{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "marketplace-operator-duties",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/marketplace-operator-duties/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/marketplace-operator-duties.md",
  "title": "We run a marketplace and must meet the GPSR duties",
  "description": "The duties Article 22 of the GPSR places on providers of online marketplaces, from the single contact point to the two-day rule.",
  "answer": "Article 22 of the General Product Safety Regulation applies to every online marketplace where consumers buy products from traders. The provider registers a single point of contact, has internal processes for product safety, acts on authority orders within two working days and on other notices within three, checks offers against the Safety Gate Portal, displays the mandatory product information, and suspends traders that frequently offer non-compliant products.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "roles-responsibilities",
    "label": "Roles and responsibilities"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "marketplace",
      "label": "Marketplace"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "GPSR"
  ],
  "path": [
    "regulation-library",
    "knowledge-articles"
  ],
  "trigger": "You open your platform to third-party sellers, or an authority sends its first order",
  "keep": null,
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 defines a provider of an online marketplace as a provider of an intermediary service using an online interface which allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders for the sale of products (Article 3). Article 22 sets out the specific obligations of such providers, without prejudice to the general obligations of the Digital Services Act.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The article starts with contact and process: a single point of contact for the authorities (Article 22(1)), one for consumers (Article 22(2)) and internal processes for product safety (Article 22(3)). It then sets the clocks. Orders from market surveillance authorities to remove an offer of a dangerous product, disable access or display a warning are acted on within two working days (Article 22(4)); notices from others are processed within three working days (Article 22(8)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The remaining duties concern the offers themselves. Providers use at least the Safety Gate Portal when checking offers (Article 22(7)), enable traders to provide the mandatory information and ensure that it is displayed (Article 22(9) and (10)), suspend traders that frequently offer non-compliant products (Article 22(11)), and cooperate with authorities and economic operators on corrective action (Article 22(12)). That cooperation is concrete: notifying directly the consumers who bought a recalled product through the marketplace, publishing recalls, informing the authorities through the Safety Business Gateway about dangerous products they know were offered, and notifying accidents that caused a serious risk or actual damage (Article 22(12), points (a), (d) and (e)). The powers of the authorities come from Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.",
      "sources": [
        2
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Confirm that you are a provider of an online marketplace",
      "text": "The definition covers an intermediary service with an online interface that allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders for the sale of products.",
      "item": "regulation-library"
    },
    {
      "name": "Designate the single points of contact",
      "text": "One single point of contact for direct electronic communication with the market surveillance authorities on product safety (Article 22(1)), and one for consumers to communicate directly and rapidly with you on product safety (Article 22(2))."
    },
    {
      "name": "Build the seller interface around the mandatory information",
      "text": "Traders must be able to enter the manufacturer, the responsible person, the product identification and the warnings, and the interface must display them. Add the self-certification that they offer only compliant products."
    },
    {
      "name": "Set up the clock for orders and notices",
      "text": "Orders from authorities: without undue delay and within two working days. Notices from others: within three working days. Both need a named owner and a log."
    },
    {
      "name": "Check offers against the Safety Gate Portal and act on repeat offenders",
      "text": "Use the portal when checking offers, and suspend traders that frequently offer non-compliant products, after a prior warning.",
      "item": "knowledge-articles"
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "Registration of the single point of contact",
      "from": "You, with the Safety Gate Portal",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 22(1)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Description of the internal product safety processes",
      "from": "You",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 22(3) and (10)"
    },
    {
      "name": "A log of orders and notices with the time of action",
      "from": "Your trust and safety function",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 22(4) and (8)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "Two working days",
      "text": "Providers shall act on an order without undue delay, and in any event within two working days from receipt of the order (GPSR Article 22(4)).",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Three working days",
      "text": "Notices on product safety are processed without undue delay and in any event within three working days from receipt (GPSR Article 22(8)).",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Penalties under national law",
      "text": "Each Member State sets its own penalties for infringements of the regulation (GPSR Article 44).",
      "source": 1
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Do these duties replace the Digital Services Act?",
      "a": "No. Article 22 applies without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 and refers to it throughout. It adds the product safety specifics, and the Digital Services Act duties, such as obtaining and checking trader identity before a trader can offer products (Article 30, applicable since 17 February 2024), apply alongside it. Those trader rules do not apply to platforms that are micro or small enterprises unless designated as very large online platforms (Digital Services Act Article 29); GPSR Article 22 has no such exemption."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do we have to check every product before it goes online?",
      "a": "The article requires processes, the mandatory information, use of the Safety Gate Portal and action on orders and notices. It does not describe a general pre-approval of every product."
    },
    {
      "q": "What can an authority order us to do?",
      "a": "To remove content referring to an offer of a dangerous product, to disable access to it, or to display an explicit warning."
    }
  ],
  "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": "2026-09-21"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1020/oj",
      "accessed": "2026-09-21"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a single market for digital services (Digital Services Act)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2065/oj",
      "accessed": "2026-09-28"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "marketplace-listing-removed",
    "marketplace-account-suspended",
    "which-role-are-we"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-05",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}