Quick answer
Since 13 December 2024, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), has required every consumer product sold in the EU to have a responsible person established in the EU. In practice that is the manufacturer, if it is based in the EU, the importer, or an authorised representative with a written mandate. Their name, postal address and electronic address must appear on the product and in your Amazon listing. If you sell from the UK or the US, you are a non-EU seller and need a responsible person before you sell in the EU. The same rules apply to products sold in Northern Ireland.
If you sell on Amazon’s European stores from the UK, the US or China, the GPSR responsible person is probably the requirement that raises the most questions: who can be one, what has to be printed on the product and what has to appear in the listing. These are the answers, taken from the regulation itself, the European Commission’s guidelines for businesses and the UK government’s guidance.
Selling from the UK or the US? Start here
The GPSR is an EU regulation. A business established in Great Britain or the US is a non-EU business, so to sell consumer products to customers in EU countries it needs a responsible person established in the EU. This is what applies depending on where you are based and where you sell:
| You are based in | You sell to customers in | What applies |
|---|---|---|
| Great Britain, the US or another non-EU country | EU countries | EU GPSR: you need a responsible person established in the EU |
| Great Britain | Northern Ireland | EU GPSR, which applies directly in Northern Ireland: the responsible person must be established in the EU or in Northern Ireland |
| Great Britain | Great Britain | The General Product Safety Regulations 2005. The UK government consulted on a new framework from 31 March to 23 June 2026 and is analysing the responses |
| An EU country | EU countries | EU GPSR: if you manufacture the product or import it into the EU, you are the responsible person |
Amazon’s own announcement to sellers on Amazon.co.uk follows the same line: its requirements cover “all the products you sell in the EU and Northern Ireland”.
What is the GPSR responsible person?
The GPSR is Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety, which has applied since 13 December 2024. Its Article 16 says that a product covered by the regulation cannot be placed on the EU market unless an economic operator established in the EU is responsible for it. That operator, known as the responsible person, makes sure the technical documentation exists, provides information and documents when a market surveillance authority asks for them, informs the authorities if a product presents a risk and cooperates with them on corrective action.
The GPSR covers consumer products: any item intended for consumers or likely to be used by them, whatever the sales channel, online marketplaces included. Medicines, food, feed, living plants and animals, plant protection products and antiques are among the exclusions. Products with their own EU legislation, such as toys, electrical equipment or cosmetics, follow those rules first, and many of them already require an economic operator in the EU, under Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 or their own legislation. The GPSR covers the risks those rules leave out, and its requirements for online listings apply to these products as well.
Who can be the responsible person in the EU?
You can’t pick just anyone. Article 16 refers to the list in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, which the Commission’s guidelines summarise like this:
| Order | Who | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manufacturer | If it is established in the EU |
| 2 | Importer | If the manufacturer is not established in the EU |
| 3 | Authorised representative | If the manufacturer appoints one with a written mandate |
| 4 | Fulfilment service provider established in the EU | Only for the products it handles, and only if none of the above is established in the EU |
In the GPSR, the manufacturer is not only whoever makes the product: it is also whoever has a product designed or made and sells it under their own name or trade mark. In practice, for Amazon sellers:
- Your own brand, with your business established in the EU: you are the manufacturer, even if the product is made in China, and therefore the responsible person.
- The brand of a manufacturer based outside the EU, imported by your EU company: your company is the importer and the responsible person.
- A UK, US or Chinese business shipping to EU customers or to FBA in the EU: appoint an authorised representative in the EU with a written mandate before you sell, or work with an EU importer.
- Reselling other brands: the responsible person is usually the brand’s EU manufacturer or importer. Your job is to check that their details are on the product and to add them to your listing.
What has to be on the product or its packaging?
This is the part you can’t fix in Seller Central: it has to be physically on the unit the customer receives. Articles 9 and 16 of the GPSR require:
| Information | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Name, registered trade name or registered trade mark |
| Manufacturer’s contact details | Postal and electronic address |
| Responsible person | Name, registered trade name or registered trade mark, and contact details including postal and electronic address |
| Identification | Type, batch or serial number, or another element that identifies the product |
| Safety | Clear instructions and safety information in a language consumers can easily understand, as decided by the country where the product is sold |
Three details from the Commission’s guidelines and the regulation. First, an electronic address can be an email address or a section of your website that lets consumers contact you directly; a website on its own isn’t enough. Second, each country decides which languages it accepts: in Spain, for example, the information must be at least in Spanish. Third, the responsible person’s details can go on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document.
What does the GPSR require in your Amazon listing?
