The Fairythorn is pleased to offer GPSR representation for handmade sellers and artists. The Fairythorn specialises in representation for Yarn craft and Fabric craft creators such as crochet designers, knitting designers and sewing designers. Other artists and makers selling low risk goods on Etsy, Shopify and other platforms are welcome to get in touch. See below where there is a more detailed list of the products we can cover.
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What is the General Product Safety Regulation?
The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR) is a new regulation in the European Union. It regulates the safety of consumer products in the EU and in Northern Ireland. The GPSR applies to any product, including digital goods such as PDF downloades of knitting and crochet patterns.
What does this regulation mean for those who sell digital products?
In order to sell pdf documents such as knitting patterns, crochet patterns or sewing patterns, a designer must:
- Include their contact details. Both a postal address and an electronic address (e-mail) are required. If the seller is based outside of the EU or Northern Ireland, they must also include the address and email for a responsible person who is within the EU who can be a contact in the event that there is a questionk about the safety of the product.
- Include a product identification code or other element enabling identification of the product.
- Include any relevant warnings or safety information, in a language easily understood by customers.
- Carry Out a Risk Analysis on the product to identify any risks.
What does GPSR mean for those who sell physical products?
For artists and makers who sell physical products, you will need to follow all the guidance above, as well as considering the packaging of the physical product.
What is a ‘Responsible Person’ under the GPSR?
If you appoint a representative to be responsible person they will be a person inside the EU who will be a contact point for customers and market surveillance authorities. If any market surveillance authorities have a concern with a product you sell, they can make contact with your representative inside the EU.
The responsible person will also check that you are compliant with the points above, such as carrying out a safety assessment and having the relevant details included.
What GPSR services does The Fairythorn offer?
We offer GPSR representation to designers, artists and makers based outside the EU. From our base in Ireland, we can act as your responsible person inside the EU to enable you to continue selling your handmade goods to EU customers.
What goods does The Fairythorn cover?
The Fairythorn Representation was set up specifically to enable a group of knitting and crochet designers selling digital PDF patterns to continue in business, and that remains the core of our representation service.
We represent a range of goods that hand made and independent artists might sell, focusing on:
PDF goods
Paper Goods
We also represent designers and artists selling physical printed copies of their work, such as:
Other physical goods
If you sell hand dyed yarn, or any other goods outside of those listed above, please get in touch to see if we can also represent your artwork.
Sign up here to get occasional emails about GPSR and other global safety regulations as they relate to designers and artists.
To find out more about GPSR as it impacts crochet, knitting, sewing and other designers, check out some of our designer resources.