UK
The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a consumer safety law in the EU and Northern Ireland that requires products sold to consumers to be safe when used normally or in ways that can be reasonably expected. It replaced the older General Product Safety Directive in late 2024. The UK’s own version, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, still applies in Great Britain and requires that products supplied to UK consumers are safe.
If you sell your custom prints, stationery, or branded merchandise to customers in the European Union (EU) or Northern Ireland (NI), a critical regulatory framework impacts your business: GPSR. This regulation ensures that all consumer products sold in these regions are safe and highly traceable.
Similarly, If you print with us under a B2B trade printing workflow to manufacture your unique artwork, you (the print buyer/brand) are considered the manufacturer or importer under the law, while we act as your manufacturing subcontractor.
1. The B2B Link (Printed.com ➔ The Small Business) If you are an independent artist or small business and you bulk print from us, it is a standard B2B trade transaction. Because it is B2B, we are exempt from having to put our own manufacturer details on the prints. The law treats us as a subcontractor simply providing a manufacturing service to another business entity.
2. The B2C Link (The Small Business ➔ The EU Consumer) The GPSR rules wake up the exact moment that a small business lists those cards on their online shop (Shopify, Etsy, etc.) for regular consumers to buy, their sale to the end user is classified as B2C retail. Because the end user is a private consumer in the EU or Northern Ireland, the physical product must meet the GPSR traceability requirements.
In Short: Our part of the chain is B2B, which protects us from liability. As our customer, your small business is using the B2B service to create B2C retail stock, you are legally responsible for adding the compliance details to the product before it reaches your consumer.
To understand why the compliance sits with you rather than the ourselves, we have included the flow of the supply chain. Here is exactly how the law views each step of your order:
[ Step 1: Raw Materials ]
↳ Component Suppliers supply certified safe paper, board, and inks.
↓
[ Step 2: Manufacturing Service ] ◀─── STRICTLY B2B (Exempt)
↳ We print your custom artwork onto your chosen stock.
↓
[ Step 3: Brand Ownership ] ◀─── THE LEGAL MANUFACTURER
↳ YOU buy the prints from us, after branding them, and listing them on your shop.
↓
[ Step 4: The Retail Sale ] ◀─── SERVICE TRIPPED TO B2C (GPSR Active!)
↳ An EU/NI Consumer buys the physical item from your website or marketplace.
To help you keep compliant and avoid international delivery disruptions, we have broken down exactly who needs to comply, who is exempt, and what you need to do.
When GPSR Applies to Printed Items
For most customers working with us, GPSR applies only if your printed material is part of a consumer product being sold for example:
• A label on a product
• Safety or instruction leaflet inside product packaging
• Packaging that accompanies a product being sold to consumers
• Items like postcards, greetings cards, flyers or business stationery usually do not fall under GPSR unless they are being sold as part of a consumer product.
❓ Who Is Exempt?
The GPSR only applies to finished products sold on the open retail market to consumers. Because of this, many common print projects are completely exempt. You do not need to add compliance details to the following items:
Private & Event Stationery: Custom commissions for private events, such as wedding invitations, RSVP cards, funeral order of service booklets, and birthday party invites are 100% exempt.
B2B Printing: Any print jobs designed strictly for business-to-business use are exempt. This includes your business cards, corporate Presentation Folders/Boards, internal training manuals, and trade show signage.
Transit & Outer Packaging: Plain mailing boxes, unbranded envelopes, and outer shipping bags used solely to protect your orders in transit do not need compliance labelling.
Summary: If you are printing wedding stationery or corporate assets, you can ignore this regulation entirely. If you are selling items like retail Greeting Cards, Postcards, Art Prints, or Display Boards to the general public in the EU/NI, keep reading.
🚚 Using Our White-Label Shipping Service?
If you use our white-label service to ship your prints and your orders are printed and shipped directly to your end-customers in the EU or NI with no mention of the printing facility, you must be extra vigilant about GPSR compliance.
Because orders are shipped in plain, unbranded outer packaging, it is impossible for you to add physical compliance stickers or leaflets after the item leaves our production facility as nothing is included within the box, we would suggest you shipping these to yourself to follow compliance or ensuring the compliance is on the prints.
