EU Product Safety Sweep 2026: responsible-person information is still missing from many online offers
What the latest enforcement sweep tells manufacturers about online compliance and EU responsible-person requirements.
The European Commission and national market surveillance authorities have published the results of the 2026 EU product safety sweep. The outcome shows progress, but also a significant compliance gap.
Between May and July 2026, authorities reviewed almost 1,700 online offers for children’s products and sporting goods. The exercise focused in particular on whether online offers contained the information required under the General Product Safety Regulation, including details of the manufacturer, the EU-based responsible person and product identification.
Only 58% of the offers checked contained all three elements. National authorities issued 560 orders in relation to non-compliant offers.
That figure deserves attention from manufacturers selling into the European Union.
The result does not necessarily mean that every remaining product lacked an EU responsible person. In some cases, the problem may have been that the required information was simply missing from the online offer. But from a compliance perspective, that distinction only goes so far: if information must be shown to consumers before purchase, having the information somewhere in a technical file is not enough.
For manufacturers established outside the EU, the responsible economic operator requirement therefore needs to be considered as part of the entire market-access process: appointment, technical documentation, product and packaging information, and the information displayed in online sales channels.
The 2026 sweep also illustrates a broader development. Compliance information is becoming increasingly visible and increasingly easy for authorities to check remotely. Market surveillance no longer begins only when an inspector physically finds a product in a shop. Online product offers themselves are becoming an important enforcement point.
For EurHub clients, this is one reason why we do not view authorised representation as simply providing an EU address. The appointment needs to work in practice. The relevant information must be available, documentation must be properly organised and the manufacturer needs to understand how the representative’s details should be used throughout its sales channels.
The message from the sweep is therefore straightforward: the rules are becoming embedded in everyday enforcement, and manufacturers selling online should make sure that the responsible-person requirement is properly implemented, not merely formally addressed.
