Goods that arrive legally can still fail on the label. This is the part nobody notices until a retailer, a customs officer or an authority asks.

What the label has to carry

• Instructions and safety information in the language the buyer will read
• The name and address of the manufacturer, and of the importer
• Category-specific warnings, often in prescribed wording
• Marks, where the category requires them
• Batch or date codes for traceability

Marks that carry meaning

CE in the European Union, UKCA in Great Britain, the crossed-out wheeled bin for electrical goods, the battery symbols. Each is a statement about the product, about who takes responsibility for it, and in some cases about where it is registered. They are not decoration, and they cannot be borrowed.

Packaging is regulated separately

Whoever puts packaged goods on the market usually owes a producer responsibility obligation – registration, and payment for the packaging the goods arrive in. The detail differs by market; the principle does not. The packaging is your responsibility, not the factory’s, and it follows the goods into the market.

Batteries, and end of life

Batteries are a regime of their own and one of the easiest to overlook, particularly when they are supplied inside something else. Electrical and electronic goods carry disposal obligations in most markets, and in the European Union those obligations are tied to registration.

How we help

We check the artwork before it is printed rather than after, correct labels and instructions, arrange the translations, and make sure the marks on the product are ones you are entitled to apply.