QR codes under the EU General Product Safety Regulation

What the GPSR is

Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), sets the baseline safety rules for consumer products sold in the EU, online and offline. It replaced the General Product Safety Directive and has applied since 13 December 2024. It applies to products where no more specific EU safety rule covers the same risk or obligation, so it is the default for a wide range of everyday goods.

What must accompany the product

Article 9 sets out what manufacturers must ensure. Three paragraphs matter for labels and documentation:

What the Regulation says about QR codes

The articles do not mention QR codes. The recitals do: recital 32 says that identification information, instructions and safety information could in addition be provided in digital form by means of electronic solutions, such as a QR or data matrix code. The words “in addition” are the point. A code can extend what you provide; it does not stand in for the information that has to accompany the product.

So the practical pattern for consumer products is:

• Print the identification, the manufacturer details and the safety information and instructions needed for safe use, in the languages of each market.
• Put behind the code everything that helps the customer beyond that: the full manual, videos, troubleshooting, more languages, spare parts, warranty and support.

Selling online: what the offer must show

Article 19 adds obligations for distance sales. An online offer must clearly show, among other things:

• the manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trade mark, and postal and electronic address;
• where the manufacturer is outside the EU, the details of the responsible person in the EU;
• information identifying the product, including a picture, its type and any other identifier;
• any warning or safety information to be affixed to the product or included in the accompanying documents, in a language consumers can easily understand.

A product page with the safety information and the instructions as documents is a convenient single source to link from your listings, but the warnings still need to appear in the offer itself.

What a QR code can usefully add

Once the required information is printed, a QR code is where most of the value is added for the customer and for you:

• the full instructions, which no longer need to fit in a leaflet;
• setup and maintenance videos, troubleshooting and FAQs;
• languages beyond the ones printed in the box;
• spare parts with part numbers, warranty terms and registration, and support contacts;
• dated safety notices that reach everyone who scans, including owners who never registered.

That last point is where an updatable page earns its place. If you need to correct a warning or tell owners about a problem, a notice at the top of the page is seen by every customer who scans from that day on, without reprinting anything.

ItemDocs is built for this layer: one permanent page per product behind one QR code, with safety notices, documents and up to ten languages. It does not handle your labelling, your risk assessment or the notifications the GPSR requires from manufacturers when a product is unsafe. See QR codes for product manuals for what to put on the page, and the Machinery Regulation guide if your products are machinery.