Article 19 covers distance sales and applies directly to your listings. The offer must clearly and visibly show:
- The manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trade mark, with their postal and electronic address.
- If the manufacturer is not established in the EU, the name, postal address and electronic address of the responsible person.
- Information that identifies the product, including a picture, its type and any other product identifier.
- The warnings and safety information that have to accompany the product, in a language consumers in the country of sale can easily understand.
Amazon passed these obligations on to sellers in its announcement ‘Prepare for the new General Product Safety Regulation’, which lists eight requirements: five for the physical product (labelling and traceability, an EU responsible person, contact details, type, batch or serial number, and safety warnings in the language of the country of sale) and three for the listing (responsible person and manufacturer details, a product picture with identifying information, and warnings in the local language). If you sell on several European stores, the warnings have to be in the language of each one.
Online marketplaces have their own duties too, under Article 22: they must register with the EU’s Safety Gate portal, designate a single point of contact for authorities and another for consumers, and remove offers of dangerous products when an authority orders it. That is why a listing without this information is a real risk to your catalogue, not a formality.
What about stock placed on the market before 13 December 2024?
Article 51 includes a transitional provision: products that complied with the old General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC) and were placed on the market before 13 December 2024 can still be sold. The Commission’s guidelines specify that this is decided unit by unit: placing on the market means the first time each individual unit is made available in the EU. Units of the same model placed on the market after that date must meet the GPSR. By now, it makes sense to assume that all new stock has to comply.
Checklist: how to comply, step by step
- Check that your product is in scope. A non-food product sold to consumers is. Check whether it also falls under specific EU legislation (CE marking, cosmetics and so on).
- Work out your role. Manufacturer (including your own brand), importer or distributor. The table above tells you who the responsible person is.
- If you are outside the EU and have no EU importer, appoint an authorised representative in the EU, with a written mandate, before you sell.
- Prepare the technical documentation. Before placing a product on the market, the manufacturer has to carry out an internal risk analysis and keep technical documentation for 10 years, including the risks identified, the solutions adopted and any test reports.
- Update the label or packaging with the manufacturer, the responsible person, their postal and electronic addresses, and the type, batch or serial number.
- Write the safety warnings in the language of each country where you sell.
- Add the GPSR information to each ASIN in Seller Central: manufacturer, responsible person, images and safety information.
- Review the stock already in warehouses and plan relabelling for anything that doesn’t comply.
The GPSR isn’t the only EU rule that affects your packaging and your listings: the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the new rules on environmental claims do too.
Frequently asked questions
When did the GPSR responsible person become mandatory?
On 13 December 2024, when Regulation (EU) 2023/988 started to apply. Since then, every consumer product covered by the regulation needs a responsible economic operator established in the EU.
I sell from the UK. Do I need an EU responsible person?
Yes, for the products you sell to consumers in the EU, because a business in Great Britain is a non-EU business. For products sold in Northern Ireland the EU GPSR applies too, and the responsible person can be established in the EU or in Northern Ireland. Sales to customers in Great Britain follow the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
Can I be my own GPSR responsible person?
Yes, if your business is established in the EU and you are the manufacturer (which includes selling products made for you under your own brand) or the importer. In that case your own details are the ones that go on the product and in the listing.
Who is the responsible person if my manufacturer is in China?
If the product carries your own brand and your business is established in the EU, you are: the GPSR treats you as the manufacturer. If it carries the brand of a manufacturer based outside the EU, it is the importer established in the EU. If there is neither, the manufacturer has to appoint an authorised representative in the EU with a written mandate.
Is an email address enough as the electronic address?
Yes. According to the Commission’s guidelines, an electronic address can be an email address or a section of your website that lets consumers contact you directly. It always goes together with the postal address.
Do the safety warnings have to be in the listing, or is the label enough?
Both. Article 19 requires the online offer to show the warnings and safety information in a language consumers can easily understand, in addition to having them on the product or its packaging. On Amazon, that means the language of each store where you sell.
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Discover ax Prep Center →Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (EUR-Lex), Articles 2, 3, 9, 16, 19, 22, 51 and 52; Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (EUR-Lex), Article 4; European Commission, Guidelines on the application of the EU general product safety legislative framework by businesses (C/2025/6233, 21 November 2025); GOV.UK, EU Regulation 2023/988 on general product safety (3 December 2024); GOV.UK, Product regulation: the UK’s new product safety framework (consultation, 31 March to 23 June 2026); Amazon Seller Forums, ‘Prepare for the new General Product Safety Regulation’ (5 January 2024); Spain’s Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs, GPSR FAQ (1 August 2025), question 2.6. Checked on 7 October 2026. This article is for information only and is not legal advice.