Our supplier contract says nothing about compliance

EU product law assigns duties by role, not by contract. Under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the importer must ensure before placing a product on the market that the manufacturer has drawn up the risk analysis and technical documentation (Article 11(1)), keep a copy of that documentation for 10 years (Article 11(6)) and act when a product it placed is dangerous (Article 11(8)). A person placing a product on the market under its own name or trademark is deemed the manufacturer and takes on Article 9 in full (Article 13(1)). The Commission's Blue Guide adds that a manufacturer who subcontracts must retain overall control, must receive all the information it needs, and may in no circumstances discharge itself of its responsibilities.^[1][2]

Several of these duties depend on information only the supplier has. Every economic operator must, on request, identify who supplied it with the product or with a part, component or embedded software, and keep that information presentable for six years (Article 15(3) and (5)). Manufacturers must keep other economic operators in the chain informed in a timely manner of safety issues they identify (Article 9(10)), keep series production in conformity (Article 9(4)) and keep the documentation up to date (Article 9(3)). The GPSR also requires each economic operator to have internal processes for product safety (Article 14). For products under a product-specific harmonisation act, the sector act carries the equivalent duties (Article 2(1), third subparagraph, point (b)), and for the acts listed in Article 4(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 the responsible operator in the Union must be able to provide the documentation in a language the authority easily understands (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)(b)).^[1][4]

A supply contract is where you secure that information. The Commission's Blue Guide calls it good practice for importers to refer to the applicable EU legislation in the contract with the supplier and to secure access to the technical file, or the manufacturer's signed obligation to provide it (footnote 139). The law does not write the clauses and does not settle who pays for testing, withdrawals or recalls between buyer and supplier; that is commercial and national contract law, and the place for legal advice. What the law does settle is that you cannot point to the contract when an authority asks.^[1][2]

One newer prohibition belongs in the same terms. Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 prohibits placing or making available on the Union market, or exporting, products made with forced labour at any stage of their supply chain (Articles 2(7) and 3). It applies from 14 December 2027 (Article 39) and creates no additional due diligence obligations beyond existing law (Article 1(3)).^[3]