Appointing an EU authorised representative

# Appointing an EU authorised representative

Short answer: Non-EU manufacturers placing products on the EU market themselves generally need an economic operator established in the EU, often satisfied by appointing an authorised representative or working through an EU importer. The written mandate defines the representative's tasks, so the mandate's scope, contract terms and ongoing oversight deserve care; authorities must always be able to reach a responsible party.

Key facts

• If you manufacture outside the EU and place products on the EU market yourself (for example, through direct online sales), EU law generally requires an economic operator established in the EU.
• An authorised representative is a natural or legal person established in the EU who has received a written mandate from the manufacturer to act on the manufacturer's behalf for specified tasks.
• The mandate typically covers keeping the EU Declaration of Conformity and technical documentation available, cooperating with market surveillance authorities, and acting on reasoned requests.
• The mandate cannot transfer the manufacturer's core duties of design and production compliance.
• Different legislation may need different mandates: a representative for CE-marked products is not automatically your WEEE authorised representative or your product-safety responsible person.
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires an economic operator established in the EU for products subject to listed harmonisation legislation.
• Gaps in coverage during provider switches are the manufacturer's risk; authorities must always be able to reach a responsible party.

1. When you need one

The trigger is placing products on the EU market without an EU-established party already in the chain. If you manufacture outside the EU and sell through an EU importer, the importer is the economic operator and the representative question is answered by the commercial structure. If you sell directly to EU consumers or businesses, through your own webshop, a marketplace seller account, or direct B2B supply, there is no importer in the chain, and the law requires an economic operator established in the EU.

Several regimes create this requirement independently. For CE-marked products under harmonisation legislation, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires an economic operator established in the EU for products subject to the listed legislation, able to cooperate with market surveillance authorities and to provide documentation. The General Product Safety Regulation requires a responsible economic operator established in the EU for consumer products. Sector regimes add their own: WEEE requires an authorised representative for producer registration in each member state, and cosmetics require an EU responsible person. Map the requirement per regime before choosing a solution, because one appointment rarely covers everything.

2. What the mandate must cover

The authorised representative acts on the basis of a written mandate from the manufacturer. The mandate defines the representative's tasks, and its contents are not left to improvisation: it must at minimum cover keeping the EU Declaration of Conformity and the technical documentation available to market surveillance authorities, cooperating with authorities on actions to eliminate risks, and providing information and documentation on reasoned request. The representative must be able to act within the timeframes authorities expect, which means the documents must actually be in the representative's custody, not merely promised by the factory.

Equally important is what the mandate cannot do. It cannot transfer the manufacturer's obligations for the design and manufacture of the product, the conformity assessment, or the drawing up of the technical documentation. The representative is the manufacturer's agent for defined tasks, not a substitute manufacturer. Any provider that offers to "take over all your compliance" without distinguishing these roles does not understand the legal structure, and the misunderstanding becomes your liability.

3. One representative per regime

Different legislation may need different mandates, and confusing them is a common failure. A representative appointed for CE-marked electronics under the harmonisation framework is not automatically your WEEE authorised representative for producer registration in each member state, and neither is automatically the responsible person for product safety purposes or the responsible person for cosmetics. Each regime defines its own role, its own tasks, and its own liability structure.

Build a register: for each product line, list each applicable regime, the EU-established party covering it, the mandate or contract in place, and the documents that party holds. Review the register whenever you add a product line, enter a new member state (WEEE is national), or change distributors. The question an authority asks is always concrete, "who is the responsible party for this product under this legislation", and the register is how you answer it in minutes rather than weeks.

4. Choosing a provider

Authorised representative services range from specialised compliance firms to general corporate service providers. Evaluate them on substance. Coverage: does the provider handle your product legislation and understand its documentation requirements, or is it a generic address service? Process: does it have documented procedures for receiving, logging and responding to authority requests, with defined response times? Document custody: how are your technical files stored, who has access, how are they secured, and how are they returned at termination? Incident readiness: what happens when an authority requests documents on a Friday afternoon, or when a safety issue requires urgent cooperation? Conflicts: does the provider represent competing products in a way that could compromise confidentiality, and how is your data segregated?

