Commission guidelines for SMEs under the GPSR

Priority question for written answer P-002385/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Katarina Barley (S&D), René Repasi (S&D)

From 13 December 2024, the General Product Safety Regulation[1] (GPSR) will establish new obligations for distributors of products, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as small online retailers and traders on online marketplaces (economic operators). The GPSR's requirements protect consumers. At the same time, enquiries from distributors show that the GPSR entails substantial adaptation costs and significant effort for some economic operators. Meanwhile, online marketplaces threaten sellers that their offers will be deactivated if they are deemed non-compliant with the GPSR after 13 December 2024. The Commission, in turn, must produce guidelines for SMEs by 13 December 2024 (under Article 17 GPSR).

• 1.How will the guidelines for SMEs help SMEs to fulfil their obligations under the GPSR?
• 2.How is the Commission engaging with online marketplaces to ensure that the risk of offers being deactivated does not threaten to drive small traders out of business?
• 3.When does the Commission plan to publish its guidelines, and considering that SMEs need guidance now, before they have to fulfil their new obligations under the GPSR (which applies from 13 December 2024), can the Commission assure Parliament that it will publish the guidelines early enough for SMEs to have time to adapt?

Submitted: 1.11.2024

• [1] Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on general product safety, OJ L 135, 23.5.2023, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/988/oj.