Importer, distributor and manufacturer responsibilities

The duties are allocated by role, and the roles are defined in the legislation rather than in your contract. The manufacturer designs, assesses, documents and signs the declaration. The importer verifies that the manufacturer did it, puts its own name and address on the product, and keeps the declaration available for ten years. The distributor checks the markings and the paperwork are present. The trap is role escalation: an importer that sells under its own brand, or modifies the product, becomes the manufacturer in law and inherits the whole set, including the liability.

• Manufacturer duties, which stay with the Indian entity: conformity assessment, technical documentation, the declaration of conformity, CE marking, type or batch identification, name and address on the product, and corrective action when a product is non-compliant.
• Importer duties: verify the assessment was carried out, that the documentation exists and that the marking and instructions are correct before placing the product on the market; add its own name, registered trade name and address; keep a copy of the declaration for ten years.
• Distributor duties: act with due care, check the CE marking, the required documents and the instructions in the right language, and not place a product it knows is non-compliant.
• Role escalation: placing a product on the market under your own name or trademark, or modifying a product already placed, makes you the manufacturer for every purpose. Private-label buyers in the EU take on your duties, which is a commercial argument in your favour.
• Put the allocation in the supply agreement: who holds the technical file, who answers a market surveillance request, who funds a recall, and how long the documentation duty runs after the last shipment.
• Name the EU-side responsible person explicitly. An importer is often willing to be it, but it must be written and it is not the same appointment as the GDPR representative.
• Keep the recall chain rehearsed: the authority contacts the operator whose name is on the product, and the answer is due in days, not weeks.

• GPSR Article 9: obligations of manufacturersArticle nodeOfficial text
• GPSR Article 11: obligations of importersArticle nodeOfficial text
• GPSR Article 12: obligations of distributorsArticle nodeOfficial text
• GPSR Article 16: person responsible for compliance in the UnionArticle nodeOfficial text
• Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective productsArticle node

• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products

• EU representative and responsible person
• EU conformity assessment routes: Module A, B, C and beyond
• General Product Safety Regulation
• All requirements
• Indian law against EU law

Sector

All goods exporters, private label, marketplace sellers

Read date

2026-08-26

Register version

in-export-v1.0.0

Address

/in/export/importer-vs-manufacturer