Authorised representative

## Authorised representative An authorised representative is a person or company established in the European Union holding a written mandate from a manufacturer to perform specified compliance tasks, such as keeping the EU declaration of conformity available to market surveillance authorities. The mandate never transfers the manufacturer's core responsibility for product design and conformity. ### Key facts - The authorised representative must be established within the EU and act under a written mandate that specifies exactly which tasks are delegated. - Core manufacturer duties such as product design, risk assessment and drawing up the technical documentation cannot be delegated to the representative. - The representative must keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation at the disposal of national market surveillance authorities for ten years after the last product is placed on the market. - Under the EU Market Surveillance Regulation 2019/1020, certain products sold in the EU require an economic operator established in the EU who can be contacted by authorities; an authorised representative can fulfil that role. - The mandate must allow the representative to cooperate with authorities, provide information demonstrating conformity, and take corrective action at the authorities' request. - Importers and distributors have their own distinct obligations and are not authorised representatives unless they hold a written mandate and act in that capacity. - If the manufacturer is outside the EU, the authorised representative's name and contact details must appear on the product, packaging or accompanying documents where the legislation requires it. ### What an authorised representative is EU product legislation divides economic operators into manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors, each with a defined set of duties. The authorised representative is the only one of these roles that exists purely by contract: a manufacturer appoints the representative in writing and delegates a defined list of tasks. The appointment is common when the manufacturer is based outside the EU and wants a single EU-based contact for regulators, documentation and, where required, the formal economic operator presence. The role is defined most fully in the New Legislative Framework, the model provisions set out in Decision 768/2008/EC that sector directives and regulations copy. Under that model, the mandate must as a minimum allow the representative to keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation available to authorities for the statutory period, to provide information and documents demonstrating conformity on request, and to cooperate with authorities on actions to eliminate risks from products. Individual legislation can add tasks, but none can subtract the principle that the manufacturer remains responsible for conformity. It is important to distinguish the authorised representative from neighbouring concepts. An importer is the operator who first places a third-country product on the EU market and carries its own verification duties; a distributor makes products available further down the chain. The "responsible person" under the General Product Safety Regulation is the broader economic operator presence requirement. An authorised representative can serve as that responsible person, but the terms are not interchangeable: the representative exists only where a mandate creates the role. ### Why it matters for market access For non-EU manufacturers, the authorised representative is often the key that unlocks the EU market. Customs and market surveillance authorities expect to find an EU-based economic operator behind regulated products, and the absence of one can stop goods at the border or trigger withdrawal demands after sale. Under Regulation 2019/1020, products covered by listed EU harmonisation legislation may only be placed on the market if an economic operator established in the EU is designated, with contact details on the product or packaging. A manufacturer in Shenzhen, Istanbul or Chicago cannot be that operator itself; it must use an authorised representative, an importer, or another EU-established operator. Beyond the legal requirement, the representative is an operational asset. Market surveillance checks increasingly happen through document requests rather than physical inspection: an authority emails a request for the technical file and expects a response from an EU address within days. A professional representative holds the documentation, understands which directive applies, and responds in the authority's language. That responsiveness is frequently the difference between a routine check and an enforcement escalation. The representative also matters for liability design. Because the mandate is written and task-specific, the manufacturer can see exactly what it has outsourced and what remains its own duty. Vague or over-broad mandates create risk: if a representative purports to take responsibility for design decisions it did not make, neither party is protected when something fails. A well-drafted mandate is therefore part of the product's compliance architecture, not an administrative formality. ### Who it applies to Any manufacturer established outside the EU that places products under EU harmonisation legislation on the EU market should consider appointing an authorised representative, and for many product categories the Market Surveillance Regulation effectively requires an EU-established economic operator. Typical users include: - Electronics and electrical brands selling under CE-marking directives such as the EMC Directive, the Low Voltage Directive or the Radio Equipment Directive. - Toy, machinery and medical device manufacturers whose sector legislation names the authorised representative and prescribes its tasks. - Marketplace sellers outside the EU whose fulfilment model leaves no EU importer; the representative provides the required EU contact point. - Private-label and OEM arrangements, where the brand owner outside the EU appoints a representative rather than relying on each distributor. EU-established manufacturers can also appoint representatives, for example to manage regulatory correspondence in a particular member state, but the role is most significant for third-country manufacturers. The representative itself must be established in the EU: a letterbox outside the Union does not qualify. Service providers offering "EU representative" services must therefore have genuine EU establishment, documented procedures for holding technical files, and the competence to answer authority queries. ### Requirements and the mandate in practice A compliant authorised representative arrangement has four elements. 