Shopify GPSR Compliance: What to Show on Product Pages

If your Shopify store sells to customers in the EU, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) decides what has to be on your product pages. Since 13 December 2024, every online offer of a consumer product must show who made it, who is responsible for it in the EU, how to identify it, and any safety warnings. This guide is a plain-language checklist for Shopify merchants, with the quickest ways to get it onto every product page.

What GPSR is and who it applies to

The GPSR (Regulation (EU) 2023/988) replaced the old General Product Safety Directive. It covers almost every non-food consumer product: clothing, toys, homeware, electronics, sports equipment, jewellery, candles, pet products and more. Products with their own EU rules, such as toys or cosmetics, still fall under GPSR for anything those rules don't cover.

It applies to you if you sell to consumers in the EU, wherever your store is based. A store in the US, UK, Pakistan or Australia that ships to Germany or France is in scope for those sales. It does not matter whether you sell on your own Shopify store or a marketplace; the rules for the product page are the same.

The GPSR product page checklist

Article 19 of the GPSR says an online offer must show, clearly and visibly, at least:

1. The manufacturer: name, registered trade name or trademark, plus a postal address and an electronic address (email or website contact form).
2. The EU Responsible Person, if the manufacturer is outside the EU: their name, postal address and electronic address.
3. Product identification: a picture of the product, its type, and any other identifier such as a model number, batch or barcode (GTIN/EAN).
4. Warnings and safety information that go on the product or its packaging, such as "Not suitable for children under 3 years" or "Use only under adult supervision", in a language consumers in that country easily understand.

Most Shopify product pages already have the picture and the product type. What's usually missing is the manufacturer, the responsible person and the warnings. Those are the parts to add.

If you make the products yourself, you are the manufacturer: show your own business name and addresses. If you buy from a brand or wholesaler, show theirs as printed on the product or packaging.

Do you need an EU Responsible Person?

Under GPSR Article 16, a product can only be placed on the EU market if there is an economic operator established in the EU who is responsible for it. That can be:

• the manufacturer, if it is based in the EU;
• an importer based in the EU;
• an authorised representative appointed in writing by the manufacturer; or
• a fulfilment service provider in the EU, if none of the above exists.

If you are outside the EU and ship directly to EU consumers, you usually need to appoint one. Many companies offer an authorised-representative service for a yearly fee. Their name and addresses then go on your product pages and on the product or packaging.

If you buy from an EU-based brand, that brand is usually the manufacturer or importer already, and you can show their details.

Which language should GPSR information be in?

Warnings and safety information must be in a language that consumers in the country you sell to easily understand, as decided by that country. In practice, that means German for Germany and Austria, French for France, and so on. If you sell across the EU, show warnings in each customer's language. Shopify Markets and translated storefronts make that possible, as long as your GPSR information is translated too.

Three ways to add GPSR information in Shopify

1. Type it into each product description

Free and quick for a handful of products. But the same manufacturer and responsible person repeat across dozens of products, so every address change means editing every description, and it is easy to miss products or translations.

2. Metafields plus theme code

Create product metafields for the manufacturer, responsible person and warnings, then edit your theme to show them. It works, but you are managing the same address in many places, and theme code changes can break with theme updates.

3. A GPSR app with a theme block

Store each manufacturer, responsible person and warning once, assign them to products, and show them with a theme app block that you add in the theme editor. Change an address once and every product page updates. A good app also tells you which products are still missing information.

Step by step: GPSR with MerchantKits Recall

MerchantKits Recall is a Shopify app for product recalls and EU GPSR information. It never edits your theme code: the product safety block is added through the theme editor.

1. Install MerchantKits Recall from the Shopify App Store. The free plan covers GPSR information for 25 products.
2. Add your manufacturers once: name, postal address and email or website.
3. Add your EU Responsible Persons, if your manufacturers are outside the EU.
4. Add your warnings, such as age warnings or "Keep away from fire".
5. Assign them to products one by one, in bulk, or by vendor. Assigning by vendor is the fastest when one brand supplies many products.
6. Run the scan. It lists the products that are still missing information, so you know exactly what's left.
7. Add the product safety block to your product page from the theme editor. The app's Home page has a direct link and shows whether the block is enabled.

The block shows the information in the shopper's language and only appears on products that have GPSR information.

GPSR also covers recalls

Product page information is only half of GPSR. If a product you sold turns out to be dangerous, GPSR also says how to recall it: you must directly notify every affected customer you can identify, with a recall notice that explains the hazard, what to do and the remedy you offer. For a Shopify store, those customers are in your order history.

We cover that in a separate guide: how to run a product recall on Shopify, step by step.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information, not legal advice. GPSR obligations depend on your products, your role in the supply chain and the countries you sell to. Check with an adviser, your trade body or the market surveillance authority in the countries where you sell.