Hi everyone,
I started my website a couple of months ago and immediately locked it to Scotland, England & Wales because I knew about GPSR but didn’t feel prepared enough to deal with it.
I’m now getting a number of queries from the EU and I hate turning away business.
Effectively, I sell bicycle bearings that I receive from three manufacturers. They all have a GPSR rep and the products I sell have been available in the EU prior to Dec 2024.
Do I have to have my own EU rep given this info? Everything I’m reading online is conflicting.
In preparation for possibly needing one, I’ve reached out to suppliers for safety docs etc and they’ve all said that I just need their details. Documents have not been forthcoming.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated because I need this business to work and I think I can only really do it if I expand to the EU.
Thank you
If you’re reselling their products without rebranding or modifying them, you likely do not need your own EU representative, but you must ensure
The manufacturer’s EU rep details are clearly visible (on packaging or product),have access to safety documentation (Declaration of Conformity, etc.) if requested by EU authorities.
You don’t market the product as your own brand, or else you may be considered the manufacturer.
As a distributor under GPSR rules, so if your suppliers are compliant and you’re transparent, you’re covered—but push hard for those documents and keep records, as enforcement is tightening in 2025.
Nilankar’s answer is spot-on — as a pure distributor reselling those bearings unmodified and not under your own brand, you don’t need your own EU Responsible Person. Your distributor duty is to make sure each manufacturer’s details + their EU rep are visible to the buyer, and to keep whatever compliance docs you can get on file.
The bit that trips people up (and probably why it feels conflicting): “visible to the buyer” includes your product page, not just the packaging. So each bearing’s listing needs to show that manufacturer’s name/address + their EU rep. You’ve got three manufacturers = three different sets of details that need to land on the right products.
Cleanest way to do that on Shopify without hand-editing every listing: store each manufacturer’s info in a metafield-backed “safety profile” and assign it to that manufacturer’s products — a small theme block then renders the correct block on each product page automatically, and new bearings inherit the right profile.
Full disclosure since it fits your exact 3-manufacturer setup: I built a free Shopify app that does this (a profile per manufacturer → bulk-assign → storefront block): GPSR Kit ‑ EU Compliance - Add GPSR safety and manufacturer info to your product pages. | Shopify App Store. Happy to help map your three suppliers to profiles, or point you at the DIY metafield route if you’d rather not add an app — either way you can safely switch the EU back on.
On docs: as a distributor you don’t need the full technical file, but do get each manufacturer’s Declaration of Conformity + EU rep details in writing. If a supplier won’t even give the rep details you’re required to display, that’s the risky product — chase those hardest.