Amazon & marketplaces

GPSR Online Marketplace Obligations (Article 22): How Platforms Vet Sellers and Why Listings Get Removed

Last checked against the official texts: 8 November 2026 · Based on Regulation (EU) 2023/988

Short answer

Article 22 GPSR requires online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay or Temu to register on the Safety Gate Portal, set up single points of contact, give sellers an interface for the Article 19 information, act on authority orders within two working days and on safety notices within three, and cooperate on recalls. It works together with the trader traceability and compliance-by-design rules in Articles 30–32 of the Digital Services Act. That is why platforms demand manufacturer, responsible person and safety details, and why listings disappear when information is missing, an authority intervenes, a Safety Gate alert matches or someone files a notice.

Key points

Article 22 binds the platform; your own Article 19 and Article 16 obligations stay the same.
Authority orders must be acted on within two working days, safety notices within three.
An order can cover all identical content, so other sellers of the same product are removed too (Art. 22(5)).
Interface design, random checks and suspending repeat offenders apply only to medium and large platforms, and to small ones designated as very large online platforms.
DSA Article 30 makes platforms verify sellers, and sellers are liable for the accuracy of what they provide.
If you are restricted, the DSA gives you a statement of reasons and an internal complaint route (Arts 17 and 20).

What counts as an online marketplace, and how Article 22 relates to the DSA

Article 3(14) defines a provider of an online marketplace as an intermediary service using an online interface that lets consumers conclude distance contracts with traders for the sale of products. Third-party seller platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Temu and TikTok Shop fit that description; your own web store usually does not (see GPSR for own online stores).

The Commission's business guidelines (Notice C/2025/6233) make two points. First, the GPSR marketplace duties complement and specify obligations under the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, fully applicable since 17 February 2024). Second, a marketplace that also provides economic operator services for a product, for example warehousing and dispatch, takes on that role's obligations as well. The guidelines also confirm that the marketplace duties apply to products under sector legislation, such as toys and electrical goods.

Article 22 paragraph by paragraph

Para.	What the platform must do	What it means for you
1	Designate a single point of contact for electronic communication with market surveillance authorities; register on the Safety Gate Portal and list that contact there	Authorities can send orders straight to the platform
2	Designate a single point of contact for consumers on product safety	Consumers have a direct complaint route
3	Have internal processes for product safety	Expect standard review and removal workflows
4	Act on authority orders about offers of dangerous products (remove, disable access or show an explicit warning) within two working days, and report back	Named listings go fast; the platform has no choice
5	Orders may cover all identical content for a set period, where the search is limited to the order's information and can be done proportionately with reliable automated tools	Other sellers' listings of the same product can go too
6	Take Safety Gate information on dangerous products into account in voluntary detection measures and tell the notifying authority what was done	Products matching an alert may be removed proactively
7	Use at least the Safety Gate Portal for the random checks required by DSA Art. 31(3)	Live listings can still be checked
8	Process product safety notices received under DSA Art. 16 within three working days	Reports by consumers or competitors trigger reviews
9	Design the interface so sellers can provide the four Article 19 items per product, displayed or easily accessible on the listing	Manufacturer, responsible person and safety fields
10	Internal processes must let sellers provide that information (including the EU manufacturer or responsible person) and a self-certification to offer only compliant products	You tick or sign a compliance statement; it must be true
11	After a prior warning, suspend for a reasonable period sellers who frequently offer non-compliant products	Repeat problems can hit the whole account
12	Cooperate with authorities, sellers and economic operators to eliminate or reduce risks	Recalls, accidents and data requests involve you

Paragraph 12 lists the cooperation duties: (a) directly notify all affected consumers who bought through the platform in a recall or safety warning, and publish recalls on the interface; (b) inform the economic operator when an offer of a dangerous product is removed; (c) support recalls and not obstruct them; (d) immediately inform authorities through the Safety Business Gateway about dangerous products they know were offered; (e) pass accident information to the sellers concerned and notify accidents involving serious risk or actual damage; (f) exchange information on removed offers with enforcement bodies including the anti-fraud office OLAF; (g) give authorities' online tools access to the interface; (h) answer data requests to trace the supply chain of dangerous products; (i) on a reasoned request, allow data scraping for product safety purposes.

What smaller platforms don't have to do

Paragraphs 7, 9 and 11 specify DSA Articles 31 and 23, so they follow the DSA's scope. Under DSA Articles 19 and 29, those obligations do not in principle apply to platforms that are micro or small enterprises, unless they have been designated as a very large online platform. Footnote 27 of the Commission guidelines explains this.

So the big platforms must have GPSR fields, while some niche platforms may not. That limits the platform's duties only. Your Article 19 duty is unchanged: if there is no field, put the information in the product description.

