What exactly does GPSR require?
Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the General Product Safety Regulation, has applied across all member states since 13 December 2024. It requires that every non-food consumer product placed on the EU market has a responsible economic operator established in the Union. If no such operator exists, the product cannot lawfully be placed on the market at all — this is a precondition, not a formality.
Who is allowed to hold the role?
An EU-established manufacturer, an authorised representative appointed in writing, the importer, or a fulfilment service provider. A company registered outside the Union cannot hold it, which is why sourcing agents based in China or Hong Kong are structurally unable to offer this no matter how helpful they are otherwise.
How is this different from an address service?
An address service sells you a compliant name to print on packaging for a few hundred euros a year. It is legal and it fills the box. What it cannot do is tell you whether the goods in the container match the technical file, because it has never seen them. We hold the role for goods we have inspected — which is the difference between compliance on paper and compliance in fact.
Will you take the role for products you did not supply?
Sometimes, but not automatically. We review the technical documentation first, and we need to be satisfied that the file is real and that the product matches it. Holding this role means we answer market surveillance authorities on that product, so we decline where the documentation is thin or where the category sits outside what we understand.
Does GPSR replace CE marking?
No. Where a product falls under a CE marking directive or regulation, those obligations continue to apply in full. GPSR sits alongside them and adds requirements around traceability, internal risk analysis and the responsible person. A product can be correctly CE marked and still be non-compliant under GPSR if nobody in the EU is answerable for it.
What does it cost?
It depends on the category, the number of SKUs and how much documentation work is needed up front. Where we already import your goods, the role usually comes with the arrangement rather than as a separate line. Where we are taking it on for products someone else supplies, we quote after reviewing the file.
