EU GPSR: the General Product Safety Regulation for online stores

What the GPSR is

The GPSR replaces the older General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC with a regulation. That difference matters. A directive sets goals that each Member State turns into its own national law, which is why safety rules used to vary from country to country. A regulation applies directly and uniformly across the whole EU. The aim is one consistent baseline for the safety of consumer products, including what has to be communicated to shoppers when a product is offered for sale.

The GPSR is the general safety net. It applies to consumer products that are not already covered by more specific EU safety rules, and it fills the gaps for those that are. One of the most visible changes for online sellers is Article 19, which sets out the information a product listing must clearly show when the product is offered at a distance, for example through an online store. That is the part of the regulation an online merchant deals with most directly, and it is the focus of this guide.

Who it affects

The GPSR applies to consumer products offered on the EU market. For an online store that means the goods you offer to EU shoppers, including cross-border sales from outside the EU. You do not need a warehouse, an office, or a company in the EU for the online-listing duties to reach you. What matters is that the product is made available to consumers in the EU, so the relevant question is “am I offering this product to shoppers in the EU” rather than “where is my business based”.

Some categories sit outside the GPSR entirely. Article 2(2) excludes, among others, medicinal products, food and feed, living plants and animals, antiques, and products that have to be repaired or reconditioned before use where that is clearly indicated. This is not an exhaustive list, and it is worth checking whether any of your catalogue falls outside the regulation before you treat every product the same way.

The Article 19 online-listing duties

Article 19 is the heart of the GPSR for online sellers. Where a product is made available online, the offer must clearly show four things. These are the elements a shopper should be able to see on the listing before they buy.

(a) The manufacturer’s identity and contact

The manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trademark, together with a postal address and an electronic means of contact. This is who made the product and how a consumer or authority can reach them.

(b) The responsible person, where the manufacturer is outside the EU

Where the manufacturer is not established in the EU, the listing must also show the name, address and contact details of the responsible person as defined in Article 16. This is covered in detail on our EU responsible person page.

(c) Product identification

Information that identifies the product, including a picture of it, its type, and any identifier such as a model number or batch code. This lets a shopper and an authority tell precisely which product the listing is for.

(d) Warnings and safety information

Any warning or safety information that has to be affixed on the product or to accompany it, provided in a language easily understood by consumers. Which warnings are required depends on the product, and that is where the dual legal basis comes in, explained next. Our Article 19 deep-dive walks through all four elements and how to put each on a Shopify product page.

The dual legal basis

A common point of confusion is that Article 19 does not decide, on its own, which warnings a given product needs. Article 19(d) requires the warnings mandated “by this Regulation or by the applicable Union harmonisation legislation”. In other words, the source of the online-information duty depends on the kind of product.

How to get your listings in order

1. Confirm which of your products fall under the GPSR and which are excluded under Article 2(2), such as food, medicines, or antiques.
2. For each product, identify the manufacturer and record their name, registered trade name or trademark, postal address, and electronic contact.
3. Work out whether the manufacturer is established in the EU. Where they are not, record the EU responsible person’s name, address, and contact details.
4. Gather product identification: a picture, the type, and any model number, batch code, or other identifier.
5. Collect the warnings and safety information for each product, in a language easily understood by consumers in the markets you sell into.
6. Show all of this clearly on the product listing, and check that it is actually visible to shoppers on the live page.

How Safira helps

Safira is a configuration and documentation tool for Shopify. It adds product-safety fields to the Shopify product editor, so you can record the manufacturer, the EU responsible person, the safety information, and a “made outside the EU” flag against each product. It provides a theme block that shows those details on the product page, and it reads your live theme to confirm the block is actually showing. A readiness scan counts which products are still missing information, so you can see at a glance what is left to fill in. It requests two Shopify permissions, write_products and read_themes, and never touches orders or customer data. Safira shows the information and scores how complete the display is; it does not certify legal compliance and never claims a product is compliant or safe.

Frequently asked questions

What is the EU GPSR?

The GPSR is the General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988. It is the EU’s baseline product-safety rulebook for consumer products. It has applied since 13 December 2024, when it replaced the older General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC. Because it is a regulation, it applies directly in every Member State without each country writing its own transposing law.

Does the GPSR apply to my store if I am not based in the EU?

If you offer products to consumers in the EU, including cross-border online sales, the GPSR reaches those offers regardless of where your business is registered. Article 19 sets out what your online product listing has to show, and where the manufacturer is not established in the EU the listing must also show the details of an EU responsible person.

Is the GPSR a future deadline I need to prepare for?

No. The GPSR already applies. It has been in force since 13 December 2024. There is no upcoming start date to wait for, so the online-listing duties in Article 19 are live obligations today rather than something that phases in later.

Does the GPSR cover every product I sell?

Not all of them. The GPSR is the general baseline for consumer products, but some categories are excluded, for example medicinal products, food and feed, living plants and animals, antiques, and products that must be repaired or reconditioned before use where that is clearly indicated. Products covered by specific EU harmonisation law also get their online-information duty from a different route, explained below.

Does Safira make my products GPSR-compliant?

No. Safira helps you display product-safety information on your Shopify product pages and scores how complete that display is. It does not certify legal compliance, does not decide which legal regime applies to a given product, and never claims a product is compliant or safe. It is a configuration and documentation tool, not legal advice.