What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)? The EU's per-country register/report/pay regime, in plain English

EPR makes the company placing a product on the market financially responsible for its post-consumer stage. It runs per-country and per-stream — packaging, WEEE, batteries, textiles — with marketplace delisting now the sharpest enforcement lever. Here's what it actually is.

EU Responsible Person (EU RP): who needs one, what they actually do, and how to designate one

An EU Responsible Person is the EU-established economic operator that authorities can reach when a non-EU brand sells into the Union. Since 13 December 2024, every covered consumer product placed on the EU market must have one named on the listing, the product, or the packaging. Here is what the role does, who needs it, and what to put in place this quarter.

GPSR for Shopify sellers: the Article 19 block, the EU Responsible Person, and what changes for every EU-shipping store

Shopify is not a marketplace under GPSR Article 22 — which makes the seller, not the platform, responsible for Article 19 compliance on every listing. Here is the exact listing block, the EU Responsible Person requirement, the theme-template change, and the per-region catalogue audit every Shopify store needs to run for the EU 27.

What is a Digital Product Passport (DPP)? The EU's per-SKU data record, in plain English

The Digital Product Passport is the structured digital record the EU is rolling out under ESPR — batteries first (Feb 2027), textiles next, then most physical product categories through 2030. Here's what it actually contains, who has to issue one, and what to do this quarter.

What is GPSR? A plain-English overview

The EU General Product Safety Regulation has been enforceable since 13 December 2024. Here is what it actually changes for online sellers — the obligations, the dates, and the practical baseline.

What is REACH SVHC? The 0.1% w/w per-article threshold and Article 33 communication duty, in plain English

REACH — Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 — requires anyone supplying an article in the EU that contains a Substance of Very High Concern above 0.1% w/w per article to (a) communicate sufficient information up the B2B chain under Article 33(1), (b) respond to consumer requests within 45 days under Article 33(2), and (c) notify the ECHA SCIP database. The Candidate List is updated by ECHA roughly each January and June — every update can pull new substances into your existing products.

What is CE marking? The EU self-declaration that lets you place a product on the market

CE marking is the manufacturer's declaration that a product meets every applicable EU product directive — Toy Safety, LVD, EMC, RED, PPE or Machinery, in most ecommerce cases. It is self-declared (Module A) for non-Annex-IV products, but you must hold a technical file and a signed EU Declaration of Conformity (EN ISO/IEC 17050-1) for ten years. Amazon EU has intensified DoC requests since August 2025 and delists ASINs that cannot produce one.

What is EmpCo? The EU's anti-greenwashing law, in plain English

EmpCo — Directive (EU) 2024/825 — is the live EU law banning vague eco-claims, offset-based 'carbon neutral' product claims and unverified sustainability labels. Enforcement starts 27 September 2026. Here's what it actually does.

What is the EU Right to Repair Directive? Plain-English overview of (EU) 2024/1799

The Right to Repair Directive — (EU) 2024/1799 — forces manufacturers of regulated product categories (washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, vacuum cleaners, smartphones, tablets and the categories ESPR expands to) to repair on request, offer spare parts and tools at a non-discriminatory price, and provide an indicative repair price up front using the standardised European Repair Information Form (Annex I). Repaired products get a 12-month warranty extension. Member states must apply the directive by 31 July 2026.

What is PPWR? The EU's directly-applicable packaging law, in plain English

PPWR — Regulation (EU) 2025/40 — is the EU's new packaging law. Same text in all 27 member states. General application starts 12 August 2026, with tightening milestones through 2038. Here's what it actually does.

GPSR on Amazon EU: the Manufacturer Contact attribute, the EU Responsible Person field, and how Seller Central enforces Article 22

Amazon is the EU's largest GPSR enforcer. The Manufacturer Contact and Responsible Person attributes in Seller Central are mandatory on covered listings since 13 December 2024, and Amazon delists non-compliant ASINs automatically. Here is what each field expects, the per-marketplace differences, and the audit every Amazon EU seller needs to run this quarter.

Non-EU seller obligations: the actual EU compliance stack for brands shipping into the Union from outside

If you sell physical consumer products into the EU from outside it, six regimes attach to every order: GPSR, EU Responsible Person, EPR, PPWR, EmpCo, and (from 2027 onwards) DPP. Here is the full obligation stack, the deadlines that are already live, and the operational checklist for 2026.

Banned green claims under EmpCo: the six practices to remove from your marketing

Under Directive (EU) 2024/825, six specific marketing practices are banned outright across the EU 27 from 27 September 2026 — no balancing test, no defence. Here are the six, with concrete before/after examples.

PPWR packaging requirements: the seven checks every EU seller must pass

PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40) imposes seven concrete packaging requirements that phase in between 12 August 2026 and 2038. This guide walks each check with what is enforceable now versus what to capture for upcoming milestones.

EPR registration by country: the EU 27 register/report/pay map sellers actually need

EPR is implemented per member state — LUCID, ADEME, CONAI, Verpact and 24 others. Here's how the national registers work for packaging, WEEE, batteries and textiles, what PPWR Art. 44 changes from 12 August 2026, and where non-EU sellers need an Authorised Representative.

