GPSR: SHIPPING TO THE EU AND NORTHERN ISLAND

We are sorry to announce that while we are trying to understand the new GPSR requirement starting on December 13th, we will have to pause all shipping to the EU and Northern Ireland for now

This is not what we want to do, and it is definitely NOT goodbye. However, we will sadly stop accepting orders for shipping to the EU and Northern Ireland starting December 6th.

To clarify this will not affect our UK customers and international customers outside the EU.

With little guidance from the UK Government, we need to take a break from shipping while we learn more and find a way to ensure our EU and Northern Ireland friends can order from us smoothly in the future.

What is GPSR?

GPSR stands for General Product Safety Regulations, and these new rules will start on December 13th, 2024 which include:

That businesses selling into the EU and Northern Ireland have a named point of contact on product safety (known as the ‘EU Responsible Person’)
That products are traceable (for example, through a batch or serial number) in a way that is visible and accessible for consumers
That businesses selling via an online platform verify compliance with GPSR requirements

How Will This Impact Us?

The amount of information we need to comply with is a lot, especially for a small business like ours. We need to make sure our handmade products meet these standards, and we also need to get the right information from all the small businesses we purchase from. This means asking for test reports, packaging details, and new labels for everything.

The biggest challenge is finding an EU Responsible Person. Since we are based in the UK, we would need to hire someone in the EU to act for us. There are services available, but they are quite expensive, costing £400 – £700 per product type, per year. With many products, this adds up to thousands of pounds, which is not possible for us as a small business.

Which Countries Will This Impact?

Sadly, this affects any country in the EU and Northern Ireland:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

For any other country outside of these, it’s business as usual.

How Can You Still Order From Us?

If you have friends or family in the UK, you can have your order shipped to them and then forwarded to you as a gift.

This situation has surprised many small businesses. We will keep talking to those in charge to get more clarity and support each other in finding help for small businesses. If we find a way to comply without having to close down, we will definitely restart shipping to the EU and Northern Ireland. For now, we really appreciate your patience and understanding.

What’s Next?

We will stop all orders from the EU (including Northern Ireland) starting December 6th, 2024.

We hope you understand. This is NOT goodbye; we’re just taking a little time to regroup and sort out this issue!

Thank you