{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "after-the-recall",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/after-the-recall/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/after-the-recall.md",
  "title": "The recall is over and we want to prevent the next one",
  "description": "After a GPSR recall: when it counts as complete, how to update the risk analysis and technical documentation, and how to check sister products.",
  "answer": "Under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the market surveillance authority may decide whether or when a corrective measure can be considered completed. The manufacturer keeps the technical documentation and risk analysis up to date, keeps series production in conformity and records the recall in the internal register. Check products sharing components or a batch, because the authority may ask about them. Records must stay presentable for 10 years.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "incidents-recalls",
    "label": "Incidents, recalls and authorities"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "manufacturer",
      "label": "Manufacturer"
    },
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "GPSR"
  ],
  "path": [
    "product-validation",
    "track-compliance-manager"
  ],
  "trigger": "The last returns are in, the team wants to move on, and nobody has written down what failed and what changed",
  "keep": "The description of the risk, complaints, accidents and corrective measures must be presentable for 10 years, traceability information for six years (GPSR Article 15(4)–(5)); technical documentation for 10 years after the product was placed on the market (GPSR Article 9(3))",
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "A recall under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 does not end when the company decides it has done enough. Market surveillance authorities may request regular progress reports from the economic operator and may decide whether or when the corrective measure can be considered completed (Article 15(6)). Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires them to have procedures for verifying that the corrective action that was to be taken has been taken (Article 11(7)(b)), and the GPSR applies that provision to consumer products through Article 23(1).",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "What follows is the manufacturer's ordinary duty, now with new information. Before placing a product on the market, the manufacturer carries out an internal risk analysis and draws up technical documentation, which, where appropriate, contains an analysis of the possible risks and the solutions adopted to eliminate or mitigate them, including the outcome of test reports (Article 9(2)). That documentation must be kept up to date and at the disposal of the authorities for 10 years (Article 9(3)). Manufacturers also ensure that procedures are in place for products produced in series to remain in conformity with the general safety requirement (Article 9(4)). A recall is a sign that one of those procedures may need to change.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The authority's interest goes beyond the recalled product. Where a dangerous product has been identified, it may request from the manufacturer information on other products produced using the same procedure, containing the same components or being part of the same production batch, which are affected by the same risk (Article 23(3)). The recall and the corrective measures belong in the internal register next to the complaints that led to them (Articles 9(12) and 11(10)), and the description of the risk, complaints, accidents and corrective measures must remain presentable for 10 years (Article 15(4)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Prevention also pays off in the next inspection. Authorities choose checks on a risk-based approach that considers, among other factors, the economic operator's past record of non-compliance and consumer complaints (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 11(3)).",
      "sources": [
        2
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Get the closure confirmed, not assumed",
      "text": "The authority may ask for regular progress reports and may decide whether or when the corrective measure can be considered completed (GPSR Article 15(6)). Send a final report with the response figures and ask how the authority will record the closure. Until then, keep the recall running."
    },
    {
      "name": "Find the root cause and update the risk analysis",
      "text": "Write down what caused the hazard: design, a component, a supplier change, production, instructions or foreseeable misuse. Update the internal risk analysis and the technical documentation so they describe the product as it is now, including any new test reports.",
      "item": "product-validation"
    },
    {
      "name": "Check the sister products",
      "text": "Look at every other product made with the same procedure, the same components or in the same production batch. The authority can ask you for exactly this information once a dangerous product has been identified, so do the check before it does."
    },
    {
      "name": "Fix the production controls",
      "text": "Manufacturers must have procedures that keep series production in conformity with the general safety requirement. Add the check that would have caught this failure, and decide how supplier changes are reported to you in future."
    },
    {
      "name": "Close the file in the register and train the team",
      "text": "Record the recall and the corrective measures in the internal register next to the complaints that triggered it. Share what was learned with purchasing, product development and customer service, so the next complaint of the same kind is recognised early.",
      "item": "track-compliance-manager"
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "The authority's decision or confirmation that the measure is completed, where it makes one",
      "from": "The market surveillance authority",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 15(6)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Updated technical documentation and internal risk analysis",
      "from": "The manufacturer",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 9(2)–(3)"
    },
    {
      "name": "The register entry for the recall and its corrective measures",
      "from": "The manufacturer or importer",
      "ground": "GPSR Articles 9(12) and 11(10)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Information on other products with the same procedure, components or batch",
      "from": "The manufacturer, on request of the authority",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 23(3)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "The authority verifies, not you",
      "text": "Market surveillance authorities establish procedures for verifying that the corrective action that was to be taken by economic operators has been taken (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 11(7)(b), applied by GPSR Article 23(1)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "Your record counts against you next time",
      "text": "In choosing which checks to perform, authorities take into account, among other factors, the economic operator's past record of non-compliance (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 11(3)(c)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "Penalties under national law",
      "text": "Each Member State lays down effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for infringements of the regulation (GPSR Article 44).",
      "source": 1
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Who decides that the recall is over?",
      "a": "The market surveillance authority may decide whether or when the corrective measure can be considered completed (GPSR Article 15(6)). The company's own decision to stop is not the closure."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do we have to change the technical documentation after a recall?",
      "a": "Manufacturers must keep the technical documentation up to date (GPSR Article 9(3)). If the product, the risk analysis or the solutions adopted changed because of the recall, the documentation has to show it."
    },
    {
      "q": "Can the authority ask about our other products?",
      "a": "Yes. Where a dangerous product has been identified, the authority may request from the manufacturer information on other products produced using the same procedure, containing the same components or being part of the same production batch, which are affected by the same risk (GPSR Article 23(3))."
    },
    {
      "q": "How long do we keep the recall records?",
      "a": "The description of the risk, complaints, known accidents and corrective measures must be presentable for 10 years; traceability information for six years (GPSR Article 15(4)–(5)). Personal data in the complaint register goes after five years at the latest (Articles 9(13) and 11(11))."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/988/oj",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (consolidated text of 12 August 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02019R1020-20260812",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "recall",
    "complaints-register",
    "withdrawal-or-recall",
    "safety-complaint",
    "recall-in-several-countries"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-04",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}