GPSR Distributor Obligations (Article 12): What Resellers Must Check Before Selling

Who counts as a distributor

GPSR (Regulation (EU) 2023/988) Article 3, point 11 defines a distributor as any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a product available on the market. “Making available on the market” means any supply for distribution, consumption or use on the EU market in the course of a commercial activity, paid or free (point 6). The definition contains no requirement to be established in the EU.

Typical distributors are:

• online sellers who buy another brand's goods from the brand owner or its agent and resell them, for example on an existing Amazon listing;
• EU wholesalers, retailers and web shops;
• a business that translates the packaging for one member state but still sells under the manufacturer's name (the example in section 3.1.4 of the Commission's business guidelines, C/2025/6233).

Roles are assessed product by product. The guidelines (section 1.1) note that a company reselling purchased goods is a distributor for those goods but a manufacturer for products it rebrands and sells under its own name; recital 46 makes the same point. If you are established in the EU and are the first to place a third-country product on the EU market, you are the importer instead: see GPSR importer obligations. For the full role table, see economic operator roles.

Article 12, paragraph by paragraph

Two points are easy to miss. First, Article 12(1) does not ask distributors to check the manufacturer's technical documentation (Article 9(2)); that check belongs to importers and responsible persons. But if you have reason to believe the product itself is unsafe, for example after injury complaints or a matching Safety Gate alert, Article 12(3) still forbids selling it. Second, the Article 12(4) notification duty is not limited to dangerous products: on the wording of the regulation it also covers units already sold that lack the required identification or contact details.

Pre-sale checklist: look at the physical product, not just the listing

Based on Article 12(1) and section 3.1.4 of the Commission's guidelines, check a sample or the first delivery against this list:

Strictly, the responsible person is not in the Article 12(1) list. But Article 16(1) bars placing a product on the market without one, and Article 19 requires the online offer to show it, so check it at the same time. For identifiers see batch and serial numbers; for languages see warning language rules.

Keep evidence of each check (photos, documents from your supplier, the date) and records of who supplied you and whom you supplied: Article 15(3) and (5) require you to identify both on request for six years.

What to do with non-compliant stock

A common situation: the goods are already in your warehouse or at a fulfilment centre when you notice there is no manufacturer address, no batch number, or instructions only in English and Chinese. A sensible order of steps:

1. Stop and quarantine. Article 12(3) forbids making the product available until it is brought into conformity. Pause the listing and mark the affected stock.
2. Contact the supplier in writing. State exactly what is missing, which batches and how many units, and ask the manufacturer or importer for the correct details, labels or instructions.
3. Correct the goods. Any added label must carry accurate information supplied by the manufacturer or importer and must not cover existing mandatory information. Never invent a manufacturer address or print a “representative” the manufacturer has not mandated in writing.
4. Check whether units were already sold. If so, Article 12(4) applies: inform upstream, ensure corrective measures, and ensure the authorities are informed via the Safety Business Gateway. Where there is a safety risk, support the recall and consumer information; see accidents, recalls and Safety Gate.
5. If it cannot be fixed, the stock cannot be sold in the EU. Return it to the supplier or deal with it lawfully outside the EU market.

Article 51 says member states must not impede the making available of products that conformed with the old Directive 2001/95/EC and were placed on the market before 13 December 2024. That covers units already on the market by that date, not stock received later.

When a distributor becomes the manufacturer

Article 13(1): anyone who places a product on the market under their own name or trademark is deemed the manufacturer and takes on all Article 9 duties: risk analysis, technical documentation kept 10 years, identification, labelling, instructions, complaint channels and accident notification. Putting your own brand on white-label goods is the typical case.

Article 13(2) and (3): anyone other than the manufacturer who substantially modifies a product is deemed the manufacturer for the affected part, or for the whole product if the modification affects its overall safety. A physical or digital modification is substantial when it affects safety and all of these apply: it was not foreseen in the original risk assessment; the hazard changed, a new hazard appeared or the risk increased; and it was not made by consumers for their own use. Swapping power supplies, changing the intended use or flashing new firmware may fall here; assess each case.

By contrast, translating packaging while still selling under the manufacturer's name generally leaves you a distributor, according to the Commission's guidelines.

Other distributor duties: online offers, accidents, cooperation

• Online offers (Article 19): show the manufacturer's name and contact addresses; where the manufacturer is outside the EU, the responsible person's name, postal and electronic address; product identification including a picture and type; and warnings and safety information in the local language. See GPSR online selling requirements.
• Internal processes (Article 14): proportionate safety processes, such as incoming-goods checks, a complaint log and staff training.
• Cooperation (Article 15): on request, describe the risk, complaints, accidents and corrective measures (available for 10 years) and identify suppliers and customers (six years).
• Accidents (Article 20(3)): inform the manufacturer without undue delay; the guidelines add that where the manufacturer is outside the EU, you should inform the responsible person. The manufacturer may instruct you to make the notification.
• Recalls (Article 35): use customer contact data you hold for recalls and safety warnings; if you run a loyalty or product-registration scheme, let customers register contact details for safety purposes only.

For CE-marked products (toys, electrical equipment and so on), GPSR Articles 9 to 18 do not apply (Article 2(1)(b)); the distributor duties in the sector law apply instead, while Articles 19 and 20 still apply in principle.