Despite leaving the European Union four years ago, as our largest trading partner, many EU rules and regulations still affect UK businesses. The EU General Product Safety Regulation (EU GPSR), which introduces updated rules for ensuring the safety of consumer products sold within the EU, will have significant cost and administrative impacts on SMEs selling goods into the bloc. The Regulation, which came into effect in December 2024, is designed to strengthen consumer protection, allow national authorities to identify and address unsafe imports, unify standards and digitalise compliance, and promote accountability among manufacturers, importers, and distributors.
To maintain market access, SMEs exporting to the EU and Northern Ireland must understand and comply with the new Regulation.
Who Does the GPSR Apply To?
The regulation applies to various parties involved in the supply chain, including:
- Manufacturers must ensure that when designing and producing products they comply with safety standards.
- Importers are required to confirm that non-EU products meet EU safety requirements before placing them on the market.
- Distributors of all non-EU products must be handled and stored in a way that preserves their compliance with safety standards.
- Online Marketplaces now have to remove unsafe products and provide safety information to consumers.
What Products Are Covered?
All products except the following fall under the new Regulation:
- Food
- Animal Feed
- Medicines for Human Use
- Live Plants and Animals
- Aircraft Involving Low Safety Risks
- Antiques
The Main Requirements Under the EU General Product Safety Regulation
Any business exporting into the EU or Northern Island must comply with the following:
Appoint a Responsible Person Based within the EU
If your organisation does not have an EU base, you will need to appoint a ‘responsible person’ who will ensure that individual products’ technical information, instructions, and safety information is available.
The manufacturer of the product, its importer, or distributor can act as the responsible person provided they are based in the EU. If they are based outside the bloc, you will need to appoint a responsible person specifically.
Risk Assessments
The EU GPSR requires manufacturers to add the following to their standard product risk assessments:
- Cybersecurity and any AI functionality and learning
- Gender-related differences and risks to vulnerable consumers
- Changes to the product after it is placed on the market due to software updates and/or machine learning
The above list is not exhaustive. The more complex your product/s, the more you will need to invest in testing and risk assessments. This will need to be included in the overall development costs.
Detailed Product Recalls
The content and form of product recalls within the EU are now more complex. Also, consumers must be offered a choice of at least two of the following remedies when carrying out a recall: a repair, a replacement or a refund, unless it is deemed impossible or disproportionate to do so.
Reporting Requirements
If an accident occurs, economic operators or their responsible persons must use the Safety Gateway to inform relevant authorities as soon as possible.
To require reporting, an accident must have “resulted in an individual’s death or in serious adverse effects on that individual’s health and safety, permanent or temporary, including injuries, other damage to the body, illnesses and chronic health effects”. Providers of online marketplaces must report “any accident … resulting in a serious risk or actual damage to the health or safety of a consumer”.
Economic operators are now required to keep an internal register of any safety complaints regarding specific products.
Increased Responsibilities for Online Marketplaces
One of the key reasons for updating the product safety regulation was to bring the responsibilities and duties of economic operators in line with the fact that many people buy products online. To this end, online marketplaces now have far more responsibility to prevent dangerous products from being sold.
Traceability
Exporters must be able to trace their products throughout the supply chain and identify the manufacturer, importer, and distributor.
What are the Penalties for Non-Compliance?
Non-compliance with the EU GPSR can result in severe penalties, including fines, product recalls, and being banned from exporting into the EU and Northern Ireland markets.
There is no getting around the fact that the EU GPSR presents a challenge to SMEs and micro businesses. Large corporations can spread the compliance cost throughout their product ranges and export markets. According to the UKTPO, some SMEs and micro-businesses ceased trading with the EU before the EU GPSR came into force.
If you are an SME and are unsure about any aspects of the EU GPSR, the best thing you can do is talk to your professional advisors. They can explain your compliance duties so you can secure your ability to trade within the EU and Northern Ireland and ensure that your commercial reputation is maintained.
How We Can Help
As experts in commercial law, we can provide expert advice and representation on all trade and export law matters, including EU regulatory compliance. Contact us on 0330 173 6983 or send us an email for more information.
