EU Responsible Person Service for Non-EU Sellers

You need an EU-based responsible economic operator for your product, product safety documentation such as a risk analysis and technical documentation, labels with the required details, and complete safety information in every online listing. VAT, customs and producer-responsibility registration are separate tasks. Our guide for US and UK sellers walks through every step.

What you need to sell in Europe →

The Responsible Person is the business established in the EU that is responsible for your product under the GPSR. It is the contact point for the authorities, keeps the product-safety documents available and cooperates with the authorities. Who takes this role, and the exact tasks, depend on your product, your supply chain and any other EU product rules that also apply.

Depending on the supply chain, the responsible economic operator can be the manufacturer established in the EU, the importer where the manufacturer is outside the EU, an authorised representative appointed by written mandate, or a fulfilment service provider when none of the preceding operators is established in the EU. The applicable route must be identified for the specific product before it is placed on the EU market.

No. The Responsible Person is the business established in the EU that is responsible for your product under the GPSR. An authorised representative is a separate role that exists only through a written mandate from the manufacturer. An authorised representative can be your Responsible Person when the legal conditions are met and the mandate covers those tasks, but an importer or, in defined circumstances, a fulfilment service provider can take the role instead.

Yes, for the same product one responsible business established anywhere in the EU is enough; you do not need a separate Responsible Person in every Member State. You still need to check language, warnings, online offers and other product-specific EU or national requirements for every market where you sell the product.

Yes. Where the manufacturer is outside the EU, the EU importer can take the responsible role for the product. The importer also has its own GPSR duties as importer. So agree for each product who does which task, who can access the documents and who deals with the authorities – a role label alone is not enough.

Yes, if your product is covered by the GPSR: before it reaches the EU market, a business established in the EU must be responsible for it. That can be your EU importer or an authorised representative you appoint in writing. The right route depends on your supply chain and on any product-specific EU legislation that also applies.

It cooperates with the authorities, gives them information and documents about your product on request, and informs them when it has reason to believe the product presents a risk – these tasks come from the EU Market Surveillance Regulation. The GPSR adds regular checks, proportionate to the risk, that the product matches its technical documentation and that the product identifier, manufacturer details, instructions and safety information meet the requirements. On request, it must show the authorities evidence of these checks. The online listing details are not part of these legal checks – Grüner Baum GmbH reviews them as part of our service scope.

No. As the manufacturer, you remain responsible for product safety, the safety analysis, keeping technical documentation current and taking required corrective action. An authorised representative takes on only the tasks in its written mandate, while an importer is responsible through its own role in the supply chain, not through a mandate. The Responsible Person duties come on top of your duties – they do not replace them.

The review normally starts with the product description, essential safety characteristics, any appropriate risk analysis and the solutions chosen, supporting test evidence, traceability information, labels, warnings and instructions. If product-specific EU legislation requires a declaration or conformity-assessment record, that is included too. The GPSR itself does not create a general declaration of conformity for every product, so the documents you need depend on the product.

First we identify the manufacturer, products, supply chain and applicable legislation together. Then we record the accepted tasks and product scope in writing; we accept a mandate only after reviewing your available material. The service does not guarantee that a product will never face authority or marketplace action – manufacturers and other economic operators keep their own legal duties.

Yes, as soon as a product covered by the GPSR is placed on the EU market. A manufacturer established only in Great Britain is not established in the EU, so it first needs a responsible business established in the EU. Depending on the supply chain, that is the EU importer, an authorised representative appointed in writing or, in defined circumstances, a fulfilment service provider. Confirm the right route product by product.

A direct critical match receives immediate priority; our targets are two hours for detailed review and verification, four hours for notifying the manufacturer by email and phone, 24 hours for identifying affected lots and assessing a stop-sale, and 72 hours for a corrective-action plan prepared with the manufacturer. Where a Safety Business Gateway filing is required, we support it within four business days. These are Grüner Baum operational service commitments, not statutory reporting deadlines. The applicable legal duty and deadline are assessed separately for the specific incident, economic operator and product.

Grüner Baum GmbH charges 249 EUR per year for one accepted product family, with unlimited SKUs within each accepted family. Larger portfolios move up a package: 549 EUR per year for up to 5 accepted families, 949 EUR for up to 20 and an individual quote from 1,650 EUR above 20. There is no setup fee; incident support, such as a recall or a Safety Gate case, is quoted separately. The fee buys a service mandate, not a certificate.

The GPSR covers products placed on the market of the European Union. Sellers based in any country outside the EU are affected as soon as their consumer products reach EU buyers, through a marketplace, a distributor or direct shipping. Your company's location gives no exemption; what matters is where your product is placed on the market.

Certain product groups are excluded, among them medicinal products, food and feed, living plants and animals, and other sectors the GPSR lists. Where separate EU legislation already governs a product's safety, that legislation takes precedence and the GPSR applies only to the aspects it does not cover. Check each product against the GPSR's list of exclusions.

The GPSR governs the EU market, while Great Britain keeps its own product safety rules. If your business is established only in Great Britain and you place products on the EU market, you still need a responsible business established in the EU. Northern Ireland follows separate arrangements, so confirm the right route per product and per destination market.

No – these are two different laws that share an acronym. The UK's General Product Safety Regulations 2005 implemented the earlier EU General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC and still apply in Great Britain. The EU GPSR (Regulation (EU) 2023/988) replaced that directive, has applied across the EU since 13 December 2024, and only it creates the duty to have a responsible business established in the EU. Northern Ireland follows separate arrangements, so confirm the applicable rules per product and per destination market.

The binding text is Regulation (EU) 2023/988 in the Official Journal of the European Union; EUR-Lex has it in every EU language, also as a PDF. The European Commission's notice C/2025/6233 explains how the rules apply in practice. Where a summary and the Regulation disagree, the Official Journal version governs. The exact references and links are in the 'Legal basis and sources' table at the bottom of this page.