From today 13 December 2024, the EU Regulation on General Product Safety 2023/988 (otherwise known as the ‘GPSR’) comes into force in EU member states. It also applies in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework, which is causing quite a bit of confusion about what it means for GB businesses selling into NI and I’m not sure I’m going to add to it here or clear it up. But I'll explain what I think I know. Let’s start with what the GPSR is. The new regulation is basically trying to provide a blanket assurance that certain goods sold or ‘placed on the internal market of the EU’ are safe for consumers to use. Obligations are placed on the manufacturers to ensure to ensure they are safe for consumers to use. This applies both to EU-based manufacturers and ones located in third countries, including the UK.
The government here has published some guidance for British suppliers and exporters which you can find HERE.
This guidance says the regulation "requires that all consumer products placed on the NI and EU markets are safe and establishes specific obligations for businesses to ensure that safety. The Regulation applies to products placed on, or made available to, the market where there are no sector-specific provisions with the same objective."
I think this means that where there are no harmonised EU-wide regulations specifically designed to cover product safety, the GPSR will apply. However, certain goods are excluded, such as medicinal products for human or veterinary use, food, feed, living plants and animals, genetically modified organisms, animal by-products and derived products, plant protection products, some transport equipment, aircraft which involve low risks for aviation safety and antiques. Don't ask me why.
For GB traders, Article 16 is the big issue since it says:
"A product covered by this Regulation shall not be placed on the market unless there is an economic operator established in the Union who is responsible for the tasks set out in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 in respect to that product"
Now most big companies that export to the EU will already have a responsible person (AKA an 'economic operator' or EO) established in the EU under the existing EU 2019/1020 of June 2019 so this isn't new, it's been a requirement for several years, and was agreed while the UK was still an EU member state. The EO takes responsibility for providing the market surveillance authorities with all the relevant information on the particular product being imported.
The government guidance says explicitly that under the new rule, nothing changes for companies with EO already in place.
So, what’s the problem? Well, the problem comes for small GB businesses who have been supplying consumers in NI for years, don't consider themselves exporters at all and either have never sold into the EU or have stopped doing so after Brexit because of all the extra hassle. They have never had or needed to have an EO established in the EU.
From today that is no longer the case. They need to appoint someone based in NI (or the EU) to be responsible for complying with the EU GPSR Regulation and to have the contact details of that entity printed somewhere on the packaging. A lot of small businesses are simply not prepared for it, particularly those who sell via Amazon, eBay or any other online marketplace.
On Ebay, sellers can simply choose to prevent anyone in NI from placing orders and a lot of them have already decided this is the easiest option if sales in the six counties are a small proportion of their turnover. It means NI customers have their choice further restricted and GB suppliers losing sales.
Amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) sellers have their goods stored in the company’s warehouses and shipped directly to consumers, so those sellers can’t deselect NI customers, which makes things difficult for them. Amazon sellers who ship goods from their own warehouse can choose to stop selling to NI and again, many have.
Amazon has added to the confusion by advising FBA sellers in GB that they don't need to do anything at all, which I think may be wrong. We shall see. Some are doing nothing while others are actively preparing to comply with the GPSR! A lot of other small businesses, not on Amazon, who sell into NI will now need to appoint an EO and comply fully with the GPSR or exclude that part of the UK single market.
Ebay say sellers wishing to sell goods in NI do need to meet the new regulation.
Lord Frost, who negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement, was on BBC Politics show yesterday as two small business owners talked about the issues they now faced getting goods to consumers in NI. Frost blamed the EU, as you might have expected.
He is wrong, as you also might have expected. We knew the need to have an EO established in the EU was a requirement before we left and the GPSR does nothing to change that. What's changed is Brexit and the NI protocol.
The UK government GPSR guidance makes this very clear:
"If a GB-based business has already taken steps to trade in the EU, it will not have to make any additional changes in order to operate in NI, as it will already be meeting the requirements of the Regulation."
It only affects small GB businesses who haven't made arrangements to export to the EU after Brexit.
Before Brexit, they didn't need to.
