Who needs an EU Authorised Representative?
If your business is based outside the European Union and you sell products to EU consumers, you almost certainly need one. This applies to:
- Non-EU manufacturers placing CE-marked products on the EU market
- Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Etsy and TikTok Shop sellers shipping into the EU — marketplaces now require representative details before your listings can go live
- US, UK and Canadian brands selling direct to EU customers
- Chinese manufacturers and FBA sellers supplying EU marketplaces
- Anyone selling products covered by the GPSR, which covers almost all consumer goods
If no EU-based economic operator is responsible for your product, you cannot legally place it on the market — regardless of how compliant the product itself is.
What the regulation actually requires
Two pieces of legislation drive this. Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance requires an economic operator established in the Union for products covered by CE-marking legislation. The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR), in force since December 2024, extends the same principle to general consumer products.
In practice both require the same thing: a named contact inside the EU who holds your technical documentation, can produce it for authorities on request, and can act if a product is found unsafe. Your Authorised Representative does not take over your legal responsibility as manufacturer — they make you reachable and auditable inside the Union.
How it works
- Apply — tell us what you sell and which markets you are targeting. Takes a few minutes.
- Send your documentation — your Declaration of Conformity and technical file. If they are incomplete, we tell you exactly what is missing before it becomes a problem.
- Get appointed — within 24 hours you receive your mandate and your EU (Netherlands) address to use on labels and listings.
- Stay covered — we hold your documentation for 10 years, handle any authority contact, and keep your file audit-ready.
There is no setup fee and no onboarding charge — everything above is included from day one.
What must appear on your packaging
Once appointed, your Authorised Representative’s name and EU address must be visible to the customer and to authorities. In practice that means:
- On the product itself, or on the packaging where the product is too small
- In the user manual or accompanying documentation
- In the “Responsible Person” or “EU Representative” field in Amazon Seller Central and equivalent marketplace fields
- On your Declaration of Conformity
You use our Amsterdam address for all of these. Most clients update their labels at their next print run and their marketplace listings immediately.
EU Authorised Representative or UK Responsible Person — which do you need?
They are separate legal requirements under separate regimes. Selling into the EU requires an EU Authorised Representative. Selling into Great Britain requires a UK Responsible Person under the UK’s product safety rules. Post-Brexit, one does not cover the other.
If you sell into both markets, our EU + UK plan covers both under one subscription at €79/month — see full pricing.
Product categories we cover
We accept all product categories:
- Consumer electronics and connected devices — EMC, Low Voltage and Radio Equipment Directives, including EN 18031 cybersecurity requirements
- Toys — Toy Safety Directive and EN 71 series
- Cosmetics and skincare — including CPNP notification and the separate cosmetics Responsible Person role
- Lithium batteries and e-mobility — e-bikes, scooters, power banks and battery-powered products
- Machinery, power tools and PPE
- Medical devices and health-adjacent products
- Food supplements and food-contact materials
- Drones, lasers and pyrotechnics — categories with additional restrictions
If you are unsure which directives apply to your product, we identify them as part of onboarding.
Common mistakes we see
- Assuming a distributor or freight forwarder counts. Your logistics partner is not your Authorised Representative unless there is a signed mandate naming them for that purpose.
- Using an EU address without a mandate. A borrowed address with no legal agreement behind it will not survive an authority check, and marketplaces increasingly verify it.
- Adding the representative to the listing but not the packaging. The details must appear on the product or packaging and in the documentation — not only in the marketplace field.
- Assuming CE marking alone is enough. CE marking proves conformity. It does not satisfy the separate requirement for an EU-based responsible economic operator.
- Assuming one representative covers the EU and the UK. They are separate regimes and require separate appointments.
- Waiting for enforcement. Most sellers contact us after a listing is suspended. Appointing in advance costs the same and avoids the lost revenue.
Compliance by product category
We accept all product categories. These are the ones with additional requirements beyond standard representation:
