Bookshops say they have been caught “off guard” by the European Union’s new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) law which comes into effect on 13th December 2024, with some suggesting publishers have been “left scrambling for information” about how it will impact book distribution from the UK into Europe.
GPSR regulations will replace the General Product Safety Directive dating from 2004, in order to tighten safety concerns around how products have changed in those decades, specifically with regard to software, artificial intelligence and connected devices.
The new regulations also include books, requiring distributors to meet risk assessment, documentation and labelling requirements, as well as having to have a named representative within the EU to vouch for them.
The EU has also beefed up its requirements for product traceability and accountability, including the introduction of a digital product passport and mandatory record-keeping. Penalties for non-compliance include fines and criminal charges for the most severe breaches.
Brett Kirchner, director of online bookshop Inkstone Books, believes some independent publishers and bookshops are going to have to seriously weigh whether or not it is practical for them to keep selling books in the EU. He told The Bookseller: “As we don’t produce the books ourselves, the GPSR compliance requirements seem to be a publisher responsibility, but as a retailer hoping to sell books into the EU, we still need an EU responsible person. There are vendors that offer this service, for a number of prices ranging from quite reasonable to exorbitant.”
Kirchner now thinks he’s found someone to act as an EU responsible person and he’s reached out to the publishers whose books he stocks, some of which have their own EU responsible person listed on their copyright pages, but he remains confused by the “vague” EU guidance.
“[The publishers I’ve spoken to have] confirmed that their books will be GPSR compliant. Some of them don’t entirely know how/where the necessary information will be made available—seems like they were as caught off guard as a lot of bookshops were,” said Kirchner.
“Books don’t carry the same risks as an electronic device (unless you count some radical ideas they may contain)—but the EU guidance on what documentation is required is still rather vague. I’m sure that all of the big publishers will sort all this out rather quickly, considering they all do business in Ireland (same with Waterstones) but at the moment it still is all rather murky—slightly concerning considering we’re [days] away from the new rules,” he said.
It is not only Kirchner who has been left bewildered by the advice published by the EU. Nik Górecki, of Housmans Bookshop in Kings’ Cross, London, told The Bookseller: “The bookshop network I am part of is trying to work out if GPSR, which comes into effect [this] week, is going to affect us. No one knows. And information online is confusing at best. The general gist is that it will affect us, and that it will kill trade with the EU dead. I have already seen one social media post from a publisher saying they will no longer post to the EU because of this.”
He added: “Basically everyone is worried they will have to stop sending books to the EU, and no one can work out who is affected… GPSR seems to put the onus on publishers, but doesn’t mention booksellers. It also doesn’t mention second-hand books.”
BookSource managing director Davinder Bedi agrees the information on GPSR remains “pretty sparse” but believes the majority of the regulations will be covered by the ONIX system for transmitting book metadata. He told The Bookseller: “Guidance on EU GPSR, like most European legislation since Brexit, remains pretty sparse and we are seeing our publishers scrambling for information. There is a real fear that almost overnight a pretty important market may be closed off to them.
“As well as adding administrative burden to an already stretched independent publishing sector, the cost of physically labelling backlist, if that is a requirement, would be considerable for publishers—so I really hope that it isn’t.”
He added: “We know that ONIX already caters for the required data but I understand that there are issues with some businesses being able to import and use that information and the worry is that, without it, customers simply won’t order some titles or that we will be prevented from delivering them. Our role as a distributor remains equally unclear but we will do everything we can to help our publishers continue to make sales, while ensuring that we remain on the right side of the rules. However, as yet none of our clients have advised us to restrict their titles from EU markets. Altogether it’s a further hindrance to trading since we closed our borders.”
The distribution of self-published books is set to be hit by the new laws, too. Kirchner said: “Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, etc are turning off the ability for sellers to sell/ship to Europe unless they can provide all of the necessary documentation—a lot of self-published authors are not going to have the resources that the major publishers have in order to ensure compliance. Anecdotally, I’ve heard that a lot of self-published authors are going to have to cut off their EU audience, at least for physical books.”
A spokesperson for Pan Macmillan said: “Our existing product safety practices enable us to meet the new requirements from the EU legislation, and we have implemented updates to our processes and channels for consumer communication related to the legislation.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “Safety is a top priority at Amazon and we ensure our selection meets industry-accepted standards, and develop innovative tools to prevent unsafe products from being listed.
“We have made publishers aware of the EU General Product Safety Regulation and the relevant requirements ahead of it being introduced, and we will continue to provide them with further updates.”
The Bookseller also contacted Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Hachette and the Booksellers Association for comment on the changes.