GPSR Compliance

[bojangled]

This is as clear as mud to me. Been to the gov. advice website and various others.
How does a 1972 poster fit in to this process?

It's not an exempt category. 

Advise buyers this item is for viewing only ? 

My initial reaction, sadly, to to switch EU and NI off. 
Jo

[jeznorthbay]

The irony is of course that you & lots of people are paying totally unregulated companies to be reps, mostly without contracts that actually give them any protection. EUCP for example only set up in 2023 & there's nothing online as far as I can see that gives reassurance that they're a company that can or has done this kind of work.

Its another of the frustrating things about this legislation that sellers are paying our 100's when they might not need to or to companies who might not even do what they're supposed to.

[ojewellery]

@bravergrace My understanding of significant relevant reports was from EU officials as in major recall issues like we've had with electric scooters - not sister in laws with not enough to do with their time.  A caveat that in exceptional circumstances eBay still reserve the right to take account action.  i.e. a seller called electricscooters who just sells electric scooters and their sole product has been restricted from sale.

I do agree though.  When it comes down to it, looking at hard numbers and the business case is the only way to proceed.  I've procrastinated for months.  Then sold enough on Etsy to EU over the weekend to cover the out of pocket cost for compliance.  My time on it will probably take the whole year to recoup - but that's spent time which ever way I leapt now.  My eBay has been mid promotions so I haven't wanted to upload information until this afternoon to not upset the peak sales period. 

When the German packaging act came in, I was going to switch off, then decided to give it a year - it was about £30.  My sales to Germany were significantly higher because so many people switched off.  The business, across platforms, has grown since then and so now my EU sales per year can absorb this.

[555njp]

Exactly same for me. Most of my spare parts are only compatible with countries using 240v power supply so when I gave up selling automotive memorabilia etc. EU sales virtually stopped. The other items we sell are generally too heavy to make if worth someone in the EU paying for postage plus C&E taxes etc. so that finished that.

My real annoyance is sales to NI. They are not that high but we did sell quite a few mower parts and hardware there. NI is UK not EU so should not be included.

It is far too complex, time consuming and risky to get my used items compliant and for the volume of sales it makes no sense for it to also add to my expenditure. 

I do have a positive though. As the EU is now going to have far less GB sellers to buy from. Anyone who still has any margin left after eBay shop, seller and PL fees, tax etc. to pay for compliance, could see a big increase in sales?
Although that said, unless it’s something unique or unavailable locally, I suspect EU based sellers will be able to undercut.

[ojewellery]

Yes many companies that are doing responsible person work set up after the need to be a responsible person existed.  Some will be bogus, some I've looked into I have found no evidence of competency and moved on from.  Some are very professional and hand hold but not financially viable, thousand plus per product.

Making a considered leap and deciding what to do is challenging.  I checked out the staff I've spoken with on Linked in and looked at their background to assess competency - I didn't employ an investigator to do this for me, my risk assessment is that the chances of being challenged for safety issues for my jewellery are very slim and I can document  I've made reasonable efforts to comply should I be audited (very unlikely).  It wouldn't stack up to spend thousands for me, I did check out the eBay partners - interestingly webinterpret just called about there offer - three weeks? after I submitted a call back request.  Their offering has now been published and looks very accessible - I think it starts at £19.99/ month and includes all the translating and listings etc.

[jeznorthbay]

£19.99 per month = around £250 per year. There will be thousands of sellers who simply don't have the margin for that & it seems obvious that the people who drew up this legislation & the UK Gov departments dealing with it don't think of people with that size of business as part of the discussion. However, whilst they might have a decent profit over a year there will be lots that simply need every penny of it to counter all the other cost increases. I'm sure most, if not all, do want only safe products available, as we're all consumers also, but it does seem this legislation won't stop the importers who are an issue & will stop those that aren't.

[ojewellery]

Here's something for us all to mull over before its too late for the UK market...

This is the UK GPSR equivalent marketplace amendment post second reading in the House of Lords

I'm not sure how a marketplace can do (a) without some form of test documentation or independent verification.  This isn't live yet so we can still appeal to our MP's that it doesn't go the same way as the EU GPSR.

