Jurisdiction(s):
European Union

Key definition

Consumer definition

What does Consumer mean? A consumer is, in practice, an individual who acquires goods, services or digital content for personal use, not for the purposes of a trade, business, craft or profession. The precise meaning is statutory and context‑specific. England & Wales and Scotland: The Consumer Rights Act 2015, s2(3), defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession (capturing mixed‑purpose purchases where the business purpose is not predominant). The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 instead asks whether a party “deals as consumer”, a distinct test relevant to exclusion and limitation clauses. The Sale of...

EU general consumer product recalls under the GPSD: risk assessment, authority notification, Safety Gate, recall execution and liabilities (archived; superseded by the EU General Product Safety Regulation)

Published by a LexisNexis EU Law expert

Practice notes

ARCHIVED

This Practice Note is archived and no longer updated.

STOP PRESS

Directive 2001/95/EC, the EU General Product Safety Directive (EU GPSD), has been repealed by Regulation (EU) 2023/988, also called the EU General Product Safety Regulation (EU GPSR). For further details on the EU GPSR, see the Practice Notes: The EU General Product Safety Regulation and Product safety notifications and corrective actions in the EU—general Consumer Goods (a new PN).
The EU GPSD will be repealed by Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the General Product Safety Regulation (EU GPSR), with effect from 13 December 2024. Until then, products that meet the GPSD may continue to be placed on the EU market. For additional information on the EU GPSR, refer to Practice Note: EU General Product Safety Regulation—tracker [Archived].

This Practice Note considers the practical aspects of product recall and other remedial measures for general consumer products in the EU, from the standpoint of producers and Distributors.

‘Producer’ and ‘distributor’ are defined expressions in Directive 2001/95/EC, the EU General Product Safety Directive (EU GPSD). In more recent instruments, for example the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC, the terms ‘manufacturer’, ‘importer’...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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