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GPSR is Coming: How AI Can Save Your E-commerce from a Data Catastrophe (and the December 2024 Deadline)

The GPSR regulation is an e-commerce revolution effective December 13, 2024. It's not just bureaucracy—it's a real product data problem. We analyze what you need to do and how AI automation might be the only pragmatic solution.

14 minAutor: Codessa

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The Clock is Ticking: GPSR is Coming, and Your E-commerce Might Not Be Ready

If you manage an e-commerce business selling in the EU, you're likely watching the calendar with growing unease. December 13, 2024, isn't just another date. It's the day the GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation) becomes applicable.

This isn't another minor GDPR update. It's a fundamental shift that directly impacts the operating model of online sellers and marketplaces (like Amazon, Allegro, or eBay). Worse, this isn't just a legal problem—it's an operational and technological one.

Which Products Does GPSR Apply To?

The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) applies to most consumer products placed on the EU market, both in physical and online sales.

Products Covered by GPSR

The regulations apply to a very wide range of goods, including:

  • Toys
  • Consumer electronics
  • Household appliances
  • Clothing and accessories

This applies to all products, regardless of their condition:

  • New
  • Used
  • Repaired or refurbished

Products Excluded from GPSR

The regulation does not cover certain product categories that are already regulated by more specific EU legislation. The main exceptions include:

  • Medicines
  • Food and beverages
  • Animal feed
  • Live plants and animals
  • Antiques
  • Plant protection products

Why is GPSR a Revolution, Not an Evolution?

The previous directive (GPSD) was outdated. It was created when e-commerce was in its infancy. GPSR was written for a global, digital market. It introduces two key earthquakes:

  • Platform Liability: Marketplaces become co-liable for the safety of products sold. This means they will relentlessly enforce the new rules on their sellers.
  • Online Information Requirements: It's no longer enough for information to be on the box. GPSR requires key data to be visible directly on the product listing page (in the online offer).

The Problem: It's Not a Regulation, It's a Database Challenge

As a CEO, CTO, or E-commerce Manager, you must ask one question: Can we update every single online listing with the new mandatory information before December 13th?

What Exactly Must Be on the Product Page?

GPSR requires that at least the following are visible on the product listing (online!):

  1. Responsible Person's Data: Full company name, postal address, and email address. Without this, your product has no right to be on the EU market.
  2. Manufacturer's Data: If different from the responsible person.
  3. Unique Product Identifier: Batch number, serial number, or other element allowing traceability. This is a nightmare for sellers who don't manage batches.
  4. Warnings and Safety Instructions: In the language of the country where the product is sold. They must be clear and understandable.

The Cost of 'Manual Labor' is Astronomical

Imagine a company with 20,000 active SKUs. A conservative estimate: finding data, formulating warnings, and updating the listing takes 3 minutes per product. The math is simple:

20,000 SKUs * 3 minutes = 60,000 minutes = 1,000 hours.

At an employee cost (with overheads) of 15 EUR/hour, we're talking about a cost of 15,000 EUR for a one-time operation. An operation that is tedious, repetitive, and highly prone to errors. One mistake is all it takes for a marketplace to block your listing. This isn't a strategy; it's a direct path to an operational crisis.

Pragmatic Solutions: How AI Can Automate GPSR Compliance

Since the problem is data at scale, the solution must be automation at scale. Manual labor is out. Instead of hiring an army of interns, a pragmatic manager should look to AI.

Idea 1: AI Plugins for Spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets)

Ready-made plugins like GPT for Sheets/Excel or Excel AI are available. They allow you to run AI prompts directly in spreadsheet cells.

You could export your products to Excel (with `Name`, `Category` columns) and in a new column, write a formula like `=GPT("Generate a GPSR warning for product [Name] in category [Category]")`. Does it work? Yes. But it has drawbacks:

  • Scalability: It's slow. Processing 20,000 rows can take many hours and cost a lot in API fees.
  • Stability: The process is easily interrupted, and spreadsheets have their limits.
  • Integration: It's still semi-automation. You get a file that you then have to manually import back into your e-commerce system.

Idea 2: A Dedicated AI Automator (The Target Solution)

True automation is a dedicated script or application that runs in the background. Such a system (something that can be custom-built) would work as follows:

  1. Step 1 (Fetch Data): The application connects directly to your store's database (e.g., Shoper, Shopify API, PrestaShop) or pulls a CSV/XML file from a specific source.
  2. Step 2 (Batch Processing): Data is split into small batches (e.g., 20 products at a time) to ensure stability and avoid API rate limits.
  3. Step 3 (Call AI): Each batch is sent to an AI model (like Gemini 2.5 Pro) with a carefully crafted system prompt, telling it to generate the required data (warnings, identifiers) in a structured format, like JSON.
  4. Step 4 (Save Data): The application receives the clean data and either generates a new CSV file ready for import or (in the best-case scenario) updates the products directly in the database via API.

