Chapter III, obligations of economic operators dealing with products
Article 8: Authorised representatives
An authorised representative acts under a written mandate that must at least cover the declaration and file, authority requests and cooperation, but cannot take over the design duty.
- Citation
- Article 8, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- A manufacturer established outside the Union and the representative it appoints in the Union.
- In the instrument
- Chapter III, obligations of economic operators dealing with products
- Applies from
- 28 June 2025 for products placed and services provided from that date (Article 31(2)). The Article 4(8) 112 duty may be deferred to 28 June 2027 where a member state uses Article 31(3).
- Source
- EUR-Lex, CELEX 32019L0882
What it requires
A manufacturer may appoint an authorised representative by written mandate. The mandate cannot transfer two things: the paragraph 1 duty to design and manufacture to the applicable requirements, and the drawing up of the technical documentation. Those stay with the manufacturer.
The mandate must allow the representative to do at least three things. Keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation available to market surveillance authorities for five years. Provide an authority, on a reasoned request, with the information and documentation needed to show conformity. Cooperate with authorities on action taken to remove non-compliance for products within the mandate.
The article does not make an appointment compulsory. It sets what the role must contain when it is used, which matters for a non-Union manufacturer selling into the Union through a local entity.
In practice
The mandate should name the products or product families it covers, the three minimum tasks, the start date and the end date. Give the representative a live index into the declaration and file rather than a one-off zip, because the five-year duty runs from each placing on the market and the file changes with each model. Record the handover date.
What to do
- Put the appointment in writing and list the three minimum tasks.
- Keep the declaration and technical file where the representative can produce them for five years.
- Leave the design duty and the drafting of the technical file with the manufacturer.
- Log each authority request and the response date.
Evidence to keep
- The signed mandate with its task list and its start and end dates.
- The representative's establishment in a member state.
- The handover record showing the declaration and file are reachable.
- The authority correspondence log.
Dates
- 2025-06-28The obligation applies to products placed from this date. (Article 2(1))
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
A mandate copied from another product regime often tries to transfer the design duty. That clause is ineffective here, and an authority will still ask the manufacturer for the file.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Article 8. Check it yourself: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882. This page states the provision in our own words and is not legal advice; it does not certify any product or service.