GPSR Manufacturer Information — What EU Law Requires on Every Product Page

The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) — Regulation (EU) 2023/988 — has applied since December 13, 2024. Among its most impactful requirements for online sellers is the obligation to display specific manufacturer information on every product page. Not just a brand name. Not just a logo. The regulation demands structured, verifiable data that allows consumers and market surveillance authorities to trace every product back to the entity responsible for its design and production.

This article breaks down exactly what manufacturer data GPSR requires, who qualifies as the "manufacturer" in different supply chain scenarios, and how to manage this data at scale in PrestaShop.

What Manufacturer Information Does GPSR Require?

Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 sets out the obligations of manufacturers. When combined with Article 19 (which covers information requirements for online sales), the regulation creates a clear list of data points that must accompany every product offered to EU consumers.

The following manufacturer details must be visible on your product pages:

• Full legal name of the manufacturer — the registered company name as it appears in official business registries, not an abbreviated trading name or informal brand label
• Registered trade name or trademark — if the manufacturer operates under a trade name or places a trademark on the product, this must be disclosed alongside the legal name
• Postal address — a complete street address where the manufacturer can be physically reached. PO boxes are not acceptable. The address must include street, city, postal code, and country
• Contact details — at least one reliable method of contact: email address, telephone number, or a URL leading to a contact form. The regulation expects a means for consumers and authorities to reach the manufacturer directly
• Country of origin / country of manufacture — where the product was designed or physically manufactured. This is particularly important for products sourced from outside the EU

The rationale is straightforward: consumers have the right to know who made a product before they buy it. Market surveillance authorities need this data to trace products involved in safety incidents. And economic operators downstream — importers, distributors, and retailers — need manufacturer data to fulfil their own GPSR obligations around traceability.

Who Counts as the “Manufacturer” Under GPSR?

GPSR defines the manufacturer broadly. Understanding this definition is essential because it determines who bears the heaviest regulatory obligations — and whose data must appear on the product page.

Under Article 3(8) of Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the manufacturer is:

1. The entity that designs or manufactures the product — this is the straightforward case. If you have a factory producing goods, you are the manufacturer
2. The entity whose name or trademark appears on the product — this is where it gets interesting for e-commerce sellers. If your brand name is on the product, you are legally the manufacturer even if a third-party factory produced it
3. Private label and white label sellers — if you source generic products and sell them under your own brand, GPSR treats you as the manufacturer. You inherit all manufacturer obligations, including product safety testing, technical documentation, and the duty to display your details as the manufacturer on the product page
4. Importers who modify the product — if an importer substantially modifies a product (changes design, purpose, or safety characteristics), they may be treated as a manufacturer for the modified product under Article 14

This broad definition closes a loophole that existed under the old General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC). Previously, some sellers could obscure their role in the supply chain. Under GPSR, the entity whose name appears on the product bears manufacturer-level responsibility — full stop.

Required Manufacturer Data Fields

The following table summarises every data field that relates to manufacturer identification under GPSR. "Required" fields are mandatory under the regulation. "Recommended" fields are not explicitly mandated but are strongly advised for full traceability and practical compliance.

A few practical notes on these fields:

• The postal address must be a physical location — not a virtual office, mail forwarding service, or PO box. Market surveillance authorities may send official correspondence or inspection notices to this address
• The contact email should be a monitored inbox. A generic no-reply address does not satisfy the requirement. The regulation expects a functional channel for consumers and authorities to reach the manufacturer
• If the manufacturer uses a trademark that differs from the legal company name, both should be displayed so that consumers can identify the product's origin without confusion
• The country of origin typically refers to where the product was last substantially transformed. For complex supply chains where components come from multiple countries, list the country of final assembly or manufacture

Manufacturer vs. Importer vs. Distributor

GPSR defines three distinct economic operator roles, each with different obligations. Understanding which role you occupy determines what information you must display and what responsibilities you carry.

A crucial distinction: all three roles must be traceable. The regulation creates an unbroken chain from manufacturer to the final point of sale. If you are a PrestaShop merchant who imports products from China and sells them in the EU, you are both the importer and the distributor. Your product pages must show the manufacturer's details and your own details as the importer.

If you are a PrestaShop merchant who sells under your own brand, you are the manufacturer. The distinction between "I bought these from a factory" and "I designed these myself" is irrelevant if your brand name is on the product. GPSR assigns manufacturer obligations based on who takes credit for the product in the marketplace.