Ask for references from clients with similar product types, and test the service before you depend on it: send a mock authority request and measure the response. A provider that is slow or confused in a drill will be slow and confused in a real inspection.

5. Contract essentials

Put the mandate in a written agreement that covers: the precise scope of the mandate (which products, which legislation, which tasks); document custody (what is held, in what form, with what security, and the duty to return everything on termination); authority-request handling (acknowledgement and response timeframes, escalation to you, and who drafts responses); fees and what triggers additional charges (a per-request fee structure can create perverse incentives; understand it); liability allocation between manufacturer and representative for failures in the representative's tasks; confidentiality and data segregation; and termination with handover duties, including a transition period during which the outgoing representative remains available to authorities while the incoming one takes custody.

The handover clause deserves special attention. Authorities must always be able to reach a responsible party, so a gap between the termination of one mandate and the effectiveness of the next is a compliance exposure. Structure switches with overlapping coverage: the new mandate effective before the old one ends, documents transferred with a signed custody record, and authorities notified where the regime requires it.

6. Ongoing oversight

Appointing a representative is not a fit-and-forget exercise. Review the arrangement at least annually: confirm the representative still holds current documentation for every SKU (not last year's versions), confirm the mandate still matches the current legislation (acts are revised; the Toy Safety Directive is becoming a regulation, for example), and confirm the provider's processes still meet your standards through a drill or audit.

Update mandates when legislation changes, when product lines change, and when the commercial structure changes (a new distributor does not automatically inherit the old representative's role). Keep the register from section 3 current; it is the document that proves, at any moment, that every product has a responsible EU party for every applicable regime.

Frequently asked questions

Can my EU distributor act as my authorised representative?

An EU importer or distributor can serve as the economic operator for the products it handles, but the roles and liabilities differ from a mandated authorised representative. If you rely on a distributor, put the documentation duties, authority-request handling, and handover terms in the distribution agreement with the same care you would give a representative mandate, and remember the coverage ends if the distribution relationship ends.

Does the representative need to be in the same country where I sell?

The requirement is establishment in the EU, not in a specific member state, for most regimes. WEEE producer registration is the notable exception: it is national, and you need an authorised representative arrangement in each member state where you place electrical and electronic equipment on the market.

What happens if my representative goes out of business?

You need a new mandate immediately, with no gap in coverage. This is why the contract should require prompt notification of insolvency risk, immediate return of documents, and cooperation with the transition. Monitor your providers as you would any critical supplier.

Can one company be my representative for all regimes?

Sometimes, if the provider genuinely covers each regime's distinct tasks and holds the distinct document sets. More often, brands use a CE/product-safety representative plus separate WEEE and battery compliance arrangements per member state. The register from section 3 is how you keep this straight.

How quickly must the representative respond to an authority request?

The legislation typically requires cooperation on reasoned request without prescribing an exact hour count, but market surveillance authorities expect prompt responses, and some requests carry explicit deadlines. Set contractual response times (acknowledgement within one business day is a common standard) and test them.

Is an authorised representative the same as a responsible person?

No. "Authorised representative" is the defined term in the harmonisation legislation framework (written mandate, defined tasks). "Responsible person" is the term in the Cosmetics Regulation, and "responsible economic operator" appears in product safety contexts. The concepts overlap but the duties, mandates and liability structures differ per act. Use each term only for its own regime.

Official sources

• EU CE marking: duties of manufacturers, importers and distributors
• EU market surveillance rules
• Blue Guide on the implementation of EU product rules 2022

Last verified

September 2026. Mandate requirements differ per act; confirm the legal text of each applicable regime. This is procedural guidance, not legal advice.

Ready? Check your product's requirements.