Kanzlei Theo Funk provides legal advice on the EU representative obligations that apply to companies without an establishment in the Union: Art. 27 GDPR, Art. 13 DSA, Arts. 22 and 54 AI Act and Art. 26(3) NIS2. The advisory work covers four recurring situations: determining whether a designation duty applies, drafting and negotiating the written mandate, advising while the representation is in place, and acting in administrative and fine proceedings — including communications with European supervisory authorities, including the Bundesnetzagentur as Germany’s Digital Services Coordinator.
Legal advice is provided by the law firm under an attorney-client mandate. The representative function itself is a separate, non-advisory service: clients may appoint Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — a legally separate, lawyer-owned compliance company —, another representative, or use their own EU structure. There are no referral fees or commissions.
At the client’s election, Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — an attorney-owned but legally separate company with which the firm cooperates — assumes the named representative role under its own contract. The two engagements coordinate directly and on an ongoing basis, so clients need not mediate between advice and representation. The separation holds throughout: two separate contracts, invoiced separately; Regingada provides the representative function, not legal advice; neither appointment presupposes the other, and clients remain free to name a different representative.
GDPR: the representative under Art. 27
For controllers and processors outside the EU whose processing falls under Art. 3(2) GDPR, the firm analyses whether the designation duty of Art. 27 GDPR applies or whether the exemption of Art. 27(2) GDPR is available. It drafts the written designation and advises on the representative’s position towards supervisory authorities and data subjects, on the records of processing under Art. 30 GDPR and on the transparency information under Arts. 13 and 14 GDPR.
Named representative function: Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — separate service, no legal advice.
DSA: the legal representative under Art. 13
Providers of intermediary services without an EU establishment must designate a legal representative in a Member State (Art. 13 DSA). The firm advises on service categorisation, on the scope of the mandate and the resourcing requirement of Art. 13(2) DSA, and on the representative’s own liability under Art. 13(3) DSA. Contract design and the notification of the representative’s details to the Digital Services Coordinator are part of the engagement.
Named representative function: Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — separate service, no legal advice.
AI Act: the authorised representative under Arts. 22 and 54
Third-country providers of high-risk AI systems (Art. 22 AI Act) and of general-purpose AI models (Art. 54 AI Act) must appoint an authorised representative before Union market access. The firm advises on classification and on timing under the staged application of the Regulation, structures the written mandate with its verification, retention and termination duties, and accompanies registration and contact with market-surveillance authorities and the AI Office.
Named representative function: Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — separate service, no legal advice.
NIS2: the EU representative under Art. 26(3)
For the entity categories listed in Art. 26(1)(b) NIS2 — including DNS, cloud computing, data centre, managed service and online-marketplace providers — the firm assesses the designation duty as transposed into national law and advises on the choice of seat, which fixes supervisory jurisdiction, as well as on registration under Art. 27 NIS2 and the incident-reporting interfaces.
Named representative function: Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) — separate service, no legal advice.
For a systematic four-regime comparison of these duties — triggers, task catalogues, liability profiles and timelines — see the analysis EU Representative Duties Compared.
Whether one, several or none of these duties applies to your company depends on your service type, your data processing, any AI system or model involved and your entity category under NIS2. Get in touch to discuss an initial assessment.
Transparency notice: Kanzlei Theo Funk and Regingada UG (haftungsbeschränkt) are legally separate; Regingada UG is wholly owned by attorney Theo Funk. Representative services are contracted and invoiced separately.