Selling in Northern Ireland and the EU? Find out if you’re affected by GPSR, and how to get ready for December’s deadline…
The new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) comes into force on 13 December 2024, bringing new compliance requirements for most non-food consumer products sold in the EU – and Northern Ireland.
Thing is, quite a lot of Amazon brands either haven’t started preparing themselves, or aren’t even aware of the GPSR.
If this is you, there’s time to get ready – but you need to start now.
Are we affected by GPSR?
Very possibly.
Even UK-only sellers find they’re making sales to Northern Ireland, and most non-food products fall within the scope of the regulations, except:
- Food
- Animal feed
- Medicinal products for human or veterinary use
- Living plants and animals (including genetically modified organisms and genetically modified microorganisms in contained use, as well as products of plants and animals relating directly to their future reproduction, like seeds)
- Animal by-products and derived products
- Plant protection products (like pesticides)
- Equipment on which consumers ride or travel when that equipment is directly operated by a service provider within the context of a transport service provided to consumers, and not operated by the consumers themselves
- Aircraft
- Antiques
So all you Amazon aircraft sellers can rest easy!
For everyone else… What do we need to do to comply with GPSR?
The key requirements of the regulations are that you must:
- Make sure all the products you sell in the EU or Northern Ireland in the scope of the GPSR meet GPSR requirements, as well as existing labelling and traceability requirements. For more information, read Amazon’s Product safety and compliance.
- Have a Responsible Person* based in the EU for those products.
- Label* all the products with the contact information, including the postal and electronic address, of the Responsible Person.
- Label* all the products with the contact information, including the postal and electronic address, of the manufacturer and, if applicable, of the importer and, where different, the postal or electronic address of the single contact point at which they can be contacted.
- Label* all the products with the type, batch or serial number or other element to make it possible to identify the product, and ensure the information is easily visible and legible for consumers.
- Display the Responsible Person’s name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, in online listings.
- Display the manufacturer’s name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, in online listings.
- Display a product picture and any other information needed to identify the product in online listings.
- Display warning and safety information, plus any other information concerning the labelling and marking required in compliance with applicable EU product safety and compliance law, in online listings, in the language of the country of sale.
* A “Responsible Person” can be the manufacturer or brand (if established in the EU), an importer established in the EU, an authorised representative established in the EU who is appointed in writing as the Responsible Person by the manufacturer or brand or a fulfilment service provider established in the EU, if no manufacturer, importer or authorised representative is established in the EU.
* Labels can be attached to the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document.
What happens if you’re not compliant by 13 Dec 2024?
If Amazon becomes aware that your product/s aren’t compliant, your listing/s will be deactivated.
Where do we start?
Our expert team suggest your key action points are to:
- Work out who your Responsible Person will be
- Sort out your labelling
- Update your online listings to display the Responsible Person and manufacturer details
- Get your warning and product safety information images ready for all of your applicable listings
Amazon says they’ll be releasing a widget to help upload your manufacturer’s name and contact details for each product, and the Responsible Person for non-CE-marked products.
And, though that widget’s not available yet, it’ll save you a lot of time and faff later on if you’ve got the information to hand when it is.
Need our expert help? Get in touch with the team.