03/12/2024
Some News about GPSR -
We had an email from Craft Council last week trying to shed some light on the new regulations for exporters from UK to EU (and Northern Ireland)
Added to the import duty and other charges on maker-to-buyer purchases from this is looking like a major issue in small UK businesses (Makers and Artists) exporting to customers in the EU.
If you are a small exporter/maker what are your plans/understanding - do we ignore and hope for the best and hope its mostly irrelevant to us (like GDPR was) or is this actually the final nail in the coffin for EU/UK direct sales.
Anyway this is what we know so far... Hope this helps?
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(from Crafts Council)
General Product Safety Regulation GPSR is a new set of EU regulations that replaces the existing rules (The General Product Safety Directive 2001 and the Food Imitating Product Directive 1987) with the aim of bringing regulations up-to-date with the substantial growth in digital commerce. The regulations are due to go into effect on 13th December.
Most of it seems to be common sense such as putting safety information on listings. The aspect that is most concerning that those selling from outside the EU to the EU (AND Northern Ireland) need to appoint an authorised representative that is located in the EU. There is a list of who this Responsible Person can be, in most cases it can be connected to manufacturers, or you can buy into an agent service – for craft sector and our micro businesses and sole traders this is problematic. You can find out more on the impact on small businesses selling to NI here.
GPSR also adds more responsibility to marketplaces, with enhanced information being required listed, including the Responsible Person.
We have been talking to our friends Folksy who have shared their work on this. Alongside platform changes so that sellers can provide relevant information, remove items that have been recalled, and report items we know are dangerous etc. They are also changing the shipping choices to give sellers the option to not sell to EU and NI. They have put together a really useful blog or their members, which you can find here.
https://blog.folksy.com/2024/11/26/gpsr-guide-for-artists-and-makers-on-folksy
Understanding how this impacts the craft sector is hard to see. The nearest mention is in this section:
(18) Antiques, such as works of art or collectors’ items are specific categories of products which cannot be expected to meet the safety requirements laid down by this Regulation, and should therefore be excluded from its scope. However, in order to prevent other products from being mistakenly considered as belonging to those categories, it is necessary to take into account that works of art are products created solely for artistic purposes, that collectors’ items are of sufficient rarity and historical or scientific interest to justify their collection and preservation, and that antiques, if they are not already works of art or collectors’ items or both, are of an extraordinary age. When assessing whether a product is an antique, such as a work of art or a collector’s item, Annex IX to Council Directive 2006/112/EC ( 13 ) could be taken into account.
The Annex mentioned above identifies these:
Pictures, collages and similar decorative plaques, paintings and drawings, executed entirely by hand by the artist original engravings, prints and lithographs, being impressions produced in limited numbers directly in black and white or in colour of one or of several plates executed entirely by hand by the artist, irrespective of the process or of the material employed, but not including any mechanical or photomechanical process original sculptures and statuary, in any material, provided that they are executed entirely by the artist; sculpture casts the production of which is limited to eight copies tapestries and wall textiles made by hand from original designs provided by artists, provided that there are not more than eight copies of each individual pieces of ceramics executed entirely by the artist and signed by him enamels on copper, executed entirely by hand, limited to eight numbered copies bearing the signature of the artist or the studio, excluding articles of jewellery and goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares.