DSA Articles 30–32: seller verification and compliance by design

DSA article	Content	Effect on sellers
Art. 30 Traceability of traders	Before selling, traders provide name, address, phone, email, ID, payment account, trade register details and a self-certification to offer only compliant products. The platform makes best efforts to verify, and swiftly suspends a trader who does not correct inaccurate information	You are liable for accuracy (Art. 30(2)); your name, contact details, trade register entry and self-certification are shown to consumers (Art. 30(7))
Art. 31 Compliance by design	The interface must let traders give economic operator details, product identification and labelling information; best efforts to check before listing, and reasonable efforts at random checks against official databases afterwards	Missing fields can block listings; live listings are compared
Art. 32 Right to information	When the platform learns an illegal product was sold, it informs consumers who bought in the previous six months of the illegality, the trader's identity and redress	Your buyers learn who sold them the product

Articles 30–32 do not apply to micro and small platforms either (Art. 29), unless designated as very large online platforms.

Why your listing was removed

Putting these duties together, removals usually fall into one of these groups:

Missing or invalid GPSR information: no manufacturer, responsible person or safety details, or details that don't match the product (Art. 22(9)–(10), DSA Art. 31).
Authority order: a member state found the product dangerous and ordered removal, which the platform must carry out within two working days (para. 4).
Identical content: the order covers all identical offers, so your listing of the same product goes with the others (para. 5).
Safety Gate match: your product is the same as, or very close to, a notified dangerous product (paras 6–7). See searching Safety Gate alerts.
A notice: a consumer, competitor or organisation reported a safety issue, processed within three working days (para. 8).
Trader information problems: inaccurate or incomplete identity information that was not corrected (DSA Art. 30(3)).
Repeat offences: frequent non-compliant offers, leading to suspension after a warning (para. 11).

Platform rules can go further than the law. For each platform's published approach see Amazon deactivations, Temu, eBay and Etsy.

How sellers should respond

Get the data right once: manufacturer, responsible person, model and warnings consistent across platforms, marketplaces and the label.
Read the reasons: DSA Article 17 requires a clear and specific statement of reasons when a platform restricts your content or account. Work out whether it is an information issue, a notice or an authority order.
Use the complaint routes: DSA Article 20 requires a free internal complaint system available for at least six months after you are informed of the decision, and Article 21 provides out-of-court dispute settlement. An authority order, though, must be executed by the platform; more documents won't change it, so you or your representative must deal with the authority that issued it. See GPSR appeals.
Cooperate on recalls and accidents: the platform forwards accident information to you (para. 12(e)) and reports dangerous products it knows about itself (para. 12(d)). Hiding a problem doesn't work; the manufacturer or responsible person must notify under Articles 9(8) and 20. See accidents and recalls.
Sign self-certifications honestly: the Article 22(10) and DSA Article 30 statements are your commitment; passing platform checks does not make a product compliant.

Seller checklist for marketplace GPSR checks

Enter manufacturer, EU responsible person, product identifiers and local-language safety information on every platform
Check that online details match the label and packaging exactly
Keep your DSA trader details (name, address, phone, email, trade register) accurate and current
Sign the platform's compliance self-certification truthfully
Search Safety Gate regularly for products like yours
When a listing is removed, read the statement of reasons and identify the cause
Keep technical files, test reports and the representative mandate ready for appeals
Name a contact and a process for accident and recall information forwarded by platforms

Common mistakes

Assuming platform approval means compliance
Platforms only make best efforts to verify, and DSA Article 30(2) makes the seller liable for the accuracy of the information. Product safety and a real, working responsible person remain your responsibility; "the platform let me list it" is no defence in an inspection.
Calling an identical-content removal a platform mistake
Article 22(5) lets an order cover every identical offer. If you sell the very product found dangerous, an appeal is unlikely to succeed. Check Safety Gate and the order details, confirm it is the same product, then decide whether to appeal or stop selling and fix it.
Trying to reverse an authority order with documents
The platform must execute an order within two working days and has no discretion. Completing GPSR fields only fixes information-based removals; for an order, you or your representative must contact the issuing member state authority.

Frequently asked questions

How fast must a marketplace act on an authority order?

Without undue delay and in any event within two working days of receiving it, by removing the content, disabling access or showing a warning, and then reporting back (Art. 22(4)). Product safety notices received under DSA Article 16 must be processed within three working days (Art. 22(8)).

My listing was complete. Why was it removed?

Often because of identical content or a Safety Gate match: an order can cover all identical offers (Art. 22(5)), and platforms must take Safety Gate alerts into account. Read the statement of reasons and check whether it really is the same product.

Will the platform share my data with authorities?

It may. Article 22(12) requires platforms to answer data requests to trace the supply chain of dangerous products and to share information on removed offers with enforcement bodies; DSA Article 30(6) allows disclosure where the law requires it.

What rights do I have after a removal?

Under DSA Article 17 you get a clear and specific statement of reasons; Article 20 gives you a free internal complaint system for at least six months after the decision; Article 21 offers out-of-court dispute settlement. Authority orders must be raised with the issuing authority.

A small platform has no GPSR fields. Can I leave the information out?

No. The Article 22(9) interface duty does not apply to micro and small platforms, but your Article 19 duty still does. Put the manufacturer, responsible person, product identification and warnings in the description.

Official sources

This guide explains Regulation (EU) 2023/988 in plain language. It is general information, not legal advice. Requirements can depend on your product, other EU laws and the member state — check the official text and, for your own case, a qualified adviser.