GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Dimitris Emvalomenos, Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners LLP
Also see the European Commission’s latest annual report “Safety Gate Annual Report 2025”, which was released on 5 March 2026. The Safety Gate replaced the EU Rapid Information System – RAPEX. Following the enactment of GPSR, the European Commission’s guidelines for the man - agement of RAPEX set by its Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/417, as amended by the European Com - mission’s Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/975 of 15 May 2023, ceased to be in force (from 26 March 2025). 1.3 Obligations to Commence Corrective Action The general framework is that the manufacturer or dis - tributor of a defective product must take any appropri - ate measures to eliminate possible hazards affecting the product’s use as soon as a defect comes to their attention. These measures may vary, and can include warning notifications, instructions to consumers, invi - tations for servicing or updating the product at issue so that it becomes safe, or recall notifications (see also 1.4 Obligations to Notify Regulatory Authori- ties ). A product recall is an action taken where no other measure would eliminate the danger and may be initi - ated voluntarily by the manufacturer or the distributor or mandatorily following an order by the competent authority. The European Commission provides a guide entitled “Recall process from A-Z: Guidance for economic operators and market surveillance authorities” dated 22 July 2021 which contains useful information on the legal framework around and process to be followed by economic operators and market surveillance authori - ties in determining when corrective action – specifi - cally a recall – is required, and how best to handle it. 1.4 Obligations to Notify Regulatory Authorities If manufacturers or distributors become aware that any of their products present a risk to consumers, they must immediately notify the General Secretariat and any other competent regulatory authority, depending on the type of product involved. The criteria determin - ing when a matter requires notification derive from the
rule that the safety profile of a product dictates any notification needed. Article 7, paragraph 3 of Law 2251 (see 1.1 Product Safety Legal Framework ) lists the criteria to be moni - tored from the point of view of risks to consumers’ safety and health protection, as follows: • the characteristics of the product, including its composition, packaging, instructions for assembly and, where applicable, for installation and mainte - nance; • the effect on other products, where it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used with other products; • the presentation of the product, the labelling, any warnings and instructions for its use and disposal and any other indication or information regarding the product; and • the categories of consumers at risk when using the product, children and the elderly, in particular. The manufacturers may be informed about the risks of a product by any appropriate means; they may discover that the product is not safe following their own inspections and tests or based on initiatives by consumers, insurance companies, distributors, or government bodies. In all cases, the manufacturers must notify the regulatory authority as soon as a risk has been established. The notified regulatory authority may request addition - al information, and the submission of relative docu - ments or measures to be taken by the manufacturer or distributor. Under the legal regime of GPSD, European Commis - sion Decision 2004/905/EC of 14 December 2004 had set out the guidelines for notification by manufacturers and distributors of dangerous consumer products to the competent authorities of member states (Article 5 (3) of the GPSD). The above decision was repealed by the European Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/1761 of 21 June 2024, with effect from 13 December 2024. GPSR imposes obligations to all economic opera - tors, namely – and apart from the manufacturers – to authorised representatives, importers, distributors
153 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook