 9(2) and (3)). Importers must check that this has been done and keep a copy for the same period (Art. 11(1) and (6)).
Traceability and information on the product
Products must carry a type, batch or serial number or other identifier that consumers can see and read, together with the manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal and electronic address and, where different, its single contact point; where the product itself cannot carry the information, it goes on the packaging or in an accompanying document (Art. 9(5) and (6)). Importers add their own details without obscuring the manufacturer’s (Art. 11(3)). Products must be accompanied by clear instructions and safety information in the language determined by the Member State where they are made available, unless the product can be used safely without them (Art. 9(7) and Art. 11(4)). Distributors verify that these markings and instructions are present before making a product available (Art. 12(1)). The same information may additionally be offered digitally, provided it stays clearly visible on the product or its packaging and accessible to persons with disabilities (Art. 21). For products that are likely to present a serious risk, the Commission may set up a mandatory traceability system by delegated act (Art. 18).
Responsible person in the EU
A product may not be placed on the market unless an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for it (Art. 16(1)). The regulation applies Article 4(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 for this purpose, so the responsible person is a manufacturer established in the Union, an importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate or, where none of those exists in the Union, a fulfilment service provider established in the Union for the products it handles. Beyond keeping documentation available and informing and cooperating with authorities, the responsible person must regularly check that the product matches its technical documentation and carries the required markings and instructions, and must produce documented evidence of those checks on request (Art. 16(2)). Its name and contact details must be shown on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Art. 16(3)).
Selling online
Every online or distance offer must clearly and visibly show the manufacturer’s name and postal and electronic address, the responsible person’s details where the manufacturer is outside the Union, information identifying the product including a picture, its type and any other identifier, and any warning or safety information required, in the language determined by the Member State (Art. 19). This duty falls on the economic operator making the offer; providers of online marketplaces must design their interfaces so that traders can supply the same information and consumers see it on the listing (Art. 22(9)).
Dangerous products, accidents and the Safety Business Gateway
When a manufacturer considers or has reason to believe that a product it placed on the market is dangerous, it must immediately take corrective measures including withdrawal or recall, inform consumers and notify the market surveillance authorities of every Member State where the product was made available through the Safety Business Gateway, with details of the risk, the measures taken and, if available, the quantity still on the market (Art. 9(8)). Importers and distributors carry mirror duties: inform the manufacturer or importer, ensure corrective measures are taken and ensure the authorities are notified (Art. 11(8) and Art. 12(4)). Authorised representatives notify actions taken under their mandate where the manufacturer has not (Art. 10(2)(c)).
Accidents are notified separately. The manufacturer must ensure that any accident resulting in death or serious adverse effects on health and safety, including injuries, illnesses and chronic effects, is notified through the Safety Business Gateway to the competent authorities of the Member State where it occurred, without undue delay from the moment it knows about it, with the product type, identification number and circumstances (Art. 20(1) and (2)). Importers and distributors that learn of an accident inform the manufacturer without undue delay; the manufacturer notifies or instructs one of them to do so, and the responsible person ensures notification when the manufacturer is outside the Union (Art. 20(3) and (4)). Manufacturers must also run public complaint channels, investigate complaints and accident reports, and keep an internal register of complaints, recalls and corrective measures, retaining personal data no longer than five years (Art. 9(11) to (13)); importers verify those channels exist or provide them (Art. 11(9)).
Recalls and consumer remedies
In a recall or safety warning, economic operators and online marketplaces must notify every affected consumer they can identify directly and without undue delay, using the customer data they hold, and reach the rest through websites, social media, newsletters, retail outlets and, where appropriate, mass media (Art. 35). Written recall information takes the form of a recall notice headed Product safety recall, with a picture and identification of the product, a clear description of the hazard that avoids reassuring terms such as voluntary or precautionary, the action consumers should take, the remedies available and a free contact channel (Art. 36). The operator responsible for the recall must offer an effective, cost-free and timely remedy and a choice between at least two of repair, replacement or a refund of at least the price paid; only one remedy may be offered where the others are impossible or disproportionately costly, and the consumer is always entitled to a refund if repair or replacement is not completed within a reasonable time (Art. 37).
Online marketplaces
Providers of online marketplaces must register with the Safety Gate Portal, designate one contact point for authorities and one for consumers, and keep internal processes for product safety (Art. 22(1) to (3)). They must act on an authority’s order to remove a listing, disable access or display a warning within two working days and report back (Art. 22(4)), process product safety notices under the Digital Services Act within three working days (Art. 22(8)), use Safety Gate notifications for their own voluntary measures (Art. 22(6) and (7)), enable traders to provide the listing information and a self-certification of compliance (Art. 22(9) and (10)), and suspend traders that frequently offer non-compliant products after a prior warning (Art. 22(11)). They must also notify buyers directly of recalls and safety warnings, publish recall information, notify dangerous products and serious accidents through the Safety Business Gateway, give authorities’ online tools access to their interfaces and allow data scraping for product safety on reasoned request (Art. 22(12)).
Emergency procedures from 29 May 2026
Regulation (EU) 2024/2748 inserts Chapter IIa. Articles 8b and 8c apply only to products designated as crisis-relevant goods and only while an internal market emergency mode is active under Regulation (EU) 2024/2747 and the Commission has adopted the corresponding implementing act (Art. 8a). During such a period, where the severe disruptions that led to the activation significantly restrict manufacturers’ possibilities to use relevant European standards already published in the Official Journal, the presumption of conformity may also rest on national health and safety requirements of the Member State where the product is made available, provided that national law complies with Union law (Art. 8b(1)). Member States must also ensure that their authorities treat products complying with relevant European standards not published in the Official Journal, international standards of a recognised international standardisation body or national standards of a national standardisation body as presumed to meet the general safety requirement for the risks those standards cover, unless the standards are inadequate in view of Articles 6 and 8 (Art. 8b(2)). Member States prioritise market surveillance for the listed products and assist one another (Art. 8c).
Enforcement and penalties
Market surveillance is carried out by the authorities each Member State designates under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, and GPSR applies Article 10, Article 11(1) to (7), Articles 12 to 15, Article 16(1) to (5), Articles 18 and 19 and Articles 21 to 24 of that regulation to the products it covers (Art. 23(1)). The minimum powers include requiring documents, data and supply-chain information, unannounced on-site inspections, entering business premises, ordering corrective action, prohibiting or restricting the making available of a product, ordering withdrawal or recall, taking samples under a cover identity, and, where no other effective means are available to eliminate a serious risk, requiring the removal of content referring to the product from an online interface or the explicit display of a warning to end users (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Art. 14(4)). Corrective actions an authority may require range from bringing the product into compliance to withdrawal, recall, destruction and public warnings (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Art. 16(3)). Authorities can also order online marketplaces to remove a listing, disable access or display a warning, to be executed within two working days (Art. 22(4)), and a product deemed dangerous by one Member State’s authority is presumed dangerous in the others (Art. 29(1)).
Corrective measures against products presenting a serious risk are notified through the Safety Gate Rapid Alert System within four working days and shared with all Member States, and businesses notify through the Safety Business Gateway (Art. 25 to Art. 27; Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3173); the Commission maintains the Safety Gate Portal, which gives the general public free and open access to selected information notified through the Rapid Alert System (Art. 34(1)). Where a serious risk cannot be handled nationally, the Commission may adopt Union-wide measures prohibiting, suspending or restricting a product (Art. 28).
Penalties are set at national level. Member States lay down the rules on penalties for infringements by economic operators and online marketplaces, those penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, and the rules had to be notified to the Commission by 13 December 2024 (Art. 44). In Denmark, the market surveillance authority for general product safety is Erhvervsstyrelsen (the Danish Business Authority) through its Markedsovervågning department, which since January 2026 performs the tasks previously carried out by Sikkerhedsstyrelsen (the Danish Safety Technology Authority).
How Conphora helps
Conphora monitors GPSR and maps your products against its requirements, flagging gaps in risk assessment, traceability, the responsible person and labelling before they become enforcement problems. The platform helps you generate and keep the right documentation, and alerts you when obligations change so your compliance stays current.
See how Conphora works · See plans and pricing
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety, consolidated text of 29 May 2026 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2023/988 as published in OJ L 135, 23 May 2023 (EUR-Lex)
- Document information, dates and relationships for CELEX 32023R0988 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/2748 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/988 as regards emergency procedures (EUR-Lex)
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3173 on the Safety Gate Rapid Alert System (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (EUR-Lex)
- Product safety (European Commission)
- Safety Gate: the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products (European Commission)
- Generel produktsikkerhed (Erhvervsstyrelsen, Markedsovervågning, formerly Sikkerhedsstyrelsen)
This guide is for general information and is not legal advice.