BACKGROUND
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) lays down essential rules on the safety of consumer products placed or made available on the market. Its purpose is to improve the functioning of the internal market while providing for a high level of consumer protection.
The GPSR is already in force and will directly apply in all Member States as of 13 December 2024.
Not all the provisions of the GPSR apply to cosmetic products. As cosmetic products are regulated under the Cosmetic Products Regulation (CPR) which dictates specific safety requirements, the GPSR applies only to those aspects and risks which are not covered by those requirements.
In that regard, Article 19 of the GPSR, which informs about the obligations of economic operators in the case of distance sales, does apply to cosmetic products and is complementary to the requirements of the CPR.
WHAT’S NEW?
As well as the requirements imposed by the CPR, economic operators that want to make products available on the market online or through other means of distance sales, must also follow the obligations stipulated in Article 19 of the GPSR.
This article states that the offer of those products must clearly and visibly indicate at least the following information:
- name, registered trade name or registered trade mark of the manufacturer, as well as the postal and electronic address at which they can be contacted;
- where the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the name, postal and electronic address of the responsible person within the meaning of Article 16(1) of this Regulation or Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;
- information allowing the identification of the product, including a picture of it, its type and any other product identifier;
- any warning or safety information to be affixed to the product or to the packaging or included in an accompanying document in accordance with this Regulation or the applicable Union harmonisation legislation in a language which can be easily understood by consumers, as determined by the Member State in which the product is made available on the market.
REFERENCES