DPP for textiles: what sellers should track now

The Digital Product Passport lands on textiles before most other categories. Here is what fashion and apparel sellers should be capturing in 2026 to be ready.

Seller responsibilities under GPSR

GPSR assigns specific duties to manufacturers, importers, distributors and fulfilment providers. This guide maps the obligations to the role you actually play — and what 'documented' means when an authority asks.

EPR for online sellers: how marketplaces enforce it, and what gets your listings delisted

For e-commerce sellers, the sharpest EPR risk in 2026 isn't national fines — it's marketplace delisting under the Digital Services Act. Here's how Amazon EU, Otto, Bol.com and others enforce EPR, what pay-on-behalf actually costs, and how to pre-empt suspension.

PPWR for e-commerce sellers: the parcel, the marketplace, and what changes 12 August 2026

PPWR explicitly covers e-commerce packaging and names online marketplaces as responsible actors. From 12 August 2026, the shipping box, mailer and polybag are in scope — and listing-level enforcement is the sharpest stick. Here's the practical guide.

GPSR for Etsy sellers: handmade is not exempt, the Responsible Person field, and what changes for makers shipping into the EU

Etsy is a marketplace under GPSR Article 22, and 'handmade' carries no exemption from the General Product Safety Regulation. Since 13 December 2024, every Etsy listing shipped into the EU 27 must carry manufacturer, Responsible Person, and warnings — and Etsy delists listings missing them. Here is what an Etsy shop actually needs to do.

EmpCo for fashion and textile brands: the highest-risk sector, mapped to the six bans

Fashion is the most-scrutinised sector under EmpCo. Generic 'sustainable' collections, offset-based 'climate neutral' garments, and self-made eco-badges are squarely in the banned set. Here's the sector-specific playbook for 2026.

DPP and product traceability: the supply-chain data work the passport actually demands

The Digital Product Passport is a traceability instrument before it is a consumer-facing artefact. Here's the data chain — identifier, components, suppliers, substances, country of origin, evidence — that any DPP under ESPR or the Batteries Regulation will demand, and how to start capturing it now.

GPSR for online marketplaces

GPSR Article 22 layers product-safety duties on top of the Digital Services Act. Here is what online marketplaces must now do, and what sellers should expect from the platforms they list on.

Common GPSR mistakes online sellers make

After a year of GPSR enforcement, the same gaps appear over and over in marketplace suppressions and national-authority findings. Here are the seven most common — and what a clean fix looks like.

Ecommerce compliance readiness: the per-SKU, per-regime readiness framework for EU-shipping catalogues in 2026

EU compliance is not a single 'are we compliant?' verdict — it is a per-SKU, per-regime readiness state across GPSR, EU RP, EPR, PPWR, EmpCo and DPP. Here is the five-layer framework, the per-SKU score that drives prioritisation, and the catalogue-audit pattern that turns a regulatory backlog into a shippable engineering ticket list.

Required product information under GPSR

GPSR Article 19 lists the information online sellers must surface before checkout — manufacturer details, Responsible Person, identifiers, warnings, safe-use instructions. Here is what each field really means in practice.

6 MIN READ · UPDATED 7 JUNE 2026

Of all the new obligations GPSR introduced, Article 19 is the one that bites every online seller every day. It lists the information that must appear on the product listing before the consumer can complete the purchase, and it is the single most common reason listings are suppressed by marketplaces or flagged by national authorities.

This guide walks through each Article 19 field, what it actually requires, and how to render it on the channels online sellers actually use.

The Article 19 checklist

Article 19(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 requires that the following be made available to the consumer prior to the conclusion of the distance contract — that is, before checkout:

Manufacturer name, registered trade name or trade mark. The legal name on company registry filings, not a marketing name unless that marketing name is also the trade mark.
Manufacturer postal and electronic address at which they can be contacted. Single address; PO boxes are not sufficient unless they are the legally registered office.
For non-EU manufacturers, the EU Responsible Person's name and contact — including the same postal-and-electronic-address pair required of the manufacturer.
Product identifier. Type, batch or serial number; for serialised products, the serial; for batches, the batch reference; for everything else, a unique model identifier.
Warnings or safety information affixed to the product or its packaging, reproduced in the listing.
Instructions for safe use where the product is not self-evidently safe.

The Commission Q&A clarifies that "available" means rendered on the product page, not behind a link the user must click. A specs tab is acceptable if it is open by default on page load.

Field-by-field, what enforcement actually expects

Manufacturer name and contact

National authorities have rejected listings where the manufacturer is shown as a trading-as name without the underlying legal entity. The defensible format is "BrandX, a trading name of LegalEntityCo SAS, 12 rue de l'Industrie, 75001 Paris, France — compliance@brandx.com."

If you private-label products from a third-party factory and put your brand on the goods, you are the manufacturer under Art. 3(8) — list yourself, not the OEM.

