Any provider established outside the European Union that places a high-risk AI system on the EU market, or makes a general-purpose AI model available in the Union, must appoint an Authorised Representative. The obligation applies before market placement, regardless of distribution channel — direct sales, resellers, cloud-hosted services, and embedded AI components all fall within scope. Importers and distributors cannot substitute for the AR role.

If your AI system or model is accessible to users in the EU, the obligation applies to you as the provider.

Yes, EU Authorised Representatives are mandatory for non-EU providers of high-risk AI systems and general-purpose AI models under Article 22 of the AI Act. The appointment must be made by written mandate before the system is placed on the Union market. Importers and distributors are independently required to verify that an AR has been appointed before making the system available, which means a missing AR blocks the supply chain, not just the provider. Member State authorities can require evidence of the mandate at any time. The obligation is statutory and cannot be waived by contract.

EU AI Act Article 22(3) defines the Authorised Representative’s statutory tasks: verifying that the EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation have been drawn up, keeping these documents available to authorities for ten years, registering the system in the EU database, cooperating with market surveillance authorities, and providing all information necessary to demonstrate conformity.

The representative must also terminate the mandate where the provider acts contrary to AI Act obligations and inform the relevant authority. The role is statutory and accountable — not administrative.

Yes. Article 22 imposes a mandatory appointment obligation on non-EU providers of high-risk AI systems and general-purpose AI models before market entry. The mandate must be in writing and accepted by the representative. Without an appointed AR, the system cannot lawfully be placed on the EU market, and importers and distributors are obliged to verify the AR is in place before making the system available. Non-compliance carries administrative fines of up to €15 million or 3% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.

The Authorised Representative is mandated directly by the non-EU provider and acts on the provider’s behalf under Article 22. The importer is an independent operator that places the system on the Union market and carries its own obligations under Article 23, including verifying the AR is appointed and the conformity assessment has been carried out. The two roles cannot be merged in respect of the same system: an importer that also wishes to act as AR must hold a separate written mandate and is then subject to the AR obligations in addition to importer obligations.

An EU Authorised Representative is a person or legal entity established within the European Union who has accepted a written mandate from a non-EU manufacturer or AI provider to act on its behalf in respect of obligations under specified EU legislation. Under the AI Act, the EU Authorised Representative is defined in Article 3 and given statutory tasks under Article 22, including holding technical documentation, registering the system in the EU database, cooperating with national authorities, and terminating the mandate where the provider acts contrary to obligations. The AR’s establishment in the Union is what makes them a valid representative — a non-EU entity cannot perform the role.

Authorised Representative services are typically structured as an annual mandate fee, reflecting the ten-year documentation retention obligation, ongoing regulator interface duties, and post-market monitoring oversight required by the AI Act. Pricing depends on the number of AI systems under mandate, their risk classification, the volume of technical documentation, and the language coverage required for Member State authority correspondence.

We provide indicative pricing after an initial documentation review confirms scope. There is no per-incident or per-letter charge — the mandate fee covers the statutory cooperation duties for the contract term.

Yes. Article 54 of the AI Act requires providers of general-purpose AI models established outside the Union to appoint an Authorised Representative in the EU by written mandate before placing the model on the Union market. The AR for GPAI models holds the technical documentation prepared under Article 53, verifies the documentation has been drawn up, and cooperates with the AI Office and national authorities. The obligation applies to all GPAI models, with additional duties for models classified as presenting systemic risk under Article 55.

Yes. A single Authorised Representative established in any EU Member State can act on behalf of a non-EU provider across all 27 Member States. The AR’s mandate is recognised throughout the Union, and the representative serves as the single point of contact for any Member State market surveillance authority. Multilingual capability is operationally important, because authorities are entitled to correspond in the official language of their Member State. Providers do not need to appoint a separate AR per country.

Yes. A single Authorised Representative established in any EU Member State can act on behalf of a non-EU provider across all 27 Member States. The AR’s mandate is recognised throughout the Union, and the representative serves as the single point of contact for any Member State market surveillance authority. Multilingual capability is operationally important, because authorities are entitled to correspond in the official language of their Member State. Providers do not need to appoint a separate AR per country.

Under Article 22(3), the Authorised Representative must keep available for national authorities, for ten years after the system is placed on the market: the EU declaration of conformity, the technical documentation prepared under Annex IV, evidence that the conformity assessment procedure has been carried out, and any certificates issued by a notified body where applicable. For GPAI models, the documentation set is defined by Article 53 and the corresponding annexes. The AR must also retain the written mandate itself as evidence of authority to act.

A written mandate can be executed within days once the technical documentation has been reviewed and accepted. The realistic timeline depends on the readiness of the provider’s Annex IV documentation: where the file is complete and the conformity assessment has been carried out, mandate execution and EU database registration can be completed within one to two weeks. Where documentation gaps exist, the review period extends until the file meets the threshold required for the AR to accept the mandate without inheriting compliance exposure.

An Authorised Representative is a natural or legal person who holds a written mandate from a manufacturer or provider to act on their behalf in relation to specified regulatory obligations. The role exists across multiple EU product safety regimes — including the AI Act, Medical Devices Regulation, In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation, Machinery Regulation, and General Product Safety Regulation — and is the mechanism by which non-EU economic operators establish accountable legal presence within the Union. The Authorised Representative is not an agent for commercial purposes; the role is strictly regulatory and defined by the legislation under which the mandate is issued.