Is the sale of second-hand items on the internet under threat from Brussels

Question for written answer E-001775/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Virginie Joron (PfE)

The European General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is due to enter into force on 13 December 2024[1] and has set off a deluge of demands to sellers from Amazon and other marketplaces. There is a risk that thousands of second-hand, old and rare (back catalogue) items will no longer go on sale as a result. There could be significant consequences for SMEs, but also for cultural diversity and consumers' buying power.

The regulation does not apply to antiques or products such as collectors' items or works of art, which consumers cannot reasonably expect to meet more recent safety standards.

• 1.What steps has the Commission taken to ensure that procedures used by major marketplaces under the GPSR do not indirectly exclude small businesses selling second-hand cultural items?
• 2.Does the Commission believe that CDs, DVDs and video games that are less than 100 years old fall under the 'antiques' exception, since they can be collected like stamps, or does it believe they pose a safety hazard[2]?

Submitted: 20.9.2024

• [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/988/oj?locale=en
• [2] Annex IX to Directive 2006/112/EC could be the basis for determining whether or not a product is an antique, such as a work of art or a collectors' item: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006L0112 (Collectors' items: Stamps...of historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest/Antiques less than 100 years old).