What does the GPSR mean by “targeting” the EU market?

To put it simply, “targeting” the EU market means that a product is openly made available for purchase by residents of any single country in the EU by someone outside the EU.

It can be as simple as writing on your website that you ship to Belgium while also accepting orders from Belgium.

In this way, if you make clay models and someone from the EU send an unsolicited offer for sale, you can still sell it to the person without having to abide by the GPSR. If this becomes a regular thing, then the courts (or Customs) could decide that you are now targeting the EU market and need to follow the GPSR. The EU courts could change the exact reading of this in the future, but there currently appears to be little room for exemptions.

In the case of a product offered for sale online or through other means of distance sales, the product should be considered to have been made available on the market if the offer for sale is targeted at consumers in the Union. In line with the applicable Union rules on private international law, a case-by-case analysis should be carried out in order to establish whether an offer is targeted at consumers in the Union. An offer for sale should be considered to be targeted at consumers in the Union if the relevant economic operator directs, by any means, its activities to a Member State. For the case-by-case analyses, relevant factors, such as the geographical areas to which dispatch is possible, the languages available, used for the offer or for ordering, means of payment, the use of currency of the Member State or a domain name registered in one of the Member States should be taken into consideration. In the case of online sales, the mere fact that the economic operators’ or the providers of online marketplaces’ interface is accessible in the Member State in which the consumer is established or domiciled is insufficient.

As always, the GPSR is subject to interpretation by the courts, so nothing on this website can be taken as legal advice. Every situation is different, laws and regulations change, and the courts can strike down or have alternate readings of specific lines of laws and regulations. Even the European Commission itself refuses to accept legal responsibility for its own statements.

~~To expand on the video a bit:

1. If you do not target individuals in the EU but a resident of the EU makes an unsolicited offer to purchase one of your products, you can sell it to them as a sort of special one-time offer.
2. If you try to hide your sales behind a sort of “I don’t know why so many Europeans like my products – I never say they can buy it and I only post in English or Anishinaabemowin,” the European Commission or the court system could deem that you are indeed targeting the EU market and are hiding your intent. So, just be honest.
3. There is no other way to be exempt from the GPSR that I can currently say is solid. There could possibly be a sort of “hobbyist” exemption, where you mainly produce these items as a hobby and make little profit. This, though, opens up a huge can of worms because of how broad the GPSR is compared to the GPSD. In general, I never suggest that people try to find a way to be exempt from the EU. In my opinion, you should either abide and ship or not abide and don’t ship.
4. Looking around, you can find companies offering to be an authorized representative or responsible person for around €200 per year for one product type. If you get a lot of people offering to buy your products and you only make one specific type of product, it might be worth it to abide by the GPSR. If you sell multiple types or use a wide range of product materials, it might be best if you don’t sell into the EU (in the case that some of your materials are now banned or end up being banned). For the vast majority of individual makers, there will be no issue or difficulty with following the GPSR, except for additional labeling and the publishing of postal addresses.

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