Fulfilment provider duties: warehousing, packaging and dispatch without becoming the placer

A fulfilment service provider is a person who, in the course of a commercial activity, stores, packs, addresses or dispatches a battery, without being the owner of the battery. The concept comes from Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products, and the Blue Guide elaborates on the role of fulfilment providers in distance and online sales. A fulfilment provider is not, by storing or dispatching alone, the manufacturer, the importer or the distributor.

The provider becomes subject to product duties where it performs a role that the Regulation assigns to an economic operator, or where it holds itself out in a way that makes it the responsible operator. The boundary between service and operator is the subject of this guide, and the boundary is tested by what the provider actually does, not by what the contract calls the provider.

What does a fulfilment provider do?

A fulfilment provider receives batteries from a seller, stores them in a warehouse, picks and packs orders, addresses parcels, and hands parcels to a carrier for dispatch. The provider may also handle returns, repackage returned batteries, and store batteries for long periods. Each of those activities can affect conformity: storage conditions can affect the battery, packing can damage the label or the data carrier, repackaging can separate a battery from its accompanying information, and returns handling can mix batteries of different models or batches. The provider must therefore operate with care for the physical battery and its information, even though the provider does not originate the record. Care in fulfilment means preserving identity, marking, labelling and accompanying information through every handling step, and preserving the link between a battery and its batch or unit identifier.

How does fulfilment interact with market surveillance?

Under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, a fulfilment service provider can be the economic operator responsible for certain market surveillance purposes where no manufacturer, importer, authorised representative or distributor established in the Union is available, or where the provider performs functions that bring it within the scope of Article 4. The provider must cooperate with market surveillance authorities, must provide information about the batteries stored and dispatched, and must take corrective action where required. Cooperation includes identifying the seller or owner of the battery, providing dispatch and storage records, and holding or withdrawing stock where an authority requires it. A fulfilment provider that cannot identify the owner of stock it holds, or that cannot trace a dispatched battery to a batch, cannot cooperate effectively, and the traceability gap becomes a compliance gap for the chain as a whole.

What must a fulfilment provider preserve?

The provider must preserve the battery, the marking, the labelling, the data carrier, and the accompanying instructions and safety information, through storage, picking, packing and dispatch. Preservation means storing within the stated conditions, packing in a way that does not obscure or damage the QR code or the marking, including the accompanying information in the parcel where the Regulation requires it to accompany the battery, and keeping the identifier link intact on returns. A provider that packs a battery in an outer box that covers the QR code, without ensuring that the code can be scanned on receipt, has not preserved the route to the record, even though the battery itself is unchanged. A provider that repackages a returned battery without its original information, and dispatches it as if it were new stock, has broken the information chain. The table below summarises the preservation duties.

When does a fulfilment provider become an operator?

A fulfilment provider becomes an economic operator with placing or making available duties where it places a battery on the market in its own name, where it makes a battery available under its own name or trade mark, or where it modifies a battery in a way that affects conformity. A provider that rebrands stock, that places its own name on the battery as manufacturer, or that repackages batteries in a way that changes the product as presented, crosses the boundary from service to operator. The provider must then meet the duties of the operator role it has assumed, including conformity, labelling and passport duties. The boundary is a facts test, and a contract that labels the provider as a mere service provider does not prevent the provider from being treated as an operator where the facts show otherwise. Providers should therefore avoid acts that present them as the placer, and should keep their role as a service provider visible in documentation and in dealings with authorities.

How should a fulfilment provider handle damaged or suspect stock?

Damaged or suspect stock must be segregated, labelled as held, and reported to the owner and, where required, to the market surveillance authority, without being dispatched. Segregation means physical separation from saleable stock, with a hold label that states the reason, the date, and the identifier or batch concerned. A provider that leaves damaged stock in the pick face, where it can be picked in error, has not segregated it in any meaningful sense. Suspect stock includes batteries with damaged carriers, missing information, mismatched marking, or signs of tampering. The provider should not attempt to repair, relabel or repackage suspect stock to make it saleable, because those acts can amount to modification or to obscuring a defect. The correct action is to hold, report, and await instruction from the owner or the authority, with the hold record retained.

What limits apply to fulfilment claims?

A fulfilment record states storage, packing and dispatch facts. It does not state conformity, and it does not make the provider responsible for the design or the passport data. This guide gives general educational information only and does not give legal advice for a particular provider, warehouse or transaction.