🛠️ How Do I Get This Information?
Gathering your GPSR details does not require a legal team.
For paper and print products, it is highly straightforward:
1. Your Manufacturer Details What to use: Use your own registered business name (or your trading name), your main business address, and your customer service email/website. Note: If you work from home and do not want your private residential address printed on your retail items, many small businesses use a virtual business address or a registered mail-forwarding service to protect their privacy.
2. The Product Identifier (SKU/Batch Code) What to use: You can invent this yourself! There is no official registry for batch codes. How it works: If you sell an art print titled "Summer Sunsets," your identifier could simply be SKU-SS-01. If you print a bulk run with us in August 2026, you could use a batch code like BATCH-AUG26. You just need a way to link the physical print to the product listing on your website.
3. An EU Responsible Person (EU RP) Because your business is based in the UK (outside the EU single market), you cannot legally use your UK address as the sole point of contact for EU customs. You need a proxy address inside the EU. There are three simple ways to get one: Authorized Compliance Services (Easiest & Most Popular): Several dedicated online platforms provide affordable EU RP services specifically tailored for independent artists, Etsy sellers, and small brands. Compliance partners such as EaseCert or Eu verify will provide you with a verified EU address and handle the digital registry fields for a low annual fee.
An EU Distributor or Partner: If you already wholesale your prints to a brick-and-mortar boutique or distributor based inside the EU or Northern Ireland, you can formally sign an agreement to use their business name and address as your EU RP.
EU Fulfilment Providers: If you use a physical warehouse located inside the EU to store and ship your stock, that entity can sometimes act as your Responsible Person.
4. Safety Information What to use: For standard card and board products, you do not need intensive chemical test certificates. You just need a basic, common-sense risk statement. Example: "This product is a decorative art print. It is not a toy. Keep away from fire."
My Business is inside the European Union / Northern Ireland, what does this mean for me?
If your business is already based inside the European Union or Northern Ireland, your compliance journey becomes significantly easier and cheaper because you do not have to worry about the cross-border requirements that impact UK-based shops.
1. No "EU Responsible Person" Required: Because your business is physically located within the EU or Northern Ireland, you do not need to hire or appoint a third-party EU Responsible Person. Under the GPSR, your own business legally counts as the economic operator already inside the market.
2. Your Manufacturer Address is Sufficient: The address you print on the reverse of the greeting card or art print will simply be your own standard business address. Because that address is already inside the EU/NI zone, it fully satisfies the customs and traceability requirements on its own.
3. You Still Need Product Identifiers & Store Details: Whilst you skip the hurdles of border representation, you must still fulfil the basic traceability rules:
Product Details: You must print your business name, EU/NI postal address, and contact email/website on the print.
Product Identifier: You must still assign a SKU, batch number, or exact product title to the print.
If you as our customer is based in the EU or Northern Ireland, you simply act as your own manufacturer and representative. You just need to print your own standard contact details and a SKU on the back of your artwork and you are fully compliant.
💬 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Do my custom stickers, labels, or product packaging supplies need a GPSR label?
A: It depends on how they are used:
Exempt: If you print custom stickers or labels to seal your own retail card packs or to use as packaging accessories, they are exempt because they are component parts, not the final product.
Must Comply: If you sell sheets of stickers, sticker packs, or custom-printed gift boxes as final retail products to consumers for their own use, they must comply.
Q: What happens if I choose not to include this information on my retail prints?
A: Non-compliant packages can face disruptions at EU and Northern Ireland customs checkpoints. Border authorities have the right to hold, reject, or destroy shipments that lack a valid EU Responsible Person or manufacturer data block. As you yourself are responsible for complying, we would not be held responsible and refund the items in question.
Q: Can I just write "Made in the UK" on the back of my art prints instead?
A: No, "Made in the UK" is a country-of-origin mark, not a traceability label. The GPSR explicitly requires:
Manufacturer Details (The Store Owner): You must list your own business details as the legal creator of the retail product
Business name or registered trade name.
Full physical postal address (a regular street address, not a generic country name).
Electronic contact point (a customer service email address or website URL).