What is GPSR? The EU General Product Safety Regulation, explained for Shopify sellers.

The General Product Safety Regulation, formally known as Regulation (EU) 2023/988, is the European Union's main consumer product safety law. It has applied since 13 December 2024 and replaces the older General Product Safety Directive (Directive 2001/95/EC). It covers many consumer products offered to people in the EU, subject to the regulation's scope and exclusions.

This is a plain-English guide for store owners and operations teams. It focuses on one practical question: what information must an online product offer show?

The one-paragraph summary

For products within its scope, Article 19 requires an online offer to show the manufacturer's identity and contact details, information that identifies the product, and any applicable warnings or safety information. If the manufacturer is outside the EU, the offer must also show the EU Responsible Person's name and contact details. Required warnings and safety information must be in a language consumers can easily understand, as determined by the Member State where the product is offered.

Who has to comply?

GPSR applies to any economic operator placing consumer products on the EU market. The regulation defines several roles:

• Manufacturer - the person or business that makes a product, has it made and sells it under its own name or trademark, or modifies it in a way that affects safety.
• Importer - an EU-established person or business that places a product from outside the EU on the Union market.
• Distributor - anyone in the supply chain who is not the manufacturer or importer but makes the product available.
• Fulfilment service provider - a business that offers at least two services such as warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatching without owning the product.
• Online marketplace - platforms that connect buyers and sellers (this is where Article 22 obligations land).

For a Shopify merchant, the first task is to identify your role for each product. If a product is made for you and sold under your name or trademark, GPSR treats you as the manufacturer. If your EU-based business brings another company's product into the EU, you may be the importer. Your obligations depend on that role.

The "responsible person" requirement

Article 16 says that a product covered by GPSR cannot be placed on the Union market unless an economic operator established in the EU is responsible for the specified tasks. This is often called the EU Responsible Person.

The responsible person can be:

• The manufacturer, if it is established in the EU.
• An importer, where the manufacturer is not in the EU.
• An EU-established authorised representative appointed in writing by the manufacturer.
• A fulfilment service provider established in the EU, when none of the above exist.

Article 16 requires this operator's name and contact details to appear on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. Separately, Article 19 requires an online offer to show the Responsible Person's name and postal and electronic address when the manufacturer is outside the EU. Publishing the details online does not replace the physical marking requirements.

What must appear on the product page (Article 19)

Article 19 lists the information that an online product offer must show clearly and visibly before purchase:

• The name, registered trade name or trademark of the manufacturer, and a postal and email address where the manufacturer can be contacted.
• If the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the name and postal/electronic address of the EU responsible person under Article 16.
• Information allowing identification of the product, including a picture, type, and any further product reference.
• Any warnings or safety information that must be affixed to the product or packaging, or included in an accompanying document, under GPSR or other applicable Union law. This text must be in a language consumers can easily understand, as determined by the relevant Member State.

That last point creates the language requirement: warnings and safety information must be easily understood by consumers, as determined by the Member State where the product is made available.

The deadline

GPSR has applied since 13 December 2024. Products placed on the Union market on or after that date must meet its requirements.

Article 51 contains a transition rule. Member States may not stop products from continuing to be made available if they were covered by and compliant with the previous General Product Safety Directive and were placed on the market before 13 December 2024. Whether a particular unit was already placed on the market is a factual question, not simply a matter of when its online listing was created.

What enforcement looks like

Enforcement is handled by national market-surveillance authorities. Their powers include investigating products, requiring corrective action and applying the penalties available under national law.

The Safety Gate portal collects public reports of dangerous non-food products. Providers of online marketplaces have separate obligations under Article 22.

What this means in practice for a Shopify store

If you're running a Shopify store that ships to EU customers, the practical to-do list looks like this:

• Identify which products are within GPSR's scope and check the regulation's exclusions.
• For each product, know who the manufacturer is. Get their full legal name and an address you can publish.
• Identify the EU-established economic operator responsible under Article 16 for each product. Depending on the supply chain, that may be the manufacturer, importer, authorised representative or fulfilment service provider.
• Decide on warnings and safety information per product or product family. Many product categories have very specific warning text required by harmonised standards.
• Provide required warnings and safety information in languages that consumers can easily understand, as determined by each Member State where the product is offered.
• Render all of the above on the product page, visible before purchase.
• Keep a record of risk assessment and technical documentation per product, even if you don't publish it on the product page - authorities can ask for it.

Where Marqly fits

Marqly does not turn you into a manufacturer, designate a responsible person for you or decide which legal warnings apply to your product. It provides templates and drafting assistance, but you review the result. Marqly handles the operational work once those decisions are made:

• Stores the manufacturer and responsible person details once, attaches them to many products.
• Stores the warning text per product (or per product group).
• Renders all of it on every Shopify product page, in 26 European languages (all 24 EU official languages plus Icelandic and Norwegian), shown to EU/EEA shoppers in their own language.
• Flags active products that are missing expected fields.
• Lets you bulk-update when an address changes or you add a new supplier.

The legal decisions still sit with the merchant and the relevant economic operators: which obligations apply, who fulfils the Article 16 role and which warnings are required. Marqly handles the operational work of storing the chosen information and publishing it consistently across product pages and storefront languages.

Sources and further reading

• Regulation (EU) 2023/988 - full text on EUR-Lex
• European Commission - GPSR information page
• Shopify Help Center - Understanding GPSR

One last note

This page is informational and not legal advice. If you are unsure whether you qualify as a manufacturer or importer, which warnings apply to your category, or who can fulfil the Article 16 role, seek advice for your specific products and supply chain. Marqly is not your EU Responsible Person.