[phauto-parts]

The Nic and Andrea video completely contradicts what was said in the event held by the Department for Business and Trade last Friday, I think as they were focusing on second hand goods.

The DBT event was (to my mind) pretty clear that unless there are serial numbers or batch codes on items that can be traced back specifically to having been made and sold before the 13th December 2024 in the EU that the seller would need to be the responsible for the goods and thus would require an EU responsible person for these items to be legally sold.

It's all very well saying 'this is a vintage item, its 20 years old and so I can ignore GPSR, but how do you prove that its 20 years old should a customs officer start poking around it?

I only sell new items and now have two business postage policies. Anything made in the EU is retaining the option for EU and NI postage, plus I have added the manufacturer information to the listing. Anything made outside the EU will no longer be available in EU or NI after today. Many parts I sell come without packaging so hopefully the ebay listing will suffice, or I may print a small pile of sheets with manufacturer information to put in the box with the item before it is sent if this is not enough.

There is another event tomorrow which I plan on attending so will try and get clarification on this subject.

[jeznorthbay]

Those videos should be put online so everyone can see them!

I didn't see the one you mention but the bit of advice you mention contradicts what the EU have advised elsewhere, which is that all items made available to the market before 13th do not need to comply, whether sold or simply offered & as such they do not need to have batch / serial numbers. Indeed there are lots of products that can't have such numbers attached to them as, for example, they are too small or where stickers might damage them. Other legislation on labelling states that batch / serial numbers should be attached to the item itself & not included in a package or on packaging. 

The problem is, as much of this thread has been about, is there is no single, official source that is clarifying all of these grey areas, where there are contradictions and unreasonable or impractical aspects. 

[4_bathrooms]

---

@jeznorthbay wrote:

I didn't see the one you mention but the bit of advice you mention contradicts what the EU have advised elsewhere, which is that all items made available to the market before 13th do not need to comply

---

Article 51 actually states:

"Member States shall not impede the making available on the market of products covered by Directive 2001/95/EC which are in conformity with that Directive and which were placed on the market before 13 December 2024."

"Making available" and "placed on the market" have specific legal definitions in the EU Commission's Blue Guide. I have posted what they mean with reference to the Blue Guide in another thread. Unfortunately, Article 51 is not the get-out clause that most business sellers would like it to be.

[blackcatbooksuk]

This goes live tomorrow and there are STILL so my contradictions and counter claims. 

I am siding with doing nothing until the dust settles. Surely Ebay themselves will block any items that don't comply with GPSR?

It all seems like a complete mess to me and no one really understands what to do for sure, not even then online platforms.

[jeznorthbay]

2001/95/EC had a number of repeals & replacement which detailed the complexities of that legislation applying to all products available. It is replaced with the new legislation but as that includes reference to the earlier document it is possible to assume that 'products covered' in it therefore also apply to the new legislation, & lots of the items this thread is discussing weren't covered by that &, perhaps more to the point, have been traded without any problems in the two decades since it was introduced. 

The Blue Guide, in its current form, was published in 2022, so again, has applied since then & without affecting trading of the sorts of items being discussed. 

'Made available' - the Blue Guide states that "Such supply includes any offer for
distribution, consumption or use on the Union market which could result in actual supply in relation to products already manufactured (e.g. an invitation to purchase, advertising campaigns)."

So, if a seller has a stock of, for example, 100 units of a product & has that referenced on their listing or website, they have been 'made available on the market' according to the Blue Guide, & again, this covers the previous legislation also, meaning it did not hinder the sort of trading being discussed. The new legislation appears to be intended to tighten those rules & certainly the need for a rep in the EU seems to indicate that, but, again, there is confusion & contradiction.

[trafton.-47]

Forgive me for asking you a rather detailed question, but you do appear to be well ahead of the curve. I have no idea what the Blue Guide is, for example. I've seen it referred to in a few posts, but no one I've spoken to has the slightest clue about it.

