EU representative and responsible person

Yes, in most cases, and often twice over. On the product side, no product may be placed on the EU market unless an economic operator established in the Union can be contacted and held to account. On the data side, an Indian company without an EU establishment that offers goods or services to people in the EU, or monitors their behaviour, must appoint a written GDPR representative. These are two separate obligations discharged by two separate appointments, and the AI Act adds a third for model providers.

• Product side: appoint a responsible person established in the EU whose name and address appear on the product, its packaging or the accompanying documents, and who can hand the technical documentation to a market surveillance authority on request.
• Data side: appoint a GDPR representative in writing in one of the Member States where the affected individuals are, and publish the identity and contact details in the privacy notice.
• Both roles must be real entities capable of receiving correspondence from a regulator. A forwarding mailbox or a group email is not an appointment.
• Complete the appointment before listing on an EU marketplace: platforms verify the responsible person at onboarding, and a missing name means the listing is taken down.
• AI providers: appoint an authorised representative under the AI Act as well; it does not merge with either of the two above.

• GPSR Article 16: person responsible for compliance in the UnionArticle nodeOfficial text
• GDPR Article 27: representative of controllers not established in the UnionArticle nodeOfficial text
• GPSR Article 22: obligations of providers of online marketplacesArticle nodeOfficial text
• AI Act Article 22: authorised representative of third-country providersArticle nodeOfficial text

• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance, Article 4: economic operator in the Union

• Indian companies exporting to the EU — what requirements apply?
• India to EU export compliance — where do we start?
• Do Indian companies need an EU authorised representative to export to the EU?

• General Product Safety Regulation
• Data transfers from the EU to India
• CE marking for Indian manufacturers
• All requirements
• Indian law against EU law

The same requirement is published for Chinese exporters in simplified Chinese: 欧盟授权代表

Sector

All exporters, marketplaces sellers

Read date

2026-08-26

Register version

in-export-v1.0.0

Address

/in/export/eu-representative