AOI Webinar: Understanding EU GPSR

EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) came into force on 13th December 2024. Since then, illustrators have found it increasingly challenging to understand and navigate this new regulation. This has had a direct impact on their businesses and in many cases illustrators have stopped shipping to the EU entirely.

In this comprehensive webinar, we will focus on the ’practical elements’ of compliance i.e. exactly what you need to do, how you need to do it, giving you the confidence to quickly resume (and hopefully grow) your EU sales.

This is an essential event for any illustrator that runs their own online shop and has been impacted by the new regulation.

The webinar is hosted by the Assocation of Illustrators (The AOI), the UK's leading professional body for illustration, and presented by Andrea Collins, Founder of Global Trade Department.

Launching Global Trade Department after having spent her entire career in international trade, Andrea Collins is a passionate ambassador of UK micro businesses and SMEs. GTD also offers services to support their clients to be compliant and can act as an Authorised Representative for sales to the EU. Find more detail below.

The webinar is free and tickets are available for AOI Members and general admission. If you are interested in who The AOI is, what we do and the benefits for members, you can find out more here.

The webinar is 1 hour, with a 40 minute presentation and 20 minute Q&A. This is a great opportunity to clarify any uncertainties with an industry specialist, directly.

About EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)

EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) aims to ensure the safety of consumer goods not already covered by existing EU regulation. It is comprehensive, covering new products on the EU market as well as second-hand, repaired, reconditioned, or recycled items. Most UK exporters of consumer goods to the EU, Northern Ireland, and the EEA markets are affected, so understanding obligations and compliance is crucial.

Whilst the regulation initially caused widespread panic, especially amongst the small business community and our amazing creative sector has been disproportionately impacted. However, what GB businesses need to appreciate is that they are already undoubtedly, largely compliant with the regulation, as we have fully complied with the pre-existing GPSD. GPSR is about documenting that compliance, collating supporting evidence of compliance, and then ensuring that is readily available to the EU authorities in the event of any product safety issues.

About Global Trade Department (GTD)

GTD is an international trade consultancy practice specialising in customs and global regulatory compliance, encompassing all aspects of import and export. We work tirelessly to breakdown tariff and non-tariff barriers to EU and global trade for UK SMEs, be those our own clients or those referred to us by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Chambers of Commerce, or Local Authorities. Our offering comprises a combination of strategic and operational consultancy, hands-on support, off the shelf and bespoke training, and our global regulatory compliance platform. More information

GTD’s Authorised Representative Services

GTD works with many micro businesses and SMEs. Brought in to assist with DBT’s GPSR activities in Q4 2024 we were at the forefront of GPSR support nationwide. Many companies reaching out for support had already invested heavily in multiple EU compliance services (VAT, packaging, etc.) and were now looking to switch off shipping to NI and the EU when faced with cost prohibitive Authorised Representative Services for GPSR. We did not feel like we could stand by and let that happen so GTD decided to invest in offering its own Authorised Representative service to cater for these businesses. We are hugely proud that the company has already enabled some 350+ companies to continue (cost effectively) expanding their sales into the EU. At the heart of this offering is the GTD Platform, effectively a global regulatory hub for SMEs, alerting them to applicable overseas regulation and importantly, helping them to comply. More information

This is a free event and tickets are available for AOI Members and general admission. Just make sure to register to book your spot.

Please note this online event will be recorded. The recording will be made available to AOI Members on the members only section of the website, in due course. For any general admission tickets please ensure you turn up live as a recording will not be provided following the event.

The AOI would like to make events accessible to all, where possible. Please let us know your access requirements at least one week in advance by emailing info@theaoi.com