On December 13, 2024, the new EU-wide General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) will come into effect, imposing a range of obligations on merchants. With Shopware, your online shop is already well-prepared to meet these requirements.
Discover the GPSR's requirements, who is affected, and how to label your products correctly using Shopware.
Table of contents:
How do you implement the requirements for online retailers with Shopware?
Essential characteristics
Custom fields
Extensions
What is the General Product Safety Regulation?
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) aims to ensure a high level of consumer protection across the European Union. It outlines obligations for merchants, manufacturers, and other stakeholders. For online merchants, this means providing specific product information starting December 13, 2024.
Previously, product safety was governed by Directive 2001/95/EC. Since the GPSR is a regulation, it does not require transposition into national law to take effect. Published in May 2023, the GPSR will become enforceable after an 18-month transition period.
Implementing these requirements could involve significant administrative effort for businesses. Prepare your online shop now to comply with the EU regulation.
Who is affected by the General Product Safety Regulation?
The GPSR applies to various stakeholders in the EU supply chain, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, and online merchants. Online merchants are directly impacted, regardless of whether they produce their products. Merchants selling products under their own name or brand are considered manufacturers under the GPSR. The same applies if a merchant modifies a product in a way that requires reassessment of its safety.
What are the GPSR requirements for online merchants and others?
All stakeholders are responsible for ensuring that only safe products, properly certified and labeled, are placed on the market. The GPSR introduces specific requirements, including information disclosure and risk assessment.
Obligations for online merchants
As an online merchant (an economic operator in distance selling), you must now label your products. Relevant product information must be clear and easily accessible in the listings, including:
The name, registered trade name, or trademark of the manufacturer, along with a postal address and electronic contact details.
If the manufacturer is located outside the EU, the name, postal address, and electronic contact details of the responsible person within the EU.
Information to identify the product, including images, product type, and identifiers.
Any warning or safety instructions affixed to the product or packaging or included in accompanying documents. These must comply with the GPSR or applicable harmonization regulations and be written
in the appropriate language(s) for the market.
Refer to the section "How to implement the GPSR requirements for online retailers with Shopware" for guidance on adding this information.
These adjustments are mandatory only for products placed on the market starting December 13, 2024. General merchant obligations also apply.
Obligations for merchants, manufacturers, and all stakeholders
Merchants: Ensure product compliance with regulations, store and transport goods safely, avoid selling unsafe items, take corrective actions, and notify other stakeholders of emerging risks.
Manufacturers: Conduct risk assessments for all products, maintain technical documentation for 10 years, and keep it up to date.
High-risk products: For products likely to pose serious risks, the Commission may establish a traceability system to identify products, their components, and the stakeholders involved.
Manufacturers must report accidents caused by their products. Merchants or importers aware of an incident must notify the manufacturer.
Operators of online marketplaces also face new obligations. Consult a legal expert to ensure your business complies with GPSR requirements.
Assessment criteria, recalls, and penalties
The GPSR risk assessment criteria include the product itself, packaging, use in conjunction with other items, and potential consumers.
If a product is unsafe, a product safety recall is initiated. Sellers must offer affected customers two out of three remedies: repair, replacement, or a reasonable refund.
Penalties for non-compliance are determined by individual member states, which must notify the Commission of these penalties by December 13, 2024.
Which products are covered by the General Product Safety Regulation?
The GPSR focuses on consumer protection and applies to products placed on the EU market from December 13, 2024, that could end up in consumers’ hands, regardless of whether they are for B2C or B2B use. This includes items supplied for free or for payment, as well as used and repaired goods, but excludes damaged products sold as such with proper labeling.
Some products are already governed by EU-wide directives, such as toys. Where the GPSR addresses aspects not covered by these directives, the regulation applies. Products subject to harmonization regulations are exempt from the GPSR.
The GPSR also lists exclusions, such as pharmaceuticals, food and feed, plant protection products, and antiques.
How to implement the GPSR requirements for online retailers with Shopware?
If you run your online shop with Shopware, you already have the tools to meet these obligations. For online merchants, information disclosure is key. This includes manufacturer contact details, product identifiers, and notices as described above. Here’s how to do it:
Essential characteristics
You can use various templates for your products to display the required information. To access this feature, go to Settings > Shop > Essential characteristics. Start by creating a template that includes the entries required by Shopware.
In the "Values" section, specify the data to be displayed in the storefront – these are the details necessary for GPSR compliance.
Click "Add field," select the data type, and fill out the subsequent form.
Finally, assign the template to a product. In the product details, you'll find the section "Essential characteristics". Shopware will display this information in the storefront, directly at the product level during checkout.
Custom fields
With Shopware’s new feature that integrates custom fields into CMS layouts, merchants gain a flexible and efficient way to label their products in compliance with GPSR. This functionality will be available in the next release, scheduled for early December.
How does it work? Custom fields allow you to create individual data fields and populate them with product-specific information, such as safety warnings, legally required product details, or origin information.
Thanks to CMS integration, custom fields can now seamlessly populate text blocks or entire CMS sections. This means that any changes made to custom fields automatically update across all layouts where these fields are used. This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of manual errors during updates.
Example: You can create a custom field for a product’s manufacturing date, which will automatically appear on all relevant product pages or landing pages. If the date is updated in the custom field, it will instantly reflect across all connected layouts.
This feature simplifies compliance with GPSR requirements and ensures consistent and professional presentation of product information.
How to get started:
Navigate to Settings > System > Custom fields or use the API to create custom field sets.
Define the data type for each field (e.g., "Text") and assign the set to an entity, such as products.
You can create multiple custom fields for products or assign custom fields to the "Manufacturer" entity for supplier-related information.
The information can be added directly in the product or manufacturer editing view and displayed using variables on product detail pages, ensuring customers can easily find the required data.
Display of custom fields on the product detail page using variables
Third-party extension by ACRIS E-Commerce GmbH
Another option is to leverage third-party extensions. ACRIS E-Commerce GmbH offers a paid extension specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the GPSR. This tool allows you to manage and display all necessary information efficiently.
Conclusion on GPSR
The new General Product Safety Regulation introduces several requirements that merchants must implement for each product. These measures aim to enhance consumer protection and strengthen the internal market.
Fortunately, with Shopware, you already have the technical tools to comply with these new obligations seamlessly in your online shop.
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