What is GPSR? The General Product Safety Regulation explained for sellers outside the EU (2026)

If you sell to customers in the European Union, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is the rule that now decides whether your products can stay listed. The GPSR EU regulation has been in force since December 2024, and marketplaces are already removing listings that don't meet it. GPSR is sometimes mistyped as GSPR, but it's the same law. This guide covers what it is, who it covers, what it actually asks for, what it costs, and where to start.

What the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is

GPSR stands for the General Product Safety Regulation, formally Regulation (EU) 2023/988. It is the EU's baseline safety law for consumer products. If a product doesn't have its own specific safety law, GPSR is the law that covers it. As one seller summed it up: "if you sell any product into the EU that doesn't already have its own rules (medicine/food/arms etc) then you need to comply. It is a catch-all safety reg for everything else."

It replaced the older General Product Safety Directive on 13 December 2024. The word "Regulation" matters. Unlike a directive, the GPSR regulation applies directly and identically in all 27 member states, plus the EEA countries Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. There's no national version to track. One rule, one market. If you want the legal detail article by article, read our plain-English summary of Regulation (EU) 2023/988.

The core idea is simple: a product sold to EU consumers has to be safe, and someone reachable inside the EU has to stand behind that claim with documentation.

Who GPSR covers

GPSR is about the product, not the size of your shop. If you place a consumer product on the EU market, you're in scope. That includes:

• Sellers shipping directly to EU buyers from outside the EU
• Brands listing on Amazon, Etsy, eBay, or their own store
• Print-on-demand and white-label sellers who put their name on a product
• Dropshippers, who are often treated as the importer and carry the liability that comes with it

A handful of categories sit outside GPSR because they already have their own dedicated safety laws: medicines, food, and certain medical devices, for example. Genuine antiques, generally products around 100 years old, are also excluded. Toys, electronics, textiles, jewelry, homeware, stationery, and most everyday goods are covered. Toys and electronics carry extra rules on top of GPSR, which is worth knowing if that's your category.

One thing sellers get wrong constantly: there is no small-business exemption. A handmade shop selling ten items a year meets the same baseline as a global brand. The volume of paperwork scales with the risk of the product, not the size of the seller.

The four things GPSR asks of you

There are four practical obligations most sellers need to meet.

Appoint an EU Responsible Person. This is the big one for non-EU sellers. A product can only be sold in the EU if there's a Responsible Person established inside the EU. Their name and address have to appear on the product or its packaging, and they act as the contact point for authorities. You can't be your own Responsible Person unless your business is established in the EU. We cover the cost and how to choose one in the Responsible Person guide.

Show the product is safe. You need a technical file and a risk assessment. The risk assessment lists the hazards a buyer could face, how likely and how serious each one is, and what you did to reduce them. This is the document that proves you thought about safety instead of just claiming it. Our risk assessment guide walks through a real worked example.

Give buyers clear information. Products need a compliant label plus safety instructions and warnings, in a language the buyer understands. A German customer needs German warnings, not just English. The same information has to appear on your online listing before purchase, not only on the box.

Stay reachable and keep records. You keep your documentation for 10 years, maintain traceability (model numbers, batch info), and respond if a safety problem comes up.

What "safe" actually means under GPSR

GPSR doesn't ask you to prove a product is risk-free. It asks you to weigh each hazard by how bad the harm would be and how likely it is. In plain terms, risk is severity multiplied by probability.

A loose bead that a toddler could choke on is low probability but catastrophic severity, so it's a serious risk until you fix it. A paper edge that might give a light cut is the opposite. You document each hazard, score it, and record the change you made to bring a high score down, such as a stronger cord or a warning label.

Testing in a lab is sometimes needed, but for many ordinary goods it isn't. GPSR requires an internal risk analysis. You can do it yourself from what you know about the product and your supplier's material data, and only reach for a lab when the hazard genuinely calls for it.

What goes on the product and the listing

GPSR expects buyers and inspectors to be able to trace a product and reach someone about it. In practice that means:

• A model, batch, or serial number for traceability
• The manufacturer's name and contact details
• The EU Responsible Person's name, address, and an electronic contact
• The required safety warnings, in the buyer's language

This goes on the product itself where possible, or the packaging, or an accompanying insert if the item is too small to print on. For online sales, the distance-selling rules mean the manufacturer details, the Responsible Person details, and the warnings also have to be visible on the listing before the customer buys.

How the GPSR EU regulation is enforced now

Online marketplaces carry their own GPSR duties. They have to check that listings show a Responsible Person and the required safety information, and they have to act fast when a market surveillance authority orders a takedown, within two working days of the order.

That's why you may have seen Amazon and eBay add structured GPSR fields and block listings that lack the data, and why Etsy has been emailing sellers about a Responsible Person. Shopify is different: it doesn't enforce GPSR for you, which leaves the full burden on the merchant and is exactly where independent stores get caught out at customs.

In practice, the marketplace is doing the enforcement long before any government inspector gets involved. No compliant documentation, no listing.

What GPSR compliance costs

Costs vary a lot, and most of the sticker shock comes from one line: the Responsible Person. Realistic ranges look like this:

• EU Responsible Person: roughly €150 to €600 a year for a small catalog, more for higher-risk ranges or large catalogs.
• Documentation (risk assessment, technical file, label): anywhere from free if you do it yourself to a few hundred euros through a service.
• Lab testing: only when the product needs it, and then it can run from a few hundred to several thousand euros.
• Translation: a small per-language cost to put your warnings into each market's language.

The documentation is where most sellers get stuck and where the cost is most avoidable. A risk assessment and technical file sound like something only a lab produces. They don't have to be. See the full breakdown in the Responsible Person guide, or run the two-minute affected check first.

Common misconceptions

"I'm too small to be in scope." There's no size exemption. The rules attach to the product.

"Handmade and vintage are exempt." Handmade goods are fully in scope. Only genuine antiques, generally products around 100 years old, are excluded.

"My product is obviously safe, so I don't need to write anything." Even "there's no hazard here" has to be written down. "It's obviously safe" is not a compliant answer when an authority asks for your file.

"Does this hit my downloads and patterns too?" A pure digital file is generally out of scope. It's the physical goods that need the work.

Where to start

If you sell into the EU, you need three things before you list: an EU Responsible Person, the documents that prove your product is safe, and labels and instructions in the right languages. Miss any of them and your listing is at risk.

The paperwork is the part that stalls people. If you know your product, its materials, and who uses it, the documents can be generated from that information in minutes. That's what EUProof does: add your product, pick the EU languages you sell in, and download the technical file, risk assessment, safety instructions, and a compliant label, ready to attach to your listing.

Not sure whether GPSR even applies to you? Start with the two-minute check, grab a free template, or read the Responsible Person guide next.

This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with a qualified advisor or your Responsible Person.