EU Compliance Made Easy: Essential Checklists for eCommerce Success

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Why This Matters
Businesses using these checklists reduce compliance errors by 83% and cut onboarding time by 6 months.

Key EU Regulations Covered

Why Compliance Automation Is Your Competitive Advantage

Let’s face it – running an eCommerce business in the EU involves navigating a labyrinth of constantly evolving regulations. From ensuring accurate energy labels to verifying sustainable packaging claims, these requirements can be overwhelming for businesses of all sizes. But compliance isn’t just about avoiding fines (though those can reach millions of euros). It’s about building consumer trust, maximizing sales opportunities, and future-proofing your business against upcoming regulatory changes.

For SMBs, manual compliance verification drains limited resources and risks costly marketplace rejections. For enterprises, managing thousands of SKUs across multiple regulatory frameworks creates data inconsistencies and expensive audit processes. And for software partners, integrating compliance capabilities has become a must-have feature customers increasingly demand.

The Real Cost of Non-Compliance

The EU’s regulatory framework carries serious consequences for businesses that don’t measure up:

Financial Penalties

Companies have faced penalties ranging from €10,000 to €2 million for non-compliance with EU regulations, with one retailer recently receiving a €5 million fine for false sustainability claims1. With €5 billion in total compliance fines issued in 2024 alone, the stakes have never been higher.

Market Access Restrictions

Non-compliant products face immediate removal from marketplaces, resulting in lost sales opportunities and inventory challenges that particularly impact time-sensitive businesses.

Reputational Damage

Today’s consumers actively seek brands they can trust. Non-compliance issues that become public can permanently damage your brand’s reputation and customer relationships.

Key EU Regulations Your Business Must Address

Let’s dive into the essential EU regulations affecting eCommerce businesses and how automated compliance solutions can streamline your approach to each one:

1. European Product Registry for Energy Labels (EPREL)

EPREL is the European Commission’s database providing detailed information about household appliances’ energy performance. It includes:

• Public Section: Accessible since May 2022, helping consumers compare products based on energy efficiency

• Compliance Section: Operating since 2019, requiring manufacturers, importers, or representatives to register products with technical details available to market authorities

Compliance Challenge: Manually tracking and updating energy efficiency data across product lines leads to inconsistencies and marketplace rejections.

Automation Solution: Gepard’s compliance automation instantly validates your product data against EPREL requirements, ensuring accurate energy labels and seamless marketplace acceptance.

2. General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)

Effective December 13, 2024, the GPSR updates safety rules for all products sold in the EU. Key requirements include:

• An EU-based “responsible person” managing compliance and safety

• Mandatory risk assessments with clear safety documentation

• Robust traceability systems for quick recall management

• Equal safety standards for online and physical marketplaces

Compliance Challenge: For SMBs, finding and financing an EU representative is costly. For enterprises, coordinating safety documentation across global supply chains creates significant inefficiencies.

Automation Solution: Gepard streamlines GPSR compliance by centralizing required safety documentation, validating product data against regulation requirements, and ensuring complete traceability information.

3. Green Claims Directive (GCD)

The EU’s Green Claims Directive targets greenwashing by requiring:

• Credible evidence for any environmental product claims.

• Independent third-party verification of environmental labels.

• Clear standards that apply to most businesses targeting EU customers.

Compliance Challenge: Validating sustainability claims across product catalogs requires coordinating complex data from multiple suppliers and production facilities.

Automation Solution: Gepard’s compliance automation validates environmental claims against GCD requirements, ensuring your sustainability messaging meets regulatory standards and builds genuine consumer trust.

4. Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)

The PPWR focuses on reducing packaging waste through:

• Requirements that all packaging be recyclable or reusable by 2030

• Specific recycling rate targets (65% by 2025, 70% by 2030)

• Mandates for increased recycled content in plastic packaging

• Clear consumer recycling labels and deposit return systems

Compliance Challenge: Tracking packaging specifications across thousands of SKUs while meeting evolving recycling targets creates significant data management challenges.

Automation Solution: Gepard’s platform automatically validates packaging data against PPWR requirements, alerts you to non-compliant items, and streamlines the transition to sustainable packaging alternatives.

5. Digital Product Passport (DPP)

Digital Product Passports are digital IDs tracking materials and environmental impact throughout a product’s lifecycle. Key features include:

• Unique product identifiers (like QR codes)

• Material composition and recycled content information

• Durability and recyclability details

• Supply chain transparency requirements

Compliance Challenge: For both SMBs and enterprises, creating and maintaining DPPs for each product requires coordinating complex data from multiple sources while ensuring accuracy.

Automation Solution: Gepard’s compliance automation centralizes product data from across your organization, automatically generating and updating Digital Product Passports that meet all EU requirements.

6. Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)

The ESPR, effective July 18, 2024, expands ecodesign requirements to nearly all physical products, focusing on:

• Improved product durability, recyclability, and repairability

• Reduced environmental footprints across product lifecycles

• Uniform sustainability standards across the EU market

• Support for the EU’s 2030 climate and energy efficiency targets

Compliance Challenge: For software partners, helping clients meet ESPR requirements requires complex data management capabilities that many platforms lack.

Automation Solution: Gepard provides both direct compliance solutions and API integration options for partners, ensuring ESPR requirements are seamlessly incorporated into existing software ecosystems.

How Gepard Eliminates Compliance Headaches

Manual compliance checks inevitably lead to errors, delays, and rejected product listings. Gepard’s automated compliance solution addresses the unique challenges faced by different businesses:

For Small to Medium Businesses

• Eliminates the fear of unexpected compliance fines with automated validation

• Reduces manual workload through streamlined compliance checks

• Prevents marketplace listing rejections with pre-submission validation

• Provides enterprise-level compliance without requiring specialized staff

For Enterprises

• Manages compliance across thousands of SKUs with robust automation

• Ensures consistent compliance data across departments through centralized validation

• Eliminates costly manual audits with automated verification processes

• Minimizes risk exposure with comprehensive compliance monitoring

For Software and Data Partners

• Integrates seamlessly with existing systems through flexible APIs

• Meets growing customer demand for built-in compliance features

• Handles regulatory complexity with regular, automatic updates

• Provides competitive advantage against solutions lacking compliance capabilities

Ready to Streamline Your Compliance Process?

Don’t let complex regulations slow your business growth or create unnecessary risks. Download our free compliance checklists to assess your current readiness, then schedule a personalized demo to see how Gepard’s automated solution can transform your approach to regulatory compliance.

Our team of experts will show you how Gepard can help your specific business meet EU regulatory requirements with less effort, lower costs, and complete confidence.