EU Representative Service
Many organisations based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), that offer goods or services to individuals in the EEA and/or monitor the behaviour of individuals in the EEA, need to have an EU Representative in place.
Organisations based outside of the EEA, that offer goods or services to individuals in the EEA and/or monitor the behaviour of individuals in the EEA, need to appoint an EU Representative. That EU Representative, appointed principally to communicate with European supervisory authorities and data subjects on privacy-related matters, must be based within the EEA. We offer this service for a fixed fee through our Irish subsidiary, Saltire Data Protection Services Limited, based in Dublin.
As a general rule, your organisation will need to appoint an EU Representative if it has no offices, branches or other establishments in the EEA and it is offering goods or services to individuals in the EEA or monitoring the behaviour of individuals in the EEA. Most organisations are required to have one, but not all – for example, public-sector bodies are exempt.
The penalties for failure to comply are significant. Fines can be levied at up to 2% of worldwide turnover or €10 million, whichever figure is higher. The Dutch Data Protection Authority has imposed a fine of €525,000 on the website Locatefamily.com for failing to comply with the requirement to appoint an EU representative.
Also, if you offer goods or services to individuals in the UK or monitor the behaviour of individuals in the UK, but don’t have a presence in the UK, you may be interested in our UK Representative service. We provide this for a fixed fee too.
Through our UK and Irish offices and our network of highly respected local firms with whom we work in numerous EEA jurisdictions, we also provide seamless access to expert lawyers operating in the EEA, whenever additional legal advice is needed.
If you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail, contact us to arrange a consultation.
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Joanna Boag-Thomson
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Joanna Boag-Thomson
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