EU requirements: Directive 2001/95/EC on General Product Safety (the "GPSD") aims to ensure that only safe products are made available to consumers. It defines a number of requirements for producers and distributors of products to ensure that products are safe, consumers are informed of any risks associated with products and dangerous products can be removed.
It is your responsibility to comply with the GPSD. You must also comply with national laws and regulations in Member States which implement the GPSD.
Please see below for further information about EU requirements.
UK requirements: The UK’s General Product Safety Regulations 2005/1803 (the "GPSR") aims to ensure that only safe products are made available to UK consumers. It defines a number of requirements for producers and distributors of products to ensure that products are safe , consumers are informed of any risks associated with products and dangerous products can be removed. Different rules apply to goods you sell in: (1) Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and (2) Northern Ireland.
It is your responsibility to comply with the GPSR if you are selling products in the UK. If you also sell products on Amazon EU Stores, then you must also comply with national laws and regulations in EU Member States which implement the GPSD.
Please see below for further information about UK Requirements.
This material is for information purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. We encourage you to consult your Legal counsel, if you have questions about the laws and regulations concerning your product. This material only reflects the position at the date of writing and requirements for the EU and the UK may change . You should refer to current UK Brexit guidance about your products (where available) to learn more about changes that may affect you from January 1, 2021.
The GPSD applies to any new, used, or reconditioned product that is intended for consumers or those where it is reasonably foreseeable that consumers may use it. This includes products supplied or made available in the course of a commercial activity, including in the context of providing a service.
The GPSD also applies to products that come within the scope of sector specific EU legislation (e.g. Toys Directive, Cosmetics Regulation, etc.) to the extent that specific requirements or standards are not covered under these sector specific legislation.
Excluded from the scope of the GPSD are pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food. These product types fall under separate legislation.
A product is safe when, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, it does not present a risk, or if the product presents a risk that such risk is the minimum risk compatible with the product’s use that is considered to be acceptable and consistent with a high level of protection. The concept of a safe product takes into account its characteristics, packaging and presentation, special groups of consumers (e.g. the elderly or young people), and effects on other products.
The GPSD has obligations for “producers” and “distributors.”
You are a producer if you are:
If you affix your name, trademark or any other distinctive mark on a product, or you recondition it, you will be considered the manufacturer (and therefore the producer) for the purposes of the GPSD.
You are a distributor if you are any other professional in the supply chain whose activities do not affect the safety of the product (e.g. a reseller).
Producers should only provide safe products to consumers. In addition, producers must provide consumers with all relevant information needed to use the product safely or take necessary precautions to mitigate any risk.
The presence of warnings does not exempt a person from compliance with the requirements of the GPSD.
The producer should also adopt measures to be kept informed of risks that their product may pose and take appropriate action to avoid these risks (including withdrawal or recall or warning consumers). Taking appropriate action (including withdrawal or recall) is to be done on a voluntary basis or on the request of a competent authority. However, if producers become aware or know that a product is not safe, they must immediately inform the competent authorities of the Member States and cooperate with them.
The precise requirements of producer obligations may vary between Member States. Examples of other measures that producers may be required to do to ensure the safety and compliance of their products include:
Distributors have an obligation to act with due care to help ensure compliance with the applicable safety requirements. They must not supply products which they know or should have presumed, based on the information that they have, do not comply with the relevant safety requirements.
We strongly encourage you to visit the European Commission’s website for more information on GPSD:
General product safety directiveThe GPSR apply to all products sold in the UK, but the provisions apply differently to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales, “GB”) and Northern Ireland. You can read more about the position in Northern Ireland (“NI”) below.
The GPSR applies to any new, used, or reconditioned product that is intended for consumers or those where it is reasonably foreseeable that consumers may use it. This includes products supplied or made available in the course of a commercial activity, including in the context of providing a service.
The GPSR also applies to products that come within the scope of sector specific legislation (e.g. Toy Safety Regulations, Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations etc.) to the extent that specific requirements or standards are not covered under this sector specific legislation.
Excluded from the scope of the GPSR are pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food. These product types fall under separate legislation.
A product is safe when, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, it does not present a risk, or if the product presents a risk that such risk is the minimum risk compatible with the product’s use that is considered to be acceptable and consistent with a high level of protection. The concept of a safe product takes into account its characteristics, packaging and presentation, special groups of consumers (e.g. the elderly or young people), and effects on other products.
The GPSR has obligations for “producers” and “distributors.”
You are a producer under the GPSR if you:
If you affix your name, trademark or any other distinctive mark on a product, or you recondition it, you will be considered the manufacturer (and therefore the producer) for the purposes of the GPSR.
You are a distributor if you are any other professional in the GB supply chain whose activities do not affect the safety of the product (e.g. a reseller).
Producers should only provide safe products to consumers. In addition, producers must provide consumers with all relevant information needed to use the product safely or take necessary precautions to mitigate any risk.
The presence of warnings does not exempt a person from compliance with the requirements of the GPSR.
The producer should also adopt measures to be kept informed of risks that their product may pose and take appropriate action to avoid these risks (including withdrawal or recall or warning consumers). Taking appropriate action (including withdrawal or recall) is to be done on a voluntary basis or at the request of Trading Standards. However, if producers become aware or know that a product is not safe, they must immediately inform Trading Standards and cooperate with them.
Measures that producers will usually be required to take to ensure the safety and compliance of their products include:
The UK Government has released guidance on alternative means of providing GB importer traceability information until December 31, 2022. See the BREXIT: UK Government Guidance section below for links to this guidance.
Distributors have an obligation to act with due care to help ensure compliance with the applicable safety requirements. They must not supply products which they know or should have presumed, based on the information that they have, do not comply with the relevant safety requirements.
Please note that different rules apply in NI from January 1, 2021 as a result of the Northern Ireland Protocol. In particular:
The UK Government has released guidance on selling products in GB and NI from January 1, 2021. This guidance provides information for producers and distributors regarding compliance requirements from January 1, 2021, including on:
We encourage you to review this guidance (linked below), alongside any other specific UK Government guidance that applies to your product. You should consult your legal counsel if you have questions about how the laws and regulations apply to your products from January 1, 2021.
GB:
NI:
We strongly encourage you to review guidance provided by the UK Government Office for Product Safety and Standards, see here:
We also encourage you to visit the Business Companion website, which contains guidance on UK product compliance rules: