EU Compliance for Shopify Stores
Selling into the EU means keeping up with a stack of regulations that keep changing — GDPR cookie consent, GPSR product safety documentation, DSA trader traceability, packaging EPR fees, VAT OSS/IOSS, and price-display rules under the Omnibus Directive. This hub tracks what each rule actually requires operationally, and — for merchants running many stores — how to roll out a compliance fix once instead of store-by-store.
FAQ
Which EU rule affects the most Shopify merchants right now?
GPSR (product safety documentation) and DSA trader traceability both apply broadly to anyone selling physical goods into the EU, regardless of store size — unlike some of the narrower rules (EPR packaging, Omnibus pricing) that depend on category or country.
Do these EU rules apply to a single small store the same way as a large multi-store operation?
The compliance requirement is the same regardless of size — the operational burden is what scales differently. A single store implements a fix once; a 50-store operator needs a way to roll the same fix out everywhere without redoing the work per store.
Is VAT OSS/IOSS mandatory or optional for non-EU sellers?
It's optional in the sense that non-EU sellers can register per-country instead, but OSS/IOSS is generally the simpler path for anyone selling into multiple EU countries — one registration instead of many.