--- title: "We are outside the EU and ship directly to EU consumers" description: "If your offer targets consumers in the EU, the General Product Safety Regulation treats the product as made available here, even when you ship from abroad. A product may only be placed on the market when an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for it. Without an importer, the manufacturer appoints an authorised representative, whose details go on the parcel and in the offer." type: "problem" url: "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/non-eu-seller-direct/" markdown: "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/non-eu-seller-direct.md" locale: "en" language: "en" updated: "2026-10-05" author: "Conphora compliance team" publisher: "Conphora" source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02023R0988-20260529" tags: ["GPSR", "suppliers-imports"] license: "Free to quote with attribution and a link to the page" --- # We are outside the EU and ship directly to EU consumers If your offer targets consumers in the EU, the General Product Safety Regulation treats the product as made available here, even when you ship from abroad. A product may only be placed on the market when an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for it. Without an importer, the manufacturer appoints an authorised representative, whose details go on the parcel and in the offer. ## Why this happens Selling from abroad does not keep a product outside EU law. Under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, products offered for sale online or through other means of distance sales are deemed to be made available on the market if the offer is targeted at consumers in the Union, which is the case when the economic operator directs its activities, by any means, to one or more Member States (Article 4). Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 has the same rule for products under the CE acts (Article 6). The Commission's Blue Guide adds that in online or distance sales by operators outside the EU, placing on the market can take place before the goods are released for free circulation (section 2.5). [1] [2] [4] The central requirement is an operator in the Union. A product covered by the GPSR may not be placed on the market unless an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for the tasks in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (GPSR Article 16(1)). That operator is a manufacturer established in the Union, an importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate from the manufacturer, or, where none of those is established in the Union, a fulfilment service provider for the products it handles (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(2)). Its tasks include verifying the documentation, giving authorities information on request, informing them of risks and cooperating on corrective action (Article 4(3)); under the GPSR it also checks regularly that products match the technical documentation and the labelling rules (Article 16(2)). [1] [2] Direct parcel sales often have no importer, because no business in the Union places the goods. The authorised representative is defined as a person established in the Union who has received a written mandate from a manufacturer (GPSR Article 3(9)), so a reseller outside the EU that is not the manufacturer cannot create one itself. The operator's name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, must be indicated on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Article 16(3)), and every online offer must show the manufacturer, the responsible person where the manufacturer is outside the Union, product identification and warnings (Article 19). [1] Marketplaces and customs enforce the same chain. Marketplace providers must let traders enter that information for each product and suspend traders that frequently offer non-compliant products (GPSR Article 22(9) to (11)), and under the Digital Services Act they collect traders' contact details, registration and a self-certification of compliance before allowing them to sell (Article 30(1)), unless the platform is a micro or small enterprise not designated as very large (Article 29). Products entering the Union are subject to risk-based controls before release for free circulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 25(3)). [1] [2] [3] ## How to solve it 1. **Check whether your offer targets the EU** An offer counts as targeted at EU consumers when you direct your activities, by any means, to one or more Member States. Delivery to EU addresses, EU languages, euro prices and EU shipping options are the signs to look at. If you target the EU, the EU rules apply to what you ship. 2. **Work out who the manufacturer is** If the product is sold under your name or trade mark, you are its manufacturer. If you resell another brand, that brand owner is the manufacturer. The difference matters, because only the manufacturer can give an authorised representative its mandate. 3. **Get a responsible economic operator in the EU** There are four possibilities: a manufacturer established in the Union, an importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate from the manufacturer, or a fulfilment service provider in the Union for the products it handles where none of the others exists. In direct parcel sales, an authorised representative is the usual answer. 4. **Put the details on the parcel and in the offer** The responsible operator's name, registered trade name or trade mark and its postal and electronic address go on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. Every online offer also shows the manufacturer, the responsible person, product identification and warnings. 5. **Give the responsible operator what it needs** Hand over the technical documentation and, for CE products, the declaration of conformity. Agree how the responsible operator will check that products match the documentation and the labels, and how you inform it of complaints and accidents. ## What you need to show - **Written mandate to the authorised representative, signed by the manufacturer** — The manufacturer and the representative (GPSR Article 3(9) and 16(1); Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(2)(c)) - **Technical documentation, available to the responsible operator** — The manufacturer (GPSR Article 9(2) and (3); Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)) - **Parcel or product label with the responsible operator's details** — You, at packing (GPSR Article 16(3)) - **Offer page with the mandatory information** — Your webshop or marketplace listing (GPSR Article 19) ## If you do nothing - **Parcels held at the border** — Customs control products declared for release for free circulation and suspend release where documentation is missing or doubtful or the product does not comply; for products under the CE acts listed in Article 4(5), also where the responsible operator's name and postal address are missing (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Articles 25(3) and 26(1)). - **The marketplace suspends you** — Marketplaces must let traders give the manufacturer and responsible person per listing, and must suspend traders that frequently offer non-compliant products after a warning (GPSR Article 22(9), (10) and (11)). Under the Digital Services Act, a marketplace within its trader rules suspends a trader whose information stays incomplete (Article 30(3)); platforms that are micro or small enterprises are exempt unless designated as very large (Article 29). - **Offers removed** — Where no other effective means exist to eliminate a serious risk, authorities can require content to be removed from an online interface or a warning to be displayed (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 14(4)(k)). ## Questions ### Is the consumer not the importer when they order from us? The GPSR defines the importer as a person established in the Union who places a product from a third country on the market, and the economic operators as businesses with duties under it. A consumer buying for private use is not one of them, which is why the Regulation asks for a separate responsible operator. ### We resell another brand. Can we appoint the authorised representative? No. An authorised representative acts on a written mandate from the manufacturer (GPSR Article 3(9)). If you are not the manufacturer, ask the brand owner for its EU responsible operator, or use an EU importer or fulfilment service provider. ### Can the marketplace be our responsible person? Not as a marketplace: the provider of an online marketplace is not on the list in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. A fulfilment service provider established in the Union can take the role for the products it handles, but only where there is no EU manufacturer, importer or authorised representative. A marketplace company that also stores and ships your goods may qualify as such a provider for them (GPSR recital 46). ### When is a product placed on the market in a distance sale? The Commission's Blue Guide says placing on the market can take place before the release for free circulation in online or distance sales by operators outside the EU, even though the physical check can only happen when the goods reach EU customs. ### Do the same rules apply to CE-marked products? Yes, through Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4, which sets the same requirement for products under the CE acts listed in its Article 4(5). The GPSR's Article 16 applies the same tasks to other consumer products. ## Regulations involved GPSR ## Sources 1. [Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (consolidated text of 29 May 2026)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02023R0988-20260529) — EUR-Lex, 2026-10-04 2. [Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (consolidated text of 12 August 2026)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02019R1020-20260812) — EUR-Lex, 2026-10-04 3. [Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065) — EUR-Lex, 2026-10-04 4. [The 'Blue Guide' on the implementation of EU product rules 2022 (2022/C 247/01)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0629(04)) — European Commission, via EUR-Lex, 2026-10-04