{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "importer-duties",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/importer-duties/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/importer-duties.md",
  "title": "We import and do not know what an importer must check",
  "description": "The importer's checks under the GPSR and the CE acts before the first sale: the manufacturer's file, labels, languages, records and complaints.",
  "answer": "An importer is the EU business that places a product from a third country on the EU market. Before the first unit is sold, it must make sure the manufacturer did its part: the safety or conformity assessment, the technical documentation, the identifier and the manufacturer's details. It adds its own name and address, checks the local-language instructions, keeps the documents for 10 years and acts on complaints.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "suppliers-imports",
    "label": "Suppliers and imports"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "GPSR",
    "LVD"
  ],
  "path": [
    "regulation-library",
    "product-validation"
  ],
  "trigger": "You bring in products from outside the EU for the first time, or take over a range that a former supplier used to import",
  "keep": "Technical documentation copy: 10 years after placing on the market (GPSR Article 11(6)); for low voltage equipment, the declaration of conformity for 10 years (LVD Article 8(8)). Supplier and customer records: six years under the GPSR (Article 15(5)), 10 years under the Low Voltage Directive (Article 11).",
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "The importer is defined by what it does. Under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the importer is any natural or legal person established within the Union who places a product from a third country on the Union market (Article 3(10)); placing on the market is the first making available on the Union market (Article 3(7)). The Commission's Blue Guide describes the importer as not a simple re-seller: it has a key role in guaranteeing that imported products comply, and its obligations build on the manufacturer's.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        4
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "For consumer products under the GPSR, Article 11 sets the list. Before placing a product on the market, the importer ensures that it meets the general safety requirement and that the manufacturer has drawn up the risk analysis and technical documentation and put the identifier and its contact details on the product (Article 11(1), referring to Article 9(2), (5) and (6)). It adds its own name and addresses without obscuring the manufacturer's label (Article 11(3)), ensures instructions and safety information in a language consumers easily understand as determined by the Member State (Article 11(4)), protects the product in storage and transport (Article 11(5)), keeps a copy of the technical documentation for 10 years (Article 11(6)), and investigates complaints and acts on dangerous products (Article 11(8) to (10)). Where a product is dangerous, the duty to inform the manufacturer and ensure the authorities are informed through the Safety Business Gateway applies already before placing (Article 11(2)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "For products subject to Union harmonisation legislation, the GPSR's Chapter III, Section 1 does not apply (Article 2(1), third subparagraph, point (b)), and the sector act sets the importer duties. Under the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU, importers place only compliant equipment on the market; before doing so they ensure that the manufacturer carried out the conformity assessment, drew up the technical documentation and affixed the CE marking; they add their details, ensure the instructions, carry out sample testing where appropriate, keep the declaration for 10 years and provide documentation to the authorities in a language they easily understand (Article 8); where equipment presents a risk, they inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities before placing it (Article 8(2)). The Blue Guide adds that a person who places second-hand products from a third country, or products not designed or manufactured for the Union market, must assume the role of the manufacturer (section 3.1). The GPSR's rule on online offers in Article 19 still applies to these products.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Both regimes require traceability: on request, importers name the operator that supplied them and those they supplied (GPSR Article 15(3); LVD Article 11). At the border, customs control products declared for release for free circulation and suspend the release where documentation, marking or the EU operator's details are missing (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Articles 25 and 26).",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2,
        3
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Confirm that you are the importer",
      "text": "You are the importer when you are established in the EU and place a product from a third country on the EU market for the first time. If the product carries your brand, you are the manufacturer instead. If your supplier outside the EU ships directly to consumers, the question becomes who the economic operator responsible in the Union is. For CE products, the Blue Guide adds that whoever places second-hand products from a third country, or products not designed or manufactured for the Union market, must assume the role of the manufacturer."
    },
    {
      "name": "Find out which rules govern the product",
      "text": "Consumer products without a CE act fall under the GPSR importer duties. Where a CE act such as the Low Voltage Directive applies, its importer article governs, and Chapter III, Section 1 of the GPSR (Articles 9 to 18) does not apply, although its rule on online offers does. Many products fall under both for different risks.",
      "item": "regulation-library"
    },
    {
      "name": "Check the manufacturer's part before the first unit is sold",
      "text": "Confirm that the safety or conformity assessment was carried out, that the technical documentation exists, that the product carries a type, batch or serial number and the manufacturer's name and addresses, and, for CE products, that it bears the CE marking and comes with the required documents. You do not have to retest everything, but you must not place what you have reason to doubt.",
      "item": "product-validation"
    },
    {
      "name": "Add your own details and check the languages",
      "text": "Put your name, registered trade name or trade mark and your postal and electronic address on the product, or on the packaging or an accompanying document where that is not possible, without covering the manufacturer's information. Make sure instructions and safety information are in the language the country of sale requires."