Practical example: three common scenarios

Scenario 1: You resell a branded product. You stock Samsung phone cases. Samsung is the manufacturer. You are the distributor. Your product page displays Samsung's manufacturer details. You verify those details are correct and the product bears proper markings.

Scenario 2: You import unbranded products from China and resell them as-is. The Chinese factory is the manufacturer. You are the importer (and distributor). Your product page shows the factory's manufacturer details plus your own details as the importer. You must verify the factory's compliance before placing the product on the EU market.

Scenario 3: You import products from China and sell them under your own brand. You are the manufacturer. The Chinese factory is your subcontractor, not the manufacturer for GPSR purposes. Your product page displays your company as the manufacturer with your full address and contact details. You bear full manufacturer obligations including product safety assessment.

Managing Multiple Manufacturers in PrestaShop

If you sell products from a single manufacturer, managing GPSR data is straightforward. But most PrestaShop stores source from dozens or hundreds of manufacturers. This creates a data management challenge that PrestaShop's native architecture was not designed to handle.

The problem: PrestaShop's native manufacturer field

PrestaShop includes a built-in "Manufacturer" (or "Brand") entity. You can create manufacturer records and assign them to products. However, the native manufacturer record stores only:

• A name
• A description (marketing text, not compliance data)
• A logo
• An SEO-oriented meta title and description

Notice what is missing: no postal address field, no contact email, no phone number, no country of origin. The native PrestaShop manufacturer entity was designed for brand marketing pages, not regulatory compliance. You cannot fulfil GPSR manufacturer information requirements using the native manufacturer record alone.

GPSR-specific fields that must be added

To comply with GPSR, each manufacturer record needs at minimum:

• Full registered legal name (not just a brand label)
• Street address, city, postal code, country
• Contact email address
• Phone number (recommended)
• Website URL (recommended)
• Country of origin / manufacture
• Trade name or trademark (if different from legal name)

These fields need to be multilingual if you sell in multiple EU countries — address formatting, at minimum, may differ, and the country name itself should appear in each shop language.

How GPSR Compliance Pro solves this

GPSR Compliance Pro extends PrestaShop's manufacturer records with every GPSR-required field. Rather than replacing the native manufacturer system, the module overlays additional compliance fields onto existing manufacturer records. This means:

• No duplicate data entry — your existing manufacturer assignments in PrestaShop are preserved. The module adds GPSR fields to the same records
• Automatic inheritance — define manufacturer data once at the manufacturer level. Every product linked to that manufacturer automatically inherits the GPSR information. Change the manufacturer's address and it updates across all linked products instantly
• Bulk assignment by category — apply a manufacturer to an entire product category in one operation. Useful when you source all products in a category from the same manufacturer
• CSV import and export — upload manufacturer data from a spreadsheet. The module's column-mapping wizard auto-detects your headers, so you don't need a rigid template
• Per-language data — every text field supports all languages installed in your PrestaShop shop, so manufacturer details display correctly in each storefront language

The result is a centralized manufacturer registry that serves as the single source of truth for GPSR manufacturer data across your entire product catalog. When a manufacturer changes their address or contact details, you update one record, and the change propagates everywhere.

Common Compliance Gaps

Market surveillance authorities across the EU have started reviewing online product listings for GPSR compliance. These are the most frequent manufacturer information gaps that lead to enforcement action:

Each of these gaps can result in enforcement action, including product listing removal from online marketplaces, fines under national implementation of GPSR, and mandatory corrective measures. The regulation gives market surveillance authorities the power to order products removed from sale if manufacturer information is missing or incorrect.

How to audit your current product pages

Run a quick compliance check across your catalog:

1. For every active product, verify that the product page displays a manufacturer name that matches the entity whose name or trademark appears on the product itself
2. Confirm a full postal address is shown — street, city, postal code, and country. Not a PO box. Not a city-and-country-only shorthand
3. Check that at least one contact method (email, phone, or URL) is present and functional — send a test email or make a test call
4. Verify the country of origin is stated, especially for products manufactured outside the EU
5. For private label products, confirm that your own company is listed as the manufacturer, not a third-party factory

GPSR Compliance Pro includes a built-in compliance dashboard that automates this audit. The dashboard shows four clickable KPI cards highlighting non-compliant products, products missing manufacturer data, products missing a Responsible Person, and products missing safety warnings. Each card links directly to the affected products so you can fix gaps without manual catalog review.