Hi there
Your manufacturing, sales or marketing teams may alreadyhave altered you to the EU’s new General Product Safety Regulation (“GPSR” or “the Regulation” forshort). You may also have received information direct from the Departmentfor Business and Trade.
The new Regulation takes effect on Friday 13 December 2024,and requires that all consumer products sold in the EU (including NorthernIreland) must be ‘safe’. There is no exemption for music products.
AIM and BPI are working closely together, alongside the Entertainment Retailers Association (“ERA”), to assess exactly what the GPSRwill mean for record labels selling products such as CDs, vinyl (includingextensive box sets) and merchandise. It is too early to be precise, andthis note is not intended to be legal advice – you should continue to make youown independent decisions based on your own legal advice. But broadlyspeaking, the following obligations are being imposed on ‘manufacturers’ ofproduct, which means anyone creating (rather than actually manufacturing) theproduct. Amongst other things, ‘manufacturers’ will need to do thefollowing five (non-exhaustive) things:
- Ensure only ‘safe’ products are sold in the EU.
- Carry out a risk analysis to assess the safety of a product (and keep documentation relating to that analysis for 10 years).
- Ensure the product bears a serial number, or other ‘element allowing identification’, which is easily visible and legible for consumers.
- Ensure the product bears your business name, any relevant trading names, postal and electronic addresses of a single point of contact for consumers to contact you.
- Appoint a ‘Responsible Person’ who is based within the EU to verify your adherence to the Regulation – see the information below on this.
GPSR also creates similar obligations for other entitieswithin the supply chain (eg. for online marketplaces).
There is much uncertainty about how GPSR will work inpractice for the recorded music industry within the UK. We consider that,in the early days of the Regulation, the risk of enforcement action being takenagainst a music business of the physical music or merchandise sold into the EUto be relatively low. However, it is important to abideby the Regulation on all products listed or manufactured after 13thDecember.
You may also receive information from online marketplaces,retailers and other shipping partners and should follow their guidelines. eBay has some useful information in their Sellers’ FAQ for example, as do Discogs and Amazon’s Seller Services area.
BPI and AIM are continuing to monitor the situation,alongside ERA, and if appropriate we will provide further updates in duecourse. In the meantime, if you have not already done so, we encourageyou to read the UK government’s factsheet. You can also ask specific questions ofthe government via the government’s export support service.
Association of Independent Music.