Guidance on implementing the GPSR: Your next steps
Read here to find out how you can meet the new legal requirements in a targeted manner.
1. Check for applicability
The GPSR applies to all consumer products made available on the European market, regardless of whether they are sold online or offline. It supplements existing sectoral product safety regulations. Companies must check whether their products fall within the scope of the GPSR and whether any specific EU product safety regulations apply.
2. Clarify role
The central economic actor in the GPSR is the manufacturer. They must ensure that their products meet the requirements of the GPSR. However, authorised representatives, distributors, importers, fulfilment service providers and online marketplaces also have defined obligations. In order to determine their specific product safety obligations, companies must define their role(s) in the supply chain.
3. Implement requirements
The GPSR obliges manufacturers of consumer products to meet certain safety requirements. Manufacturers are subject to the most extensive list of obligations: among other things, they must carry out a risk analysis and a conformity assessment procedure and affix product labels. The other economic operators in the supply chain must primarily comply with testing, monitoring and documentation obligations. By analysing and subsequently narrowing down the relevant requirements, as well as assessing the products, economic operators can determine the conformity of their products and, if necessary, identify the need for action at an early stage.
4. Monitoring
Due to ongoing changes in the legal situation and the further development of products, product requirements can change quickly. Economic operators should monitor legal developments in order to be able to respond to relevant legislative changes at an early stage. By taking current product safety requirements into account during product development and adapting existing compliance management processes, economic operators can ensure the long-term conformity of their products and, ideally, avoid corrective measures such as product recalls.