I buy electronics in another EU country and resell them

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

Anyone who purchases electronics in another EU country and resells it in the Netherlands is operating within the internal market. This is a fundamentally different position from importing products from outside the EU. The role that fits this situation — and the obligations that follow from it — depends on what exactly happens between purchase and resale.

Determining whether you are a distributor or in fact a manufacturer

The starting point for intra-EU trade is that the party that originally placed the product on the European market is responsible for the product passport. A company that purchases a product from a manufacturer or brand owner in Germany, Poland or Italy and resells it unchanged in the Netherlands is in most cases a distributor under Articles 30 and 31 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). This is a different role from that of importer, which specifically concerns bringing products from outside the EU within the scope of Article 29 of the ESPR. The difference is relevant because the obligations are not the same: a distributor checks and passes on, an importer bears heavier responsibility for the passport itself. The page Am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR? sets out when which role applies.

Checking whether the product passport is present and complete

For a company that purchases and resells within the EU, the distributor role primarily involves a checking task: verifying that the product in question has a valid product passport, that the QR code works and that the required information is present before the product is offered for sale. This is not a matter of compiling the passport itself, but of verifying that the party that must do so — usually the manufacturer — has done so. For a company of 10 to 100 employees, this in practice means a fixed control point in the procurement process: when taking on a new supplier or product line, the passport is checked for presence, rather than this coming to light by chance during a subsequent inspection. What a distributor must specifically check and pass on is set out in more detail on the page What obligations does a distributor or trader of electronics have?

Do not modify the passport yourself without holding the role that entails

As long as the product is resold unchanged — the same packaging, the same brand, no modifications — responsibility for the content of the product passport remains with the original compiler. This changes the moment the company intervenes itself: places its own brand on the product, adapts the packaging, or brings the product to market under its own name. From that moment on, responsibility shifts and obligations arise that are much closer to those of a manufacturer. This is a point where companies that source within the EU regularly run into problems, precisely because the sourcing itself changes nothing, but the way it is resold does. On the page I sell electronics under my own brand — what obligations do I get? the practical implications of that difference are set out.

Recording who the supplier is and from whom the product was obtained

A distributor operating within the EU keeps track of who a product was obtained from and to whom it was passed on. This is not a heavy administrative burden, but it is a prerequisite for being able to demonstrate, when asked or during an inspection, where the product comes from and that the passport was already present upon receipt. For companies that work with multiple suppliers in different EU countries, this is often the first point where the foundations are not in order: the supply relationship is known, but not systematically recorded in a way that can be quickly retrieved.

Where things go wrong in practice

Some of the companies that source and resell within the EU assume, without further investigation, that responsibility always remains with the manufacturer, even when their own company adapts the packaging or labelling. As soon as modifications are made — even minor ones, such as a sticker with a different product number — the position can shift.

A different situation arises when a company resells products under its own house brand, while the underlying technology and production remain with a third party. This is often seen as "simply reselling", while the obligations associated with private label go considerably further than those of a regular distributor.

It also happens that a company assumes that checking the passport upon receipt is sufficient, without having a fixed process for it. As the number of suppliers or product lines grows, that check then becomes inconsistent: checked at one delivery, not checked at another, without there being a recorded reason for it.

A fourth recurring point is the mixing of roles within one company: part of the assortment is resold unchanged, another part under its own brand. If this is not assessed separately per product line, there is a risk that the wrong, too light obligations are applied to the entire assortment.

Finally, things go wrong with companies that offer products alongside physical sales through a marketplace, without recognizing that this involves a separate layer of obligations. What this concretely means is set out on the page What does the digital product passport mean if I sell electronics via an online marketplace?

What you can document

• Per supplier and product line: whether the product is resold unchanged or whether modifications are made to packaging, labelling or brand.
• A fixed control point upon receipt of new products: is the product passport present, does the QR code work, does the information match the product.
• The identity and contact details of the party from whom the product was obtained, per shipment or per supplier.
• An overview of the parties to whom products have been passed on, insofar as this is recorded within the existing administration.
• A clear classification of your own assortment by role: distributor, or party selling under its own brand, with a fixed location where this classification is kept and reviewed when new product lines are introduced.
• Agreements with suppliers about who supplies and manages the passport, especially in private label arrangements — see also I sell private label electronics what are my obligations.
• A designated contact point within the company for questions about who is responsible for the accuracy of the passport, also with a view to who is liable if there is an error in the product passport.