No EU importer? Then someone in the EU must answer for your passport.

EU product law is built on a simple premise: for every product on the EU market, there is someone in the EU whom authorities can hold to account. When a non-EU manufacturer sells through an EU importer, the importer is that someone. When it sells direct — e-commerce, own webshop, fulfilment-centre logistics — there is no importer, and the law requires an authorised representative: an EU-established entity, mandated in writing, to carry compliance tasks. As DPP obligations phase in, that role now touches the passport too.

Last updated: 16 August 2026

In one line: a non-EU manufacturer selling into the EU without an importer of record needs an EU-established authorised representative under written mandate — and how DPP duties split between maker and AR is defined by that mandate, so it should name the passport explicitly.

PPWR Article 45 widened this on 12 August 2026 — and it now catches EU companies too

Until recently, "authorised representative" was mostly a question for manufacturers outside the EU. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40 changed the shape of it from 12 August 2026. Article 45 requires a producer to appoint, by written mandate, an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility in each member state where the producer makes packaging or packaged products available for the first time, other than the member state where the producer is established.

Read that last clause carefully, because it is the part that surprises people: the test is not whether you are outside the EU. It is whether you are established in that particular member state. A Dutch company selling packaged goods into Germany, France and Belgium is a non-established producer in all three, and needs a representative appointed in each. So does a German brand shipping to Poland, and so does any distance seller reaching consumers across borders.

Two practical consequences. First, the obligation multiplies by market rather than by product line — five countries means five appointments, each with its own national scheme registration and reporting. Second, this is an EPR obligation, distinct from the product-passport question below; the same company can owe a packaging representative in four countries and a battery passport on the item inside the box, under two different instruments.

PassPer does not act as an authorised representative and does not file EPR registrations. This page explains where the obligation sits; a packaging-EPR provider or compliance agency performs it.

What an authorised representative is

An authorised representative (AR) is a natural or legal person established in the EU who accepts a written mandate from a non-EU manufacturer to perform specified compliance tasks on its behalf. Classically that means keeping technical documentation available, cooperating with market-surveillance authorities, and being the addressable EU contact when questions or corrective actions arise. The AR does not become the manufacturer — design and production duties stay with you — but it is the EU’s legal handle on your products. The scope of what the AR does is defined by the mandate, which is exactly why the mandate now deserves a DPP clause.

When you need one — and when the importer carries it instead

The test is whether an EU importer of record exists for the sales route. Selling to an EU distributor who imports in its own name? That importer carries the EU-side compliance role, DPP included — see importer obligations. Selling direct to EU end-customers from outside the EU — own webshop, marketplace listings fulfilled from your stock, EU fulfilment centres holding goods you still own? No importer exists, and an AR is the required EU anchor. Many manufacturers run both routes at once and only cover the distributor one; the direct channel is where compliance gaps — and DPP gaps — quietly accumulate.

Who ensures the passport exists

The regulation’s framework puts passport responsibility on the economic operator placing the product on the market, and lets the manufacturer’s mandate assign supporting tasks to the AR. How the work splits in practice is therefore mandate-dependent. A workable division that most AR relationships converge on:

Manufacturer — assembles the passport data (it holds the bill of materials, test reports and supplier declarations), publishes and maintains the passport.
AR — verifies a compliant passport exists before products ship, holds the documentation trail, and answers authorities — including pointing them to the passport and its registry entry.

Whatever split you choose, write it down: an AR mandate that is silent on the DPP leaves both parties assuming the other has it.

The practical path for a non-EU manufacturer

First, map your routes to market and identify which have an importer and which need an AR. Second, update or conclude AR mandates with explicit DPP language — who builds, who verifies, who files to the EU registry (open since 19 July 2026). Third, put the passport work on a platform rather than on either party’s spreadsheets: PassPer builds passports from the documents you already have via AI extraction with human review, seals them with a qualified eIDAS seal, hosts them on EU-sovereign infrastructure and handles registry filing — giving your AR something to verify instead of something to construct. If batteries are in your products, the first hard deadline is 18 February 2027; start with the free readiness check.

Frequently asked questions

We sell into the EU via our own webshop from outside the EU. Who handles the DPP?

With no EU importer in the chain, product-compliance responsibilities need an EU anchor — which is where the authorised representative comes in. You will need an EU-established AR with a written mandate, and the passport work — who builds it, who registers it — should be spelled out in that mandate. In practice the manufacturer usually runs the passport and the AR verifies and represents.

Can our authorised representative create the passport for us?

The mandate can assign passport-related tasks to the AR, but ARs are typically compliance representatives, not data companies — most will verify that a compliant passport exists rather than assemble one from your bill of materials. The cleaner split is: you (with a platform) build and maintain the passport; the AR holds documentation and fronts the authorities.

We sell to an EU distributor who imports the goods. Do we still need an AR?

If your EU customer genuinely acts as importer — placing the products on the EU market in its own name — the importer carries the compliance role and an AR is generally not required for that route. The picture changes the moment you also sell direct to EU end-customers alongside the distributor channel: that direct route has no importer and needs its own answer.

Is a fulfilment centre or an online marketplace our authorised representative?

No. A fulfilment house stores and ships; a marketplace provides the storefront. An authorised representative is a specific legal role: an EU-established entity you appoint by written mandate to carry defined compliance tasks and to answer to authorities. Some fulfilment or compliance firms offer AR services as a separate, explicit engagement — but it never happens by default.

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