What is the General Product Safety Regulation?
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a law designed to ensure that all products sold in the EU are safe for consumers. It replaces the older General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) and introduces updated rules to better protect consumers in a modern world with more complex products and supply chains.
What is the GPSR about?
The regulation ensures that all consumer products—from toys to electronics, kitchen appliances, and furniture—are safe to use. It doesn’t cover food or pharmaceuticals (which have their own regulations), but it applies to a wide range of everyday goods. The GPSR brings the safety rules in line with today’s reality, like considering risks posed by modern technology (e.g., smart devices, internet-connected products), environmental factors, and more.
Who does it apply to?
Manufacturers: Companies who manufactures a product or has a product designed or manufactured and markets that product under their name or trademark.
Importers: Companies bringing products from outside the EU on the EU market.
Distributors: Companies, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a product available on the market.
Online Marketplaces: Platforms that sell products online (like Amazon, eBay, etc.) now also have more responsibility to help ensure product safety.
Key Requirements of the GPSR
Product Safety Obligations
Manufacturers must make sure products are designed and made to be safe under normal use. Importers and distributors need to check that the products they are selling or importing comply with safety rules.
Everyone involved must act quickly to prevent unsafe products from reaching consumers.
Risk Assessments
Companies are required to assess risks of harm. This means looking at how a product could be dangerous, considering things like whether it’s prone to fire, electrical malfunction, or health risks like choking hazards for children. Manufacturers must gather information as technical documentation including test reports and risk assessments and other relevant documents.
Traceability
Products must be traceable—that is, authorities should be able to trace back a product through the supply chain to know who made it and where. Labels with the manufacturer or importer’s contact details are now required on the product or its packaging and must be disclosed to online marketplaces.
Corrective Actions
If a product is found to be unsafe, companies need to act quickly—this could mean issuing recalls or informing consumers about risks. They are also required to inform regulators and cooperate with authorities to address safety issues.
Online Sales and Marketplaces
E-commerce platforms will have more responsibility to ensure that third-party products sold on their sites are safe. They are required to have a system to handle complaints and report unsafe products.
New Technologies
The GPSR considers new risks from smart products (like Internet of Things devices) and requires that such products are cybersecure and safe for consumers.
How does this change things?
The GPSR strengthens consumer protection compared to the older rules by being more specific and covering newer risks like online sales and digital products. Online sellers and platforms (like eBay or Amazon) have more responsibility to ensure product safety. The regulation imposes stricter rules for manufacturers and sellers to act fast if products turn out to be dangerous, making it easier for unsafe products to be removed from the market. This means Consumers can expect safer products and faster recalls if something goes wrong.
How can Qarma help?
Qarma is very much a collector’s tool. Collect information and communication about your products and supply chain with the quality and compliance tools we have in our suite.
Our quality tool is ideal to inspect safety and stability of products and creating instant reports that can serve as part of your technical documentation package. With our product compliance tool, you can gather all relevant documentation for your technical documentation on your product and order, for easy sharing with authorities and partners.
Want to learn more about how Qarma can support you? Book a demo.