Responsible Person (non-EU sellers only)

For non-EU brands this is the entry point auditors check first. The format mirrors the manufacturer block: legal name, EU postal address, monitored email. Many small brands use a third-party Responsible Person service; the service's contact details go in the listing.

A frequent mistake: listing the Responsible Person only on the brand's "Legal" page and not on the product listing. Article 19 is product-specific.

Product identifier

Three acceptable formats:

Type identifier — e.g. "Model TX-200, variant Black/Medium." Works for consumer electronics and apparel.
Batch number — e.g. "Batch 2026-04-15-A." Works for personal care, FMCG and short-cycle goods.
Serial number — for serialised products (mainly electronics, regulated goods).

For most apparel and household products, a stable type identifier per variant SKU is sufficient.

Warnings and safety information

The warnings must be the same warnings as those affixed to the product — you cannot soften them for marketing. For small-parts products (toys and toy-like items), the EN 71-1 small-parts warning must appear; for products with lithium batteries, IATA UN 38.3 warnings; for chemicals, the CLP hazard pictograms in the destination market language.

The 2025 enforcement reports show this is the most common gap: brands transcribe the warning correctly in English but not in French, German, Polish or Spanish for those destination markets.

Instructions for safe use

Required where the product is not self-evidently safe. Furniture assembly, electrical installation, age-appropriate use guidance, charging instructions. A link to a downloadable PDF in the destination language is acceptable; an image of the instruction sheet is not (not screen-reader accessible, often unreadable on mobile).

Rendering it cleanly on each channel

Shopify

Use a dedicated compliance.* metafield namespace and a theme block that renders the metafields in a stable order above the buy button. Combine with Shopify Markets visibility rules so the block appears only for EU shoppers. See our Shopify-specific guide for the implementation pattern.

Amazon EU marketplaces

Amazon has integrated GPSR fields into Seller Central since November 2024. Fields populate via the Manufacturer / Responsible Person attribute set in the Manage Inventory flow. Missing fields trigger a soft suppression after the December 2024 grace period ended. See our Amazon-specific guide.

Etsy

Etsy's compliance hub launched in January 2025. EU-resident sellers and non-EU sellers shipping to the EU must complete the GPSR profile per shop. See our Etsy guide.

Your own DTC site

Build a structured compliance component (Liquid section, React component, Webflow embed) that reads from a single data source. Hardcoding the data per product page guarantees it drifts.

How Regonance helps

Regonance reads your existing product feed and supplier files, identifies which Article 19 fields are missing per SKU per channel, and outputs a ready-to-paste compliance block in the destination market language. Run a free scan on a single SKU to see your current Article 19 coverage.

The single most common audit finding

In the BAuA (Germany) and DGCCRF (France) 2025 enforcement summaries, the most common Article 19 finding is the same: manufacturer contact and Responsible Person details present on the website but not on the listing page itself, and not in the destination market language. The fix is structural — render the data from a single source on every product page, in every destination language — not editorial.

Glossary

Article 19. The clause of GPSR that lists the information online sellers must surface before checkout for EU consumers.

Distance contract. A contract concluded without the simultaneous physical presence of trader and consumer; "before the conclusion of the distance contract" effectively means before the checkout button.

Responsible Person. The EU-established person designated under Article 16 to carry out a non-EU manufacturer's GPSR duties.

Type / batch / serial identifier. The three acceptable formats for the product identifier required under Article 19(1)(d).

Educational information, not legal advice. Consult the consolidated text of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on EUR-Lex for the authoritative legal source.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly on the listing does Article 19 information have to appear?+

GPSR Article 19(1) requires it to be 'visible to the consumer before the conclusion of the contract.' In practice that means above the buy button on the product page, not buried in a tab the user has to open. Marketplaces have largely interpreted this as a dedicated compliance section on the listing.

Does the information have to be in the buyer's language?+

Warnings and safe-use instructions must be in 'a language easily understood by consumers' in the destination market (Art. 9(7) and Art. 19(1)). Identifiers and contact addresses do not strictly need translation, but most enforcement authorities expect the full set localised. Plan to localise for every EU destination market you ship to.

Can I list the manufacturer once globally and skip it on each product page?+

No. Article 19 is product-specific because the manufacturer can differ between SKUs (private-label, multi-brand catalogues). A sitewide 'about' page is not sufficient — the data has to render on the product page itself.

What format must the Responsible Person contact take?+

Article 16(3) requires both a postal address inside the EU and a monitored electronic address — typically an email or a contact-form URL. Toll-free phone numbers are not sufficient on their own. The contact must accept communications in at least one EU official language.

What counts as a 'warning' for an everyday consumer product?+

Any hazard a reasonable consumer needs to know to use the product safely — choking hazards on small parts, age suitability, allergens, electrical safety, chemical content, charging instructions for lithium batteries. Article 9(7) requires warnings to be 'clearly visible and legible' and in the destination language.

Run a free compliance readiness scan

Upload product files or a listing URL and see exactly which fields are missing.

Start free scan

AI-assisted informational guidance. Not legal advice. Consult qualified counsel for your specific situation.