ESPR · Fixed-fee check
Every product placed on the EU market needs a named responsible operator established in the Union. Most brands selling through distributors and marketplaces have never confirmed who theirs is — or whether that party knows they are carrying it.
Book a responsible operator check →If you are a UK or other non-EU brand selling into the EU, someone is legally responsible for your products on that market. It may be an EU-based importer. It may be an authorised representative you appointed. It may be a distributor who has no idea the duty sits with them.
Under ESPR the obligation attaches to whoever places the product on the EU market. Under the General Product Safety Regulation, in force since December 2024, a product sold in the EU by a non-EU manufacturer must have a responsible person established in the Union. Different routes to market can produce different answers for the same product.
Most brands assume it is handled. Very few can name the party, produce the written mandate, or show that the party has accepted the role.
Appointing a representative does not make you compliant. Under ESPR, drawing up the technical documentation is explicitly excluded from their mandate. They are the accountable contact for regulators. They cannot generate your evidence.
So the useful question is not whether you have appointed someone. It is whether the obligation is allocated, accepted and documented on every route you sell through — and whether the evidence behind it exists.
It surfaces when a retail partner runs supplier due diligence and asks who your EU responsible operator is. It surfaces when a market surveillance authority contacts a distributor who cannot answer for your product. It surfaces in a marketplace onboarding questionnaire you cannot complete.
Each of those is a commercial problem before it is a legal one. A retailer that cannot get an answer stops the onboarding.
What you get
For every EU route you sell through — direct, distributor, marketplace, retail partner — who is placing the product on the market and therefore carrying the obligation.
The routes where no responsible operator is identified, or where the party carrying it has never agreed to.
What your distributor and marketplace agreements currently say about who holds the obligation, and the clauses that need to change.
A short written record you can put in front of a retail partner, an auditor or your counsel.
This is a regulatory diagnostic, not legal advice. We identify where your obligation sits and what evidence is missing. Confirm your final position with qualified counsel.
A short, fixed-fee check that tells you who your responsible operator is on every EU route to market, and where you have a gap.
Book a responsible operator check →