General Product Safety Regulation (EU) (2023/988)

General Product Safety Regulation (EU) (2023/988)

Status: In force since 12 June 2023 and applicable since 13 December 2024. Amended emergency provisions apply from 29 May 2026.

EUR-Lex-link: The adopted and published version, including other language versions can be found here.

Full name: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on general product safety, amending Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and the Council, and repealing Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 87/357/EEC.

Type: Regulation.

Objective and key elements:

  • Aims to modernise the EU framework on general product safety in light of technological developments and increased online selling.
  • Introduces harmonized rules for general product safety concerning consumer products, including products sold online or imported from third countries.
  • Imposes obligations on manufacturers, importers and distributors of consumer products to ensure that consumer products are safe.
  • Establishes specific obligations for providers of online marketplaces, such as to facilitate reporting of unsafe products, notify affected consumers of unsafe products bought through their marketplace and to remove, disable access or display an explicit warning for unsafe products upon order by the market surveillance authority.
  • Requires relevant cybersecurity features and protection against external influence to be considered where they may affect product safety.
  • Establishes obligations for the provision of specific information relating to traceability when consumer products are made available through distance sales.

Relevant to: Manufacturers, importers, distributors, providers of online marketplaces and other entities engaged in the supply chain of consumer products within the EU.

Notable amendment:

  • Regulation (EU) 2024/2748: introduces emergency procedures for products designated as crisis-relevant goods during an activated internal-market emergency. These include prioritised assessments, emergency common specifications and adapted market-surveillance procedures. Applicable since 29 May 2026.

(Last updated 11 August 2026)