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Setting up a business involves complying with a range of legal requirements. Find out which ones apply to you and your new enterprise.

Every business needs to be aware of its obligations under minimum wage and equal pay laws, as well as recent pensions auto-enrolment changes.

What particular regulations do specific types of business (such as a hotel, or a printer, or a taxi firm) need to follow? We explain some of the key legal issues to consider for 200 types of business.

While poor governance can bring serious legal consequences, the law can also protect business owners and managers and help to prevent conflict.

You must comply with legal restrictions on employees' working hours and time off, or risk claims, enforcement action and even prosecution.

The right employment policies are an essential part of effective staff management. Make sure any policy is clear and well communicated to employees.

Whether you want to raise finance, join forces with someone else, buy or sell a business, it pays to be aware of the legal implications.

While sick employees need to be treated fairly, you need to ensure that 'sickness' is not being used as cover for unauthorised absence.

Marketing matters. Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy.

Most pregnant employees are entitled to maternity leave and maternity pay, while new fathers are entitled to paternity leave and paternity pay.

Commercial disputes can prove time-consuming, stressful and expensive, but having robust legal agreements can help to prevent them from occurring.

As well as undermining morale, illegal discrimination can lead to workplace grievances. Employee discrimination is covered by the Equality Act 2010.

Whether your business owns or rents premises, your legal liabilities can be substantial. Commercial property law is complex, but you can avoid common pitfalls.

Home, remote and lone workers are becoming increasingly commonplace. Key issues include communication and how to manage and motivate people remotely.

With information and sound advice, living up to your legal responsibilities to safeguard your employees, customers and visitors need not be difficult or costly.

The right approach to consulting with and providing information to your employees can improve employee motivation and performance.

As information technology continues to evolve, legislation must also change. It affects everything from data protection and online selling to internet policies for employees.

Disciplinary and grievance issues can be a major burden to employers. Putting in place and following the right procedures is essential.

Following the right dismissal and redundancy procedures helps protect your business and minimise the risk of a legal dispute at tribunal.

Intellectual property (IP) isn't solely relevant to larger businesses or those involved in developing innovative new products: all products have IP.

Employment tribunal claims are a worrying prospect for any employer. A tribunal case is a no-win situation – even if the claim is unjustified.

Knowing how and when you plan to sell or relinquish control of your business can help you to make better decisions and achieve the best possible outcome.

From bereavement, wills, inheritance, separation and divorce to selling a house, personal injury and traffic offences, learn more about your personal legal rights.

Selling to the EU and Northern Ireland: new GPSR product safety rules

**This article reflects our understanding of the new product safety rules but cannot be relied on as legal advice. If you have any concerns, you should consult a lawyer. **

If you sell products to customers in the EU or Northern Ireland, you’ll know that the rules have changed since Brexit. EU regulations now treat suppliers in the UK in much the same way as suppliers based in any other country outside the EU, while special rules cover sales to Northern Ireland.

New EU product safety rules (GPSR) came into effect on 13 December 2024. This has left many UK sellers worried that they may no longer be able to sell to the EU or NI. The rules may also affect you if you sell through platforms like Amazon, eBay or Etsy – even if you don’t sell to EU or NI customers at all.

What is GPSR?

The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a new EU safety regulation. It requires consumer products sold in the EU to be safe, and sets out what businesses must do to make sure they are. GPSR applies to most consumer goods, though food, medicine and a few other types of product are excluded.

Importantly, GPSR requires any business selling into the EU from outside to have a ‘responsible person’ based within the EU to handle product safety issues. If you don’t have an operation based within the EU or Northern Ireland, you must work with an organisation that takes on this role. That leaves you with four broad options:

  • Set up a subsidiary business or appoint a representative in the EU/NI to act as the responsible person. This will only be worthwhile if you make significant EU sales.
  • Sell to an EU/NI importer who acts as the responsible person.
  • Appoint a compliance agent to deal with GPSR (including appointing a responsible person) for you.
  • Stop selling to EU/NI.

What else does GPSR require?

GPSR aims to ensure that consumer goods are safe. Manufacturers must assess product safety, ensure product traceability and take effective action if a product recall is needed.

Information required by GPSR includes:

  • manufacturer’s name, trade name or trade mark, postal and electronic address
  • information such as batch or serial numbers to help with product tracing
  • any instructions, safety information or warning labels

Where information cannot be included on the label, it may be provided in accompanying documentation.

GPSR and selling online

If products are sold online, key information needs to be provided on the website, including contact details for the ‘responsible person’. GPSR also sets out specific requirements for online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, to help ensure that sellers on the marketplace are complying with GPSR.

If you don’t want to sell to customers in the EU or NI, some marketplaces may let you specify that your goods are not for sale within the EU or NI. Provided you do this, it will not be necessary to comply with GPSR.

If this is not an option, or if you want to sell to EU/NI, you must ensure that all your product listings make it easy for customers to find essential information. You can find out more in the seller support pages for each marketplace:

You may also want to search through seller discussion groups to see how other sellers are dealing with GPSR.

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