The advantages are obvious: full automation, scalability, and repeatability. Such a script can be run nightly to check for new products.

Build Your Own Prototype: Node.js + Gemini Script for GPSR Data

To provide concrete value, here is a skeleton of such an automator in Node.js. It's built on popular libraries (`Express` for a simple server, `Multer` for file uploads, `csv-parser` to read data) and uses the Google Gemini API (via `@google-cloud/vertexai`).

This script creates a local server that hosts a page to upload a CSV file. It then processes the file, sends data in batches to the AI to generate GPSR data, and finally lets you download a CSV file with the new columns. It's an excellent base for building your own powerful tool.

Script Assumptions: It expects a CSV file with `;` separators and headers `sku`, `name`, `category`.

⚠️ Important Code Warnings

The Node.js code skeleton provided below is a simplified proposal for solving this problem – it is not a script that guarantees legal compliance. You must manually verify and adapt the prompt to your own needs. The code is for educational and demonstration purposes only.

Legal Responsibility: Before implementing any solution that automates GPSR compliance, consult with a lawyer specializing in EU law. AI-generated warnings and data must be verified by legal experts.

javascript

'use strict';

// Remember to install dependencies:
// npm install express multer csv-parser @google-cloud/vertexai json2csv dotenv

import express from "express";
import multer from "multer";
import csv from "csv-parser";
import { Readable } from "stream";
import { VertexAI } from "@google-cloud/vertexai";
import { Parser } from "json2csv";
import "dotenv/config"; // For environment variables (e.g., API keys)

// --- CONFIGURATION ---
const app = express();
const port = 3249;
const upload = multer({ storage: multer.memoryStorage() });
app.use(express.static("public")); // Folder for a simple index.html file

// Batch size - crucial for stability and avoiding API limits
const BATCH_SIZE = 15; 
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;

// --- Vertex AI (Google Cloud) Configuration ---
// Remember to set GCLOUD_PROJECT_ID and GCLOUD_LOCATION environment variables
// and to authenticate (e.g., via 'gcloud auth application-default login')
const vertexAI = new VertexAI({
  project: process.env.GCLOUD_PROJECT_ID,
  location: process.env.GCLOUD_LOCATION,
});

// We use a modern Gemini model that handles JSON well
const generativeModel = vertexAI.getGenerativeModel({
  model: "gemini-2.5-flash-lite", // You can change to gemini-2.5-pro for higher quality
  generationConfig: {
    // We force a JSON response
    responseMimeType: "application/json", 
  },
});

/**
 * Generates a system prompt for the AI to process a batch of products.
 */
const getGpsrBatchPrompt = (productBatch) => {
  // Create a list of products to process
  const productList = productBatch
    .map((row, index) => `${index + 1}. {"name": "${row.name}", "category": "${row.category}"}`)
    .join("\n");
  
  // Dynamically generate the date for the identifier
  const today = new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10).replace(/-/g, "");

  return `You are an expert in GPSR compliance for e-commerce. Your task is to generate data for a list of products.

  CRITICAL RULES:
  1.  **Output Format**: Your response MUST be a perfectly formatted, single JSON object, which is an array of objects.
  2.  **ID Matching**: Each object in the array must have an "id" key, corresponding to the number from the input list.
  3.  **Data Generation**: For each product, generate:
      * **"warnings"**: (string) A short, 1-2 sentence safety warning in English, based on the name and category (e.g., "Electronics" -> "Do not immerse in water.", "Toys" -> "For children over 3 years. Choking hazard.").
      * **"identifier"**: (string) A suggested unique product identifier. Use the format "GPSR-BATCH-${today}".
      * **"responsible_person"**: (string) A placeholder for the responsible person. Always insert "Your Company Ltd., 1 Example St, London, W1 1AA, compliance@yourcompany.com".
  4.  **No Explanations**: The response must contain ONLY the JSON code.
  
