Answer · updated 12 September 2026

GPSR for Etsy candle sellers

Yes, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) applies to your candles. It has applied since 13 December 2024.

It applies to every non-food consumer product sold to a customer in the European Union, wherever the seller sits. There is no exemption for small shops and none for handmade goods. One candle sold to one buyer in the Netherlands puts you inside it.

Candles have no EU safety law of their own. GPSR is the law that governs them, and the candle standards are how safety is shown in the file.

Etsy has enforced GPSR since it came into force, and can stop your EU sales while a listing is missing what the law requires.

At a glance

Product: Candle, poured or dipped, scented or not
Instrument: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR)
Applies from: 13 December 2024
Trigger: One candle sold to one EU customer
Exemption by size: None

7 obligations apply · 4 do not · 1 you buy elsewhere

What applies

An internal risk analysis of this candle, written down before it is sold

Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR), Article 9(2)

Technical documentation, kept 10 years from the day the candle is placed on the market

GPSR, Article 9(3)

An economic operator established in the European Union, named with an address on the listingyou buy this elsewhere

GPSR, Article 16(1) and 16(2)

A batch or type number, and your name, postal address and email, on the candle or its packaging

GPSR, Article 9(5) and 9(6)

Warnings and safety information in a language the buyer in each country understands

GPSR, Article 9(7)

Fire safety warning text and pictograms taken from the candle standards

EN 15494 (safety labels), EN 15493 (fire safety)

Hazard labelling on the candle where the fragrance mixture is classified as hazardous

Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (CLP)

What does not apply

CE marking

No European Union law requires CE marking on a candle. Affixing one where it is not required is itself a fault.

Toy safety rules

Directive 2009/48/EC covers toys. A candle is not a toy unless it is sold to be played with.

Cosmetic rules

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 covers what is applied to the body. A candle is not.

Approval or testing by an outside body

GPSR asks for no third-party approval. You carry out the analysis, keep the file, and produce it on request.

What to do first

01Write the risk analysis for this candle: heat, flame, wax pool, container, fragrance.
02Keep it with the technical documentation, and keep both for 10 years.
03Arrange an economic operator in the European Union. That is a service you buy from a firm that sells it.
04Put the batch number, your details and the warnings on the label, in each language you ship to.
05Register your packaging in each country you ship to. Germany and France are separate schemes.

Sources

We read the texts and name them. We do not sell representation, and we say when you need it.

The rules move. Watch tells you when one of these changes.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) applies from 12 August 2026 and rewrites packaging duties across the European Union. Watch is the free notice of what changed, who it hits, and what to do.

Next answers

This page is written from the official texts named above and from your own product's facts only when you run the Check. It is documentation, not legal advice.