Bolton Consultancy Ltd

General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988

The European Commission published proposals in early 2013, to replace the General Product Safety Directive with a new regulation; the Consumer Product Safety Regulation (CPSR).   As a "directive" The GPSD had to be implemented in each member state as local legislation; however, the replacement was proposed as a EU Regulation, to apply in all member states directly; removing the possibility of different interpretations in different states.   In addition to replacing the GPSD the Commission proposed a new regulation, the Market Surveillance of Product Regulation (MSR) to replace market surveillance provisions contained within the GPSD (and a range of other instruments) with a unified approach to market surveillance across the EU.

The MSR - REGULATION (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products - was issued on 20 June 2019. Progress towards a CPSR however stalled.

New proposals for a EU General Product Safety Regulation (EU-GPSR) were made by the European Commission at the end of June 2021 and in December 2021 the European Parliament published 97 pages of amendments to the proposed text.   Final text took until December 2022 to be agreed and Formal approval of the European Parliament and the Council was given on 10 May 2023.

REGULATION (EU) 2023/988 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 10 May 2023 on general product safety was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the 23 May 2023. The Regulation enters into force on the twentieth day following this publication date and a transition period extends until the regulation formally applies from 13 December 2024. Products covered by Directive 2001/95/EC which are in conformity with that Directive may still be placed on the market until 12 December 2024.

Further information

Bolton Consultancy Ltd provides assistance in the requirements and procedures needed for compliance with product safety requirements in the UK, European Union and global markets.   For further information on current product safety obligations or the proposed regulations please contact us.





The information contained in this note is believed to be accurate at the time of writing but is for information only and should not be relied upon. Reference should be made to the published standards or regulations.