Since late 2024, market surveillance authorities now also have bikes, components and accessory parts in their sights. Dirk Zedler looks at the implications of Regulation 2023/988 for manufacturers.
Let’s be honest, is there anyone among the staff of bike manufacturers or importers with a passion for regulatory matters? No? More’s the pity, because heavily publicised scandals, such as the sales ban on Babboe bikes or the bankruptcy of VanMoof, are not just damaging for the companies and their customers. They discredit the bike industry as a whole.
Besides the unprecedented negative publicity spilling over into media outlets outside the cycling world, these two calamitous events have one thing in common: Both could almost certainly have been prevented if the companies had complied with existing European directives and standards.
The “new” GPSR
The new General Product Safety Regulation, or GPSR in short, came into effect for the whole of the EU in December 2024. The explicit objective is to ensure that all products placed on the market, i.e. brought to consumers in all EU member states, are safe.
That general objective is unchanged from all predecessor regulations and directives since 1989. However, the circle of those who are responsible for product safety has been significantly widened. It now also includes distributors, in addition to EU-based manufacturers or importers of non-EU goods. The fact that online marketplaces must now live up to the same product safety requirements is a plus.
Another change consists in the wider area of application. The official lingo has it as follows: “Applies to products that are placed or made available on the market insofar as there are no specific provisions with the same objective under Union law which regulate the safety of the products concerned.” For the bike industry, this means the regulations are not just for pedelecs anymore. They apply equally to “normal” bicycles, components and accessory products.
Manufacturers, importers, and distributors must therefore ensure that the products they place on the market are safe and comply with the applicable regulations. It follows logically that mere compliance with some standard cannot and will not be enough.
A sufficiently high level of safety should first and foremost be achieved through the product’s design and features – a concept familiar from the Machinery Directive, especially the idea of ‘inherent safety’, which already applied to pedelecs.
The intended and expected use of the pedelec, bicycle, component or accessory part has to be considered. ‘Expected use’ might mean, for instance, that the pedelec could be used to tow a trailer for children. Therefore, manufacturers must consider this load case in their design, production and quality assurance system. Residual risks must be reduced through specific safety measures, e.g. warnings and instructions.
Beyond this, it is necessary to conduct risk assessments and prepare technical documents.
Duty of information for customers
The safety concept involves manufacturers having to enclose clear instructions and safety information in a language the consumer can easily understand, determined by the relevant member state.
Exceptions from this requirement can be made only if it is possible to use the product safely and as intended by the manufacturer without such instructions and safety information, but that can hardly be said of a bicycle. Just think of the many bike components and accessory parts like wheels, bags, pedals, bike computers etc. – all of them can become hazard sources if installed or used incorrectly. From our activities writing expert reports, I know that even the sensor of a bike computer or a dynamo mount can lead to severe accidents if installed the wrong way around.
This means that nearly all products dealers have on their shelves now require assembly and operating instructions according to standards, including the relevant safety information.
Transparency in every regard
The handling of products that are found to be in some way unsafe is also more regulated now. Once any actor within the supply chain learns o an unsafe product, they need to pass that information on to the manufacturer without delay. The manufacturer will then examine complaints made and any information on accidents, and must take the necessary measures to establish the safety of the products that are still on the market. This may even go as far as a full product recall. The manufacturer is obligated to maintain an internal list of complaints, product recalls and any corrective measures taken.
Additionally, the EU has established the “Safety Business Gateway” (formerly RAPEX) as the centralised point of contact for reporting unsafe products. Economic operators (meaning manufacturers, importers and distributors) must report information on dangerous products via the Safety Gateway early warning system.
Conclusion
The same level of safety for all EU consumers, to be provided by all economic operators, without any exception for any product group: Well-positioned manufacturers will have no trouble to get ready for the all-new General Product Safety Regulation. However, market players used to a more hands-off approach to safety will now be faced with major challenges. After all, what the EU wants is a level playing field for all economic operators.