Our supplier recalled a product we sell

A recall started by your supplier is not the supplier's problem alone. The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 gives distributors their own duties for the products they make available. A distributor who has reason to believe that a product is not in conformity may not make it available until it has been (Article 12(3)). A distributor who has reason to believe that a product it has already made available is dangerous must immediately inform the manufacturer or importer, ensure that the corrective measures are taken, including withdrawal or recall, and ensure that the market surveillance authorities of the Member States concerned are immediately informed through the Safety Business Gateway, giving the details it has on the risk, the number of products involved and any measure already taken (Article 12(4)).^[1]

Reaching the buyers is a shared duty. In a product safety recall, economic operators, in accordance with their respective obligations under Articles 9 to 12, ensure that all affected consumers who can be identified are notified directly and without undue delay, and operators that collect customer data must use it for that purpose (Article 35(1)). Where not everyone can be reached, the recall notice goes out through the channels with the widest reach, including the company's website, social media, newsletters and retail outlets (Article 35(4)). The notice itself follows Article 36 and is written by the operator responsible for the recall.^[1]

Marketplaces have a parallel duty: to notify the consumers who bought the product through their interfaces, to publish recall information, to inform the operator when they remove an offer, and to cooperate so that recalls are effective (Article 22(12)). The remedy comes from the operator responsible for the recall, which must offer the consumer an effective, cost-free and timely remedy (Article 37(1)).^[1]

The Commission's guidance to businesses adds the practical point: consumers return products when the recall is simple and the remedy is speedy, so the supplier's notice, the remedy and the return route should be the same wherever the consumer hears about it.^[3]

Where an operator in the chain fails to act, market surveillance authorities ensure the withdrawal or recall themselves under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (Article 16(5)).^[2]