GPSR Glossary

GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation)

EU Regulation 2023/988 that replaced the old General Product Safety Directive. Became mandatory on December 13, 2024. Requires manufacturer identification, safety warnings, and EU responsible person data on all consumer products sold in the EU.

EU Responsible Person

A person or company established within the EU who is designated to act as a contact for market surveillance authorities. Required when the manufacturer is located outside the EU. Must have name, postal address, and email displayed on the product listing.

Manufacturer

The natural or legal person who manufactures a product or has a product designed or manufactured and markets that product under their name or trademark. GPSR requires full contact details to be displayed.

Market Surveillance Authority

A national authority responsible for checking that products on the market meet safety requirements. Each EU member state has one. They can order product removals, recalls, and fines for non-compliance.

Economic Operator

Any natural or legal person in the supply chain: manufacturer, importer, distributor, or online marketplace. GPSR places obligations on all economic operators, with specific duties depending on their role.

Product Identifier

A unique code (EAN, UPC, GTIN, model number) that allows a product to be traced through the supply chain. GPSR requires these to be displayed so products can be identified in case of safety issues.

CE Marking

A marking that indicates a product conforms to EU safety, health, and environmental protection standards. While not directly part of GPSR, many product categories require CE marking in addition to GPSR compliance.

HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage)

A WooCommerce feature that stores order data in custom database tables instead of WordPress post meta. The GPSR Compliance plugin is fully compatible with HPOS.

Schema.org JSON-LD

A structured data format that search engines use to understand page content. The GPSR plugin outputs manufacturer and safety data as Schema.org markup, helping products appear in Google rich results.