  EXAMPLE INPUT:
  1. {"name": "FPV Drone with 4K Camera", "category": "Electronics"}
  2. {"name": "Plush Bear 30cm", "category": "Toys"}
  
  EXAMPLE YOUR RESPONSE:
  [
    {"id": 1, "warnings": "Keep away from high-voltage lines. Use under adult supervision.", "identifier": "GPSR-BATCH-${today}", "responsible_person": "Your Company Ltd., 1 Example St, London, W1 1AA, compliance@yourcompany.com"},
    {"id": 2, "warnings": "Not suitable for children under 3 years. Choking hazard from small parts.", "identifier": "GPSR-BATCH-${today}", "responsible_person": "Your Company Ltd., 1 Example St, London, W1 1AA, compliance@yourcompany.com"}
  ]
  
  Now process the following list:
  ${productList}
  `;
};

/**
 * Processes an entire batch using a single AI query.
 */
async function processBatchWithAI(batch) {
  let lastError = null;

  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= MAX_RETRIES; attempt++) {
    try {
      const prompt = getGpsrBatchPrompt(batch);
      const result = await generativeModel.generateContent(prompt);
      const responseText = result.response.candidates[0].content.parts[0].text.trim();
      
      // Parse the JSON response
      const aiDataArray = JSON.parse(responseText);

      // Validation: did the AI return the correct number of results?
      if (Array.isArray(aiDataArray) && aiDataArray.length === batch.length) {
        
        // Create a map for easy data joining
        const resultMap = new Map(aiDataArray.map(item => [item.id, item]));

        const processedBatch = batch.map((row, index) => {
          const aiData = resultMap.get(index + 1); // IDs are 1-based
          if (aiData) {
            return { 
              ...row, 
              warnings: aiData.warnings, 
              identifier: aiData.identifier,
              responsible_person: aiData.responsible_person
            };
          }
          return null; // ID mismatch error
        });

        // If all rows in the batch were parsed correctly
        if (processedBatch.every((item) => item !== null)) {
          return processedBatch; // Success
        }
      }
      lastError = new Error(
        "Invalid JSON format. Received " + aiDataArray.length + " objects instead of " + batch.length + "."
      );
      console.warn(
        "\nBatch validation error. Attempt " + attempt + "/" + MAX_RETRIES + "..."
      );
    } catch (error) {
      lastError = error;
      console.warn(
        "\nAPI error during batch processing (Attempt " + attempt + "/" + MAX_RETRIES + "): " + error.message
      );
      
      // Simple exponential backoff for 429 (rate limit) errors
      if (error.code === 429 || error.message.includes("429")) {
        const delay = Math.pow(2, attempt) * 1000 + Math.random() * 1000;
        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, delay));
      }
    }
  }

  console.error(
    `\nFailed to process batch after ${MAX_RETRIES} attempts. Error: ${lastError.message}`
  );
  // Return original data with errors on failure
  return batch.map((row) => ({ 
    ...row, 
    warnings: "PROCESSING ERROR", 
    identifier: "ERROR",
    responsible_person: "ERROR"
  }));
}

// --- MAIN FILE PROCESSING ENDPOINT ---
app.post("/upload", upload.single("csvfile"), (req, res) => {
  if (!req.file) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: "No file uploaded." });
  }

  const allRows = [];
  Readable.from(req.file.buffer)
    .pipe(
      csv({
        separator: ";",
        // Assumes file has headers 'sku', 'name', 'category'
      })
    )
    .on("data", (data) => {
      // Simple row validation
      if (data.sku && data.name && data.category) {
        allRows.push(data);
      }
    })
    .on("end", async () => {
      try {
        console.log(
          `Parsing finished. Found ${allRows.length} valid rows.Starting batch processing (size ${BATCH_SIZE})...`
        );

        const allProcessedResults = [];

        for (let i = 0; i < allRows.length; i += BATCH_SIZE) {
          const batch = allRows.slice(i, i + BATCH_SIZE);
          const processedBatch = await processBatchWithAI(batch);
          allProcessedResults.push(...processedBatch);

          // Log progress in the console
          const progress = Math.min(
            100,
            ((i + BATCH_SIZE) / allRows.length) * 100
          );
          process.stdout.write(`Progress: ${progress.toFixed(2)}% (processed ${Math.min(i + BATCH_SIZE, allRows.length)}/${allRows.length})\r`);
        }

        console.log(
          "\n\nFinished processing all batches. Generating CSV file."
        );

        // Define the output columns
        const fields = ["sku", "name", "category", "warnings", "identifier", "responsible_person"];
        
        const json2csvParser = new Parser({
          fields: fields,
          delimiter: ";",
        });
        const csvOutput = json2csvParser.parse(allProcessedResults);

        res.header("Content-Type", "text/csv; charset=utf-8");
        res.header(
          "Content-Disposition",
          'attachment; filename="gpsr_results.csv"'
        );
        // Add BOM  for correct opening in Excel
        res.status(200).send("\uFEFF" + csvOutput);

      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Critical processing error:", error);
        res
          .status(500)
          .json({ error: "A critical server-side error occurred." });
      }
    });
});

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server started. Open http://localhost:${port} in your browser.`);
  console.log("Make sure you have an 'index.html' file in the 'public' folder with a file upload form.");
});

You just need to place a simple `index.html` file in the `public` folder:

html




  
  
  GPSR Processing
  


  

Upload CSV for GPSR Processing



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