Manufacturer's name and postal address, plus an electronic address. A type, batch or serial number so one item can be traced to one production run. The name and contact details of an EU Responsible Person. Any warnings that genuinely apply, in the language of the country you are selling into. On the product where possible; on the packaging or an insert where it is not.
Why this got noisy in 2026
The General Product Safety Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2023/988 — has been in force since 13 December 2024. Nothing about the legal text changed this year. What changed is enforcement.
For the first year, marketplaces largely policed the obvious: a listing with no Responsible Person entered in the back end got flagged, and everything else passed. Through 2026, Amazon and Etsy have widened that net to labelling and documentation — the physical information in the parcel, and the technical file behind it. A shop can therefore have a complete set of listing fields and still be non-compliant, which is exactly the trap a lot of sellers have walked into. The listing field and the label are two separate obligations that happen to carry the same information.
The four things the label has to carry
1. Who made it
The manufacturer's name, registered trade name or trademark, together with a postal address and an electronic address. “Electronic address” means something that allows direct contact — an email address or a website with a working contact route. A social media handle is a poor substitute and a bare instagram.com/shopname is not a contact channel in the sense intended.
If you make the item yourself, you are the manufacturer. That surprises people who think of manufacturers as factories, but a maker pouring candles at a kitchen table is the manufacturer of those candles and carries the manufacturer's obligations.
2. Which one it is
A type, batch or serial number, or another identifier that lets a specific unit be traced back to a specific production run. This exists so that a recall can be narrow. Without a batch code, a fault in one bad run means every unit you ever sold is implicated; with one, it means forty units from July.
3. Who to contact inside the EU
The name and contact details of the economic operator responsible for the product in the Union. For an EU-based maker selling their own goods, that is usually you. For everyone else it is a separate appointment, covered below.
4. Warnings and safety information
Only the ones that actually apply to your product, and in the language or languages determined by the member state where it is sold. This is the requirement most often handled badly in both directions: sellers either omit a warning their product genuinely needs, or paste a generic block of warnings copied from an unrelated product. Copying a warning you have not assessed is worse than leaving it off, because it demonstrates you did not do the risk assessment the regulation assumes you did.
Where the information is allowed to go
There is a defined order of preference rather than a single rule, which is what makes this workable for jewellery and other small items.
| Placement | When to use it |
|---|---|
| On the product itself | The default. Use it whenever the product is large enough to carry the text legibly. |
| On the packaging | Where size or the nature of the product makes printing on it impossible. |
| In an accompanying document | Where neither of the above works — an insert card or hang tag in the parcel. |
“Clearly visible and legible” is doing real work in that requirement. Six-point grey type on a kraft tag technically contains the information and practically does not communicate it. Note also that the contact details for the responsible person need to be available to the consumer both before purchase — which is what the listing field is for — and on delivery, which is what the label is for.
Our GPSR Safety Label Builder lays out these fields at a real print size in your browser, so you can check the whole set fits legibly on a 40×30 mm tag before you order a roll of them. Nothing you type is uploaded.
What an EU Responsible Person actually is
This is the part that stops non-EU sellers, and it is worth understanding as a role rather than a box to tick. A product may not be placed on the EU market unless there is an economic operator established in the Union who is responsible for it. If you are outside the EU, someone inside it has to hold that role.
Their duties are not decorative. They verify that the technical documentation — including a risk analysis and the standards applied — has been drawn up, keep it available to market surveillance authorities on request, cooperate with those authorities where a product presents a risk, and notify them if they have reason to believe a product is dangerous. Documentation generally has to remain available for ten years.
In practice a Responsible Person can be a distributor or importer you already work with, a fulfilment partner, or a commercial service that provides the role for a fee. What it cannot be is you at a non-EU address, or a name you have written on a label without asking them. Appointing someone means an agreement, because they are accepting real obligations on your behalf.
Which of your listings this applies to
There is a meaningful cut-off. Etsy's stated interpretation is that the GPSR applies to products placed on the market on or after 13 December 2024, and that listings already available in the EEA or Northern Ireland before that date are not caught — including when those listings are renewed, provided they met the safety requirements that applied at the time.
One important exception to that comfort: if your shop was not open to EEA or Northern Ireland buyers before 13 December 2024 and you later switch that shipping on, the requirements apply to your whole catalogue, including listings created long before the cut-off. Turning on EU shipping is the trigger, not the listing date. This is a policy interpretation by a marketplace rather than a provision of the regulation, so confirm it against the platform you actually sell on.
Frequently asked questions
My product is too small to print an address on. What then?
The regulation anticipates this. Where the size or nature of the product makes it impossible, the information may go on the packaging instead, or in a document accompanying the product. That is a genuine legal alternative, not a workaround — a hang tag or insert card is acceptable for a pair of earrings. What is not acceptable is putting it only in the online listing and nothing in the parcel.
Can I use a QR code instead of printing everything?
Only as an addition. A QR code or digital label can supplement the physical information but cannot replace it. The reasoning is that a consumer must be able to identify the manufacturer and reach the responsible person without a working phone, an internet connection, or a URL that still resolves in five years.
Can I be my own EU Responsible Person if I am based outside the EU?
No. The whole point of the role is that a market surveillance authority has someone physically established in the Union to contact. A UK, US, Canadian or Australian seller must appoint a person or business with a real EU address — a distributor, a fulfilment partner, an importer, or a commercial service that sells the role. Not yourself at a non-EU address.
Do I need a new batch number for every single item I make?
No. The requirement is a type, batch or serial number that allows a specific item to be traced back to a specific production run. For a maker, a batch code covering everything poured, printed or assembled in one session is usually enough — something like B2026-07. The test is whether, if one item turns out to be faulty, you could identify which other items share its history.
Which language do the warnings have to be in?
The language or languages determined by the member state where the product is made available. A single English label does not cover the EU. Manufacturer names and addresses stay as they are, but safety warnings and instructions have to be readable by the person holding the product — so selling into six countries can mean six translations of the warning text.
If you ship into the EU as well as selling there, the duty side changed this month too — see our guide to the EU's €3 parcel duty.
Facts verified 2026-07-20.
Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (the GPSR), in particular the manufacturer obligations in Article 9 and the responsible-operator provisions in Articles 4 and 16; UK Government detailed guidance on Regulation (EU) 2023/988; Etsy Seller Handbook, “Selling Consumer Products to Europe Under the GPSR”. This is a summary for orientation, not legal advice — product-specific rules (toys, cosmetics, electricals) sit on top of the GPSR and are not covered here.