1. A written mandate with defined tasks. The mandate must specify the tasks delegated and their limits. At a minimum it covers keeping the declaration of conformity and technical documentation available for ten years after the last unit is placed on the market, supplying information to authorities on request, and cooperating on corrective actions. It should also cover who affixes the representative's details to labelling, who handles incident reporting, and how the mandate ends. 2. Documentation custody. The representative must actually hold, or have reliable access to, the current declaration of conformity and technical file for every product covered. Authorities can ask for the file with short deadlines; "we will request it from the factory" is not an acceptable answer. Professional representatives run document management systems with version control and review dates. 3. Labelling and traceability. Where the applicable legislation requires it, the representative's name, registered trade name or trademark, and postal address appear on the product, its packaging or an accompanying document, alongside the manufacturer's details. This is how an inspector in any member state identifies whom to contact. 4. Ongoing cooperation duties. The representative must respond to reasoned requests from market surveillance authorities, provide the information needed to demonstrate conformity, and cooperate on measures to eliminate risks, including recalls. If the manufacturer stops cooperating or the representative can no longer fulfil its duties, the mandate should provide for orderly termination and handover, because an orphaned product line with no EU contact is an enforcement target. Termination deserves emphasis: a manufacturer that changes representative must ensure documentation transfers cleanly and that labelling is updated. Gaps during transition have caused real border seizures. ### Market access relevance Appointing an authorised representative should happen before the first shipment, not after the first customs query. The representative's details may need to be on the packaging, which means artwork and labelling must be finalised with the appointment in place. Lead times for professional representative services are usually short, but the documentation review they perform on onboarding frequently uncovers gaps in the technical file that take weeks to close: missing test reports, declarations that cite withdrawn standards, or risk assessments that do not cover the actual product variants. Cost planning should treat the representative as a recurring compliance cost, typically an annual fee scaled to the number of product families and directives covered, plus incident-handling charges. That cost is modest compared with the cost of a border detention or a forced withdrawal. Businesses should also diligence the provider: genuine EU establishment, documented procedures, professional indemnity coverage, and references from market surveillance interactions. The cheapest "representative" that merely rents its name creates the worst of both worlds: the manufacturer believes it is compliant while no one can actually produce the technical file. Finally, the representative does not replace the importer where one exists. If a company sells through an EU importer, that importer already satisfies the economic operator requirement and carries its own verification duties. The representative model is for direct-to-market models: own webshop, marketplace fulfilment, or dropshipping into the EU. ### Common misconceptions | Misconception | Reality | |---|---| | "The representative takes over the manufacturer's liability." | The manufacturer's core responsibility for design and conformity cannot be delegated. The representative performs specified tasks; liability for a non-compliant design stays with the manufacturer. | | "Any EU address on the box satisfies the requirement." | The named operator must actually hold the documentation and respond to authorities. A mail-forwarding address with no compliance function is not sufficient. | | "We have an EU distributor, so we do not need a representative." | A distributor is a different economic operator with different duties and no mandate to act for the manufacturer. The distributor does not keep your technical file or answer for your declaration. | | "One mandate covers all our products forever." | Mandates are task- and product-specific, and documentation must be current for ten years after the last unit is placed on the market. New product families and updated legislation require mandate review. | | "The representative can sign the EU declaration of conformity." | The declaration is drawn up by the manufacturer under its sole responsibility. The representative keeps it and makes it available; it does not assume authorship. | | "This is only for CE-marked products." | The concept appears across harmonisation legislation, and the Market Surveillance Regulation's economic operator requirement extends the practical need for an EU contact across many regulated categories. | ### Frequently asked questions Is an authorised representative mandatory for selling in the EU? It depends on the product and the route to market. Sector legislation defines the role and its tasks, and Regulation 2019/1020 requires an EU-established economic operator for products under listed harmonisation legislation. A non-EU manufacturer selling directly to EU customers with no EU importer will in practice need an authorised representative to satisfy that requirement. Can our EU importer act as our authorised representative? Only under a separate written mandate, and the two roles should not be confused. The importer has its own statutory verification duties. Many businesses keep the roles separate to avoid conflicts of interest, since the representative is expected to hold the manufacturer accountable on documentation. What happens if our representative goes out of business? The mandate should provide for termination and handover of documentation. The manufacturer must appoint a successor promptly and update labelling. Products already on the market remain the manufacturer's responsibility, and authorities will still expect an EU contact to be reachable. How long must the representative keep documentation? The standard period under the New Legislative Framework model is ten years from the date the last product covered by the documentation was placed on the market. Sector legislation can set different periods, so the mandate should reference the applicable instruments. Does the representative need to be in the same country as our customers? No. Establishment anywhere in the EU qualifies. Practical considerations such as language coverage, time zone, and familiarity with particular national authorities may influence the choice of provider. Can an authorised representative also handle GPSR or EPR obligations? The mandate can delegate specified tasks, and many service providers bundle related functions such as the GPSR responsible person role or producer registration support. Each function should be explicitly listed in the mandate so responsibilities are clear. ### Sources - European Commission, New Legislative Framework and the Blue Guide: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/goods/new-legislative-framework_en - Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (EUR-Lex): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1020/oj/eng - UK Government guidance on CE marking and economic operators: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ce-marking