    },
    {
      "name": "Keep the file and the trail",
      "text": "Keep your copy of the technical documentation for 10 years after placing the product, counted from the last unit of the model. Record who supplied you and whom you supplied, and keep storage and transport from damaging the product's conformity while it is in your hands."
    },
    {
      "name": "Run complaints and act on risks",
      "text": "Check that consumers can reach the manufacturer with complaints and provide a channel if they cannot. Investigate safety complaints, keep the register and inform the manufacturer and the distributors. If a product is dangerous, inform the manufacturer and make sure the authorities are told through the Safety Business Gateway, even before you place it; once it is on the market, also ensure corrective action."
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "Copy of the manufacturer's technical documentation",
      "from": "The manufacturer",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 11(6); under the LVD the importer ensures the file can be made available (Article 8(8))"
    },
    {
      "name": "EU declaration of conformity, for CE-marked products",
      "from": "The manufacturer",
      "ground": "LVD Article 8(8)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Label showing the manufacturer and the importer",
      "from": "The manufacturer, with your importer details added",
      "ground": "GPSR Articles 9(6) and 11(3); LVD Article 8(3)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Supplier and customer records per product",
      "from": "Your purchase and sales systems",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 15(3) and (5); LVD Article 11"
    },
    {
      "name": "Complaints register",
      "from": "Your customer service",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 11(10)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "Customs hold the shipment",
      "text": "Customs suspend the release for free circulation where required documentation is missing or doubtful, the product is not marked or labelled as required, or the EU operator's details are missing (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 26(1)).",
      "source": 3
    },
    {
      "title": "Corrective action at your expense",
      "text": "Authorities can order corrective action, prohibit or restrict the product, or order withdrawal or recall (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 14(4)(g) and (h)), and Member States may let them reclaim the costs of testing, storage and measures from the operator (Article 15).",
      "source": 3
    },
    {
      "title": "Penalties under national law",
      "text": "Member States lay down effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for infringements of the GPSR by economic operators (Article 44).",
      "source": 1
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Do we have to test every product we import?",
      "a": "No. The Blue Guide says the importer's checks do not imply a need to resort systematically to third-party testing, nor do they preclude it. Under the Low Voltage Directive, importers carry out sample testing of marketed products when deemed appropriate to the risks (Article 8(6))."
    },
    {
      "q": "From when do the 10 years run?",
      "a": "From placing the product on the market (GPSR Article 11(6); LVD Article 8(8)). The Commission's Blue Guide reads this as the last item of the product model placed on the market (footnotes 115 and 142), so the period keeps moving as long as you place new units of that model."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do we need a mandate from the manufacturer?",
      "a": "No. The Blue Guide says the importer needs neither a mandate nor a preferential relationship with the manufacturer, but must make sure that contact with the manufacturer can be established. To carry out tasks on the manufacturer's behalf, the importer must be designated as authorised representative."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do importers have duties beyond product safety?",
      "a": "Often. An importer that places electrical and electronic equipment from a third country on a Member State's market on a professional basis is a producer under the WEEE Directive (Article 3(1)(f)(iii)). Importers of articles can also have REACH duties: registering or notifying certain substances in them above one tonne per year (REACH Article 7) and passing on information on Candidate List substances above 0.1 % weight by weight (Article 33)."
    },
    {
      "q": "What is the difference between us and a distributor?",
      "a": "The distributor makes available a product that someone else already placed on the market and verifies the identifier, contact details, instructions and safety information the manufacturer and importer must provide (GPSR Article 12(1)). The importer places it first and must check the manufacturer's documentation itself (Article 11(1))."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (consolidated text of 29 May 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02023R0988-20260529",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Directive 2014/35/EU on electrical equipment (Low Voltage Directive), consolidated text of 30 May 2026",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014L0035-20260530",
      "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"
    },
    {
      "title": "The 'Blue Guide' on the implementation of EU product rules 2022 (2022/C 247/01)",
      "publisher": "European Commission, via EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0629(04)",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (consolidated text of 8 April 2024)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02012L0019-20240408",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH), consolidated text of 22 June 2026",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02006R1907-20260622",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "which-role-are-we",
    "distributor-duties",
    "power-adapter-imported",
    "own-brand-import",
    "keep-documents-how-long",
    "supplier-no-test-report"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-05",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}