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Designated establishments and legal representatives

1. Member States shall ensure that service providers offering services in the Union designate or appoint at least one addressee for the receipt of, compliance with and enforcement of decisions and orders falling within the scope laid down in Article 1(2) (‘decisions and orders falling within the scope laid down in Article 1(2)’) issued by competent authorities of Member States for the purpose of gathering evidence in criminal proceedings, as follows:

(a) for service providers established in the Union with legal personality, the Member States where the service providers are established shall ensure that such service providers designate the designated establishment or designated establishments responsible for the activities described in the introductory part of this paragraph;

(b) for service providers that are not established in the Union, with legal personality, Member States shall ensure that such service providers offering services on their territory appoint the legal representative or legal representatives responsible for the activities described in the introductory part of this paragraph in Member States taking part in the instruments referred to in Article 1(2);

(c) for service providers established in Member States not taking part in the instruments referred to in Article 1(2), Member States shall ensure that such service providers offering services on their territory appoint the legal representative or legal representatives responsible for the activities described in the introductory part of this paragraph in Member States taking part in such instruments.

2. Member States shall ensure that the addressees referred to in paragraph 1:

(a) are established or reside in a Member State where the service providers offer their services; and (b) can be subject to enforcement procedures.

3. Member States shall ensure that decisions and orders falling within the scope laid down in Article 1(2) are addressed to the designated establishment or legal representative designated or appointed for that purpose in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article.

4. Member States shall ensure that service providers established or offering services on their territory provide their designated establishments and legal representatives with the necessary powers and resources to comply with decisions and orders falling within the scope laid down in Article 1(2) received from a Member State. Member States shall also verify that the designated establishments established or legal representatives residing on their territory have received from the service providers the necessary powers and resources to comply with those decisions and orders received from a Member State and that they cooperate with the competent authorities when receiving those decisions and orders, in accordance with the applicable legal framework.

5. Member States shall ensure that both the designated establishment or the legal representative and the service provider can be held jointly and severally liable for non-compliance with obligations deriving from the applicable legal framework upon the receipt of decisions and orders falling within the scope laid down in Article 1(2), so that each of them may be subject to penalties for non-compliance by any of them. In particular, Member States shall ensure that it is not possible for the service provider or the designated establishment, or the legal representative where applicable, to use the lack of appropriate internal procedures between the service provider and the designated establishment or the legal representative as a justification for non-compliance with those obligations. Joint and several liability shall not apply for actions or omissions of either the service provider or the designated establishment, or the legal representative where applicable, which constitute a criminal offence in the Member State applying the penalties.

6. Member States shall ensure that service providers that offer services in the Union on 18 February 2026 have the obligation to designate designated establishments or to appoint legal representatives by 18 August 2026 and that service providers that start offering services in the Union after 18 February 2026 have the obligation to designate designated establishments or to appoint legal representatives within six months of the date when they start offering services in the Union.