This "made available" phrase seems to be significant, but I can't work out whether it means the product or an individual item. Let's say that in August 2024 I started offering for sale 100 copies of a book called The Joy of GPSR. Up to today (12 Dec 2024) I've sold 20 copies of this irresistible title to customers in the EU. Does "placed on/made available to the [EU] market" refer only to those 20 copies already in the EU or on their way to EU customers? Or does that term also cover the 80 copies in my warehouse? If so, can I keep selling and sending to the EU further copies of The Joy of GPSR into 2025 and beyond (because the generic product was first "offered" to the market prior to 13 Dec 2024)? 

And, following on from this, do I have to place stickers on copies sold after 13 Dec with the AR's address etc? And does The Joy of GPSR still need to be risk-assessed and covered by a technical file? Or will these requirements apply only to wholly new products - ie ones that had not been "offered to the market" before 13 Dec 2024 - such as my new book, The Ecstasy of EUDR, published on 31 Dec 2024?

Any help/guidance would help more people than you possibly imagine!

(All book titles are fictitious, you'll be sorry to hear! EUDR? Oh yes, the EU Deforestation Regulation is another killer for the book trade. We were relieved to learn on 4 Dec that it's been postponed by one year until 31 Dec 2025 because - hey, who'd have guessed it - the EC hadn't thought through the legislation's consequences, hadn't informed the affected industries and hasn't even got the reporting mechanism finalised. A conspiracy theorist might think that the EU has a particular antipathy towards the written word. Thankfully, it's just simple incompetence!)

[cooksongold]

Here is the EU Blue Guide.

Specifically, you are interested in the section 2.3. Placing on the Market. There's too much to copy and paste here but I've made my interpretation of it.

In your example (and I've had to assume you are located in GB) each book would be placed on the market the moment it was sold to someone in the EU/NI. But it only applies to each book individually, not the range of books.

[trafton.-47]

You're a star! Thanks - that's very helpful (though it will increase my intake of headache pills!).

[pal_version]

so today is the big day - at the moment i see nothing different. Just listed 10 fresh listings with no warnings of GPSR, i was expecting some sort of flag considering i've not turned off NI or the EU for shipments. 

it would be interesting to have some feedback from EU members to know what they can and cannot see when it comes to live listings.

[amphibolous]

As everything seems as clear as mud right now, can anyone tell me how this applies to works of art (drawings, paintings - hand-made one off items that are NOT over 100 years old). It's mostly paper based, there's no possibility for CE markings and it's pretty much impossible to supply anything that the GPSR is asking for.
I've been on art platforms too, and nobody (including the platforms) has a clue how anything is supposed to work under these regulations.

[stevensonplumbing]

We're in Northern Ireland and it looks like nothing has changed so far.

Maybe it's just been a bad dream ?

Or maybe it'll happen at 9am ?

[ekomseryt]

Or maybe it's another Y2K?  In which case, I hope some contributors on this thread will publish their apologies to Nic and Andrea for the comments they have made in the last couple of days.

[jeznorthbay]

It's a good idea to read the actual EU legislation document & the Blue Guide, available on the EU official website, as it details this specific question. 

However, as has already been mentioned, one of the big questions is how the rules will be interpreted by couriers, customs & postal services in each country. They're usually very difficult to argue with if they decide, for example, the item did breach the regulations. Further, it's quite possible some won't even bother to check but simply reject shipments that don't appear on the outside of packaging to be following the rules that apply to other types of products. 

[carogojo]

I spoke to someone at ebay a week or so ago, and asked them what would
happen if I just continued to sell to the EU and NI regardless. They told
me that post offices would refuse to process parcels addressed to the EU or
NI. Since my (very good) local sub-postmaster said that he had not even
heard of GPSR, I have my doubts about ebay's advice ! I don't have a clue
what will happen to any "non-compliant" parcel I try to send, so I shall be
ceasing to send to the EU and NI for the moment. Luckily for me, this is a
very small proportion of my sales. But the whole GPSR thing seems to be a
complete nonsense, with inadequate advice or justfication.