Product compliance · Labeling
Marking a product — and its digital label
A compliant product carries two labels: the physical mark required by EU product law, and, where a passport applies, the digital one a buyer or a customs officer scans. This page is about both, and where they meet.
The CE mark
For products under harmonised EU legislation, the CE mark has to be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly before the product is placed on the market, and followed by a notified body's identification number where one was involved in production control — the general principles Regulation (EC) 765/2008, article 30, sets for every sector law that requires the mark.
Who has to be named on the product
The marking duties EU product law shares across sectors — set out in Decision No 768/2008/EC and detailed in the Commission's Blue Guide, and echoed in GPSR's own traceability rules for products outside harmonised legislation — ask for a manufacturer's name or registered trademark and a contactable address, an importer's name and address once the manufacturer sits outside the EU, and a type, batch or serial reference a recall can trace back to a production run.
What an online offer has to show
Distance sales carry their own display duties, on top of the physical mark — what identity and safety information has to appear in the listing itself is set out on the GPSR fact sheet, article 19.
The digital label
Where a Digital Product Passport applies, the physical mark and the digital one are printed together: a GS1 Digital Link carrier resolves to the passport page, and for batteries the QR code of the Battery Regulation's article 13 does the same job under its own law. The DPP requirements page sets out the carrier rules in full; this page is about the marks that sit next to it.
Evidence to keep
What a market-surveillance check, or a retailer's own intake check, asks to see.
- The conformity declaration a CE mark stands on, referenced from the record
- Notified-body number and certificate, where production control involves one
- The exact wording and placement of manufacturer and importer marks, checked against the artwork actually shipped
Official sources
Last verified by Listrar: September 23, 2026