{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "recall-in-several-countries",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/recall-in-several-countries/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/recall-in-several-countries.md",
  "title": "We must recall a product sold in several EU countries",
  "description": "A GPSR recall across borders: notify every Member State where the product was sold, give quantities per country, and issue the notice in each language.",
  "answer": "Under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, a manufacturer or importer that recalls a dangerous product informs, through the Safety Business Gateway, the market surveillance authorities of every Member State where the product was made available, with the quantity still circulating per Member State if available. The recall notice must be in the language or languages of each of those Member States, and the remedy applies to every consumer.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "incidents-recalls",
    "label": "Incidents, recalls and authorities"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "manufacturer",
      "label": "Manufacturer"
    },
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "GPSR"
  ],
  "path": [
    "recall-manager"
  ],
  "trigger": "The product that must be recalled was sold through webshops, retailers or marketplaces in more than one Member State",
  "keep": null,
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "A recall under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 follows the product, not the company's home country. Where a manufacturer considers, or has reason to believe, that a product it placed on the market is dangerous, it must immediately take the corrective measures needed, inform consumers, and inform, through the Safety Business Gateway, the market surveillance authorities of the Member States in which the product has been made available (Article 9(8)). The notification gives details of the risk to health and safety, of any corrective measure already taken and, if available, of the quantity, by Member State, of products still circulating on the market. Importers carry a corresponding duty under Article 11(8), including the notification through the Safety Business Gateway (Article 11(8)(d)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Language follows the market as well. A recall notice must be one consumers can easily understand, available in the language or languages of the Member State or States where the product has been made available, and it must contain the elements listed in Article 36(2), including a free phone number or interactive online service where consumers can get more information in the relevant official languages. Consumers who can be identified are notified directly; where not all can be reached, the notice is spread through other appropriate channels for the widest possible reach (Article 35(1) and 35(4)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Authorities share what they see. Member States notify corrective measures for products presenting a serious risk through the Safety Gate Rapid Alert System, within four working days after the measure is taken, and where one Member State notifies such a measure, the others notify the measures or other actions they take subsequently for the same products no later than four working days after taking them (Article 26(1), 26(4) and 26(7)). Evidence used by one Member State's authority may be used in another's investigations without further formal requirements (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 11(6), applied by GPSR Article 23(1)).",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The rest of the chain is drawn in. Distributors who have reason to believe a product is dangerous make sure corrective measures are taken and give the details available to them, including the number of products involved (Article 12(4)). Providers of online marketplaces cooperate with authorities and operators, notify the buyers who bought through their interfaces when they have actual knowledge of a recall, and publish recall information on their interfaces (Article 22(12)). Each authority may request regular progress reports and decide whether or when the measure can be considered completed (Article 15(6)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Map the Member States and the quantities",
      "text": "List every Member State where the affected batches were made available, through which channel, and how many units are still in circulation in each. The notification asks for details of the risk, the measure already taken and, if available, the quantity by Member State."
    },
    {
      "name": "Notify all the authorities concerned in one go",
      "text": "Inform the market surveillance authorities of each Member State where the product was made available through the Safety Business Gateway. A notification to your home authority alone does not cover the others.",
      "item": "recall-manager"
    },
    {
      "name": "Produce the recall notice per language",
      "text": "The recall notice must be available in the language or languages of each Member State where the product was made available. Translate every mandatory element, including the hazard and the instruction to stop using the product, and give consumers a contact point where they get information in the relevant official languages."
    },
    {
      "name": "Reach consumers in every market",
      "text": "Notify directly every affected consumer you can identify, ask distributors and online marketplaces in each country to do the same, and use other channels where direct contact is not possible. Marketplaces must notify the buyers who bought through their interfaces when they have actual knowledge of the recall."
    },
    {
      "name": "Offer the Article 37 remedy in every market and report per country",
      "text": "Every affected consumer is entitled to an effective, cost-free and timely remedy (GPSR Article 37(1)). Each authority may ask you for regular progress reports and decide whether or when the measure can be considered completed (Article 15(6)), so keep the response figures per Member State."
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "The notification through the Safety Business Gateway",
      "from": "The manufacturer or importer",
      "ground": "GPSR Articles 9(8)(c) and 11(8)(d)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Quantities still in circulation, per Member State",
      "from": "Your sales and distribution records",
      "ground": "GPSR Articles 9(8) and 11(8), second subparagraph"
    },
    {
      "name": "The recall notice in each language required",
      "from": "The economic operator responsible for the recall",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 36(2)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Progress figures per Member State",
      "from": "You, on request of each authority",
      "ground": "GPSR Article 15(6)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "An alert in one country is shared with all of them",
      "text": "The Commission transmits a compliant Safety Gate notification to the other Member States (GPSR Article 26(5)). Where a Member State notifies corrective measures for products presenting a serious risk, the other Member States notify the measures or other actions they take subsequently for the same products no later than four working days after taking them (GPSR Article 26(7)). These are duties of the Member States, not of the operator.",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence from one authority is used by the next",
      "text": "Evidence used by a market surveillance authority in one Member State may be used in investigations by authorities in another Member State without further formal requirements (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 11(6), applied by GPSR Article 23(1)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "Each authority can act on its own market",
      "text": "If the operator does not take corrective action, or the risk persists, the authority ensures that the product is withdrawn or recalled, or that its being made available is prohibited or restricted, and informs the public (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 16(5)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "Penalties under national law",
      "text": "Each Member State lays down its own effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for infringements of the regulation (GPSR Article 44).",
      "source": 1
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Do we notify each country separately?",
      "a": "The Safety Business Gateway is the channel. The duty is to inform the market surveillance authorities of the Member States in which the product has been made available (GPSR Article 9(8)(c)); name all of them in the notification."
    },
    {
      "q": "Can one English notice serve every market?",
      "a": "No. The recall notice must be available in the language or languages of the Member State or States where the product has been made available (GPSR Article 36(2))."
    },
    {
      "q": "We do not know where our distributor sold the product. What now?",
      "a": "Ask. Economic operators must be able to identify the operators they supplied and who supplied them (GPSR Article 15(3)), and distributors who learn of a dangerous product must give the details they have, including the number of products involved (Article 12(4))."
    },
    {
      "q": "Can the remedy differ between countries?",
      "a": "Article 37 does not vary by Member State: every affected consumer is offered an effective, cost-free and timely remedy, as a rule with a choice of at least two of repair, replacement and refund (GPSR Article 37(1)–(2))."
    },
    {
      "q": "What do marketplaces in other countries have to do?",
      "a": "Marketplaces cooperate in the recall, directly notify all affected consumers who bought through their interfaces when they have actual knowledge of the recall, and publish recall information on their interfaces (GPSR Article 22(12)(a))."
    }
  ],
  "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": [
    "safety-business-gateway",
    "recall-notice-wording",
    "reach-the-buyers",
    "recall-cost-remedy",
    "product-on-safety-gate"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-04",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}