Regulation (EU) 2023/988
General product safety: it reaches a covered product too
- Who it applies to
- Anyone who makes, imports, distributes or lists a product consumers can use, including a product nobody intended for them.
- The dates
- Since 13 December 2024, when it replaced the old product safety directive.
- The one thing to do
- Assess the safety, write the technical documentation, label the product, keep a complaints register, and be ready to recall.
Two answers decide which of the 88 requirements you owe. The second one surprises people.
Answer above to read the determination for your case; the full tool takes your answers with it.
See which part appliesThe determination on its own page
At a glance
What Article 2(1) leaves standing
For a product covered by other EU product law: 31 requirements stay as they are. 7 stay only for risks that law leaves open, and 48 fall away. The other two are the application date and the transitional rule, which nobody owes and everybody reads.
| Article | Rows | For a product another act covers |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 2Scope | 1 | Still applies |
| Art. 4Distance sales | 1 | Still applies |
| Art. 5General safety requirement | 1 | Only for risks the other act leaves open |
| Art. 6Aspects for assessing safety | 2 | Only for risks the other act leaves open |
| Art. 7Presumption of conformity | 3 | Only for risks the other act leaves open |
| Art. 8Additional elements | 1 | Only for risks the other act leaves open |
| Art. 8aEmergency procedures: when they apply | 1 | Switched off |
| Art. 8bEmergency presumption of conformity | 1 | Switched off |
| Art. 8cEmergency market surveillance | 1 | Switched off |
| Art. 9Obligations of manufacturers | 13 | Switched off |
| Art. 10Obligations of authorised representatives | 2 | Switched off |
| Art. 11Obligations of importers | 11 | Switched off |
| Art. 12Obligations of distributors | 4 | Switched off |
| Art. 13When somebody else counts as the manufacturer | 3 | Switched off |
| Art. 14Internal processes for product safety | 1 | Switched off |
| Art. 15Cooperation with authorities | 6 | Switched off |
| Art. 16Responsible person in the Union | 3 | Switched off |
| Art. 18Specific traceability requirements | 2 | Switched off |
| Art. 19Distance sales: what the offer shows | 1 | Still applies |
| Art. 20Accidents | 4 | Still applies |
| Art. 21Information in electronic format | 1 | Still applies |
| Art. 22Providers of online marketplaces | 12 | Still applies |
| Art. 35Reaching the consumers affected | 4 | Still applies |
| Art. 36Recall notice | 2 | Still applies |
| Art. 37Remedies | 5 | Still applies |
| Art. 51Transitional provision | 1 | Owed by nobody, read by everybody |
| Art. 52Application | 1 | Owed by nobody, read by everybody |
The recall notice has seven required elements
Article 36(2) lists them. Point (c) bans six expressions: voluntary, precautionary, discretionary, in rare situations, in specific situations, and the claim that no accidents have been reported. Anything that lowers a consumer's sense of the risk is out. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1435 sets the Commission's template; what binds is the seven elements.
What it replaced
Directive 87/357/EEC and Directive 2001/95/EC were repealed from 13 December 2024, the day this Regulation started to apply. Products placed on the market before that day under the old directive may still be made available.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988, read from the Official Journal on 17 October 2026, with its corrigenda applied. Two of them name a provision; two replace an expression throughout the act. EUR-Lex
Questions people ask
- Our machines are covered by the Machinery Regulation. Does this apply?
- In part, and the part surprises people. Article 2(1) switches off Articles 9 to 18 for a product other EU product law covers. It limits the general safety requirement to risks that law leaves open. What stays: the distance-sales offer, accident notification through the Safety Business Gateway, the recall notice of Article 36 and the remedy of Article 37. So 48 requirements fall away and 31 do not.
- We sell to businesses. Are we out?
- Only if consumers cannot foreseeably use it. Article 3, point (1) covers a product intended for consumers, and one they are likely to use under reasonably foreseeable conditions. What counts is how it is used, not who is invoiced.
- What has to be printed on the product?
- A type, batch or serial number that identifies it, and the manufacturer's name with a postal and an electronic address. Where the product is too small or its nature does not allow it, the packaging or an accompanying document carries them. A QR code may be added alongside, never instead.
- How long do the records have to be kept?
- The technical documentation for ten years after the product was placed on the market, and it has to be kept up to date. Traceability information, who supplied you and who you supplied, for six years. Personal data in the complaints register for no longer than five years after the entry was made, and only while the investigation needs it.
- Who notifies an accident?
- The manufacturer, through the Safety Business Gateway, without undue delay from the moment it knows, to the member state where the accident happened. An importer or distributor who hears of one tells the manufacturer, who either files it or instructs them to. Where the manufacturer is outside the Union, the responsible person makes sure it is filed.
One account, the 88 requirements already in it
Answer the two questions once. The requirements then appear with the Article 2(1) reading against each. A product another act already covers shows 48 rows closed with the reason, not a list to work through.
What it asks of you
88 requirements in 4 groups
Obligations
51- 9(1) Design and make the product to be safe
- 9(2) Run a risk analysis and write the technical documentation
- 9(3) Keep it current, and keep it for ten years
and 48 more
Duties
9- 5 Place only safe products on the market
- 9(10) Keep your supply chain told about a safety issue
- 11(7) Work with the authority and the maker on safety
and 6 more
Clauses
27- 2(1) Where other product law covers the risk, this does not
- 4 An online offer aimed at EU consumers is covered
- 6(1) What the safety assessment has to take in
and 24 more
Deadlines
1- 52 This Regulation applies from this date