Platform economy: what changes for sellers from October 1, 2026

Until now, the relations between a seller and a platform were governed by an adhesion contract and internal rules: a marketplace could change the commission, the logistics terms or the requirements for a card almost at any moment. The platform economy law introduces common frames for this field — notification terms, the order of blocks, the rules for promotions and, which is important for our topic, requirements for information about the product.

What exactly changes

Information about the product: what you will have to show

The key point for those who work with certification: the card stops being a marketing text with pictures. It must contain information that lets the buyer and the controlling authority understand who sells the product and on what basis it is in circulation.

• Who the seller is: name, INN, form of activity
• Whether mandatory conformity documents exist, and which ones exactly
• Whether the product is subject to mandatory labelling with identification means
• Information about the manufacturer and the country of origin
• Information that conformity assessment is not required, if that is the case

How to prepare: a three-month plan

Step one: collect a register of goods

Export the whole active range and put it into a table: the name in the card, the name in the document, the HS code (TN VED), the number of the conformity document, its validity period, whether the product is subject to labelling. Already at this step it usually turns out that some items are sold under the documents of a supplier who changed long ago.

Step two: divide into three groups

Step three: close the gaps

For products under regulations — issue a declaration or a certificate under the applicable scheme. For those outside regulation — get a refusal letter with reasoning and references to specific regulations. How to tell one from the other was explained in the article on forms of conformity confirmation.

Blocks: what will change

The law describes the grounds and the order for restricting a seller's access to the platform. For a seller this means two things. The first: an arbitrary block without an explanation of the reasons becomes a violation. The second: if the ground is the absence or inaccuracy of documents, arguing makes no sense until the document is issued.

Predictability works both ways: the platform must explain its decisions, and the seller must confirm the legality of the circulation of the product.

Frequent questions for the transition period

What to do with stock prepared under the old rules

Documents issued before the law comes into force remain valid until the end of their term. There is no need to change a valid declaration only because of the platform's new rules — you need to make sure that the information in the card matches it.

If the product is sold under the supplier's document

You need a written permission of the document holder to use it, or your own document. A reference to “we are an official dealer” without a confirming letter does not pass the check.

If the range is large

Start with the items that bring the main revenue and with the categories of increased risk — children's goods, electronics, cosmetics, food. For them both the checks are stricter and the consequences of a block are more expensive.

What is worth doing right now

• Export the range and put the documents into one register
• Check the validity periods of the documents and the statuses in the Rosaccreditation register
• Bring the names in the cards to the names in the documents
• Get refusal letters for items outside regulation
• Check whether the products fall into the lists for mandatory labelling — the calendar for 2026
• Appoint a person responsible for updating documents before they expire

You can check what a specific product needs in one session: the system will determine the HS code (TN VED), show the applicable regulations and the set of documents, and an accredited contractor will take the application into work.

Terms worth remembering

The contract with the platform: what to read first

The relations between a seller and a platform stop being the subject of an offer alone: the law sets a frame within which the platform forms its rules. So the offer still has to be read, but now it is clear what exactly to look at.

• The order of changing the terms and the period within which you are notified
• The grounds for suspension and blocking, the order of appeal
• Who withholds the commission, fines and compensations, and how
• The terms of transfer of revenue and the grounds for extending them
• Who is responsible for loss and damage of goods in the platform's warehouse
• The order of returns and who bears the costs of them
• How the platform uses your materials: photographs, descriptions, the trademark

Settlements and withholdings

The financial part is what affects the seller most, and it is usually read last. The key questions are the same for any platform.

Practical advice: check the reports monthly, not once a quarter. Differences in logistics and returns can be found, but the later it is, the harder it is to prove them.

Seller information in the card

The disclosure of data about who sells the product is part of the new rules. For a conscientious seller this is rather a plus: the buyer sees that behind the card there is a real person, not a nameless shop.

What is worth preparing in advance:

• Current details and the name in the form in which they are in the register
• A contact for claims that you really read
• Agreement of the seller data with those stated in the conformity documents

The last item is not obvious and is important: if the card shows one legal entity and the declaration another, the question “on what basis do you sell this” arises by itself. How this works from the point of view of documents — in the article on the platforms' requirements.

What this means for a small seller

The main fear is this: the new rules will add paperwork and push out small sellers. Another effect is more likely.

• Formalization does not create new duties for the product. Conformity documents were required before too — what changes is how systematically they are checked.
• Transparent grounds for blocking benefit the one whose documents are in order. An arbitrary block becomes contestable.
• Those who traded without documents lose. It is their costs that will grow — to the level that was mandatory from the beginning.

The practical conclusion is simple: preparing for the new rules is the same as the usual putting of documents in order. A separate project “for the law” is not required — what is required is to close what should be closed anyway.