What is the EU e-Evidence Package?
The Short Version
The EU e-Evidence Package is a new set of EU laws that allows police and law enforcement authorities in EU countries to request electronic data — like emails, messages, or account information — directly from technology companies, wherever those companies are based in the world.
To make this work, every company that provides digital services to EU users must appoint an EU-based contact point — called a legal representative or 'addressee' — to receive and respond to these requests. If your company is not based in the EU, you need to appoint someone in an EU country to act as this contact point for you.
That is exactly what EU Evidence Rep does.
The Legal Background
The e-Evidence Package consists of two pieces of EU legislation:
Regulation (EU) 2023/1543 — sets out how law enforcement can issue orders for electronic evidence across EU borders
Directive (EU) 2023/1544 — requires all service providers offering services in the EU to appoint a legal representative or designated establishment to receive those orders
The Regulation applies from 18 August 2026. Registration of your legal representative must be completed by that date.
What Kind of Orders Can Be Issued?
There are two types of order your legal representative may receive on your behalf:
European Production Order (EPOC)
A legally binding order requiring you to hand over specific electronic data to law enforcement — for example, a user's account information, messages, or login records — within 10 days (or 8 hours in an emergency).
European Preservation Order (EPOC-PR)
An order requiring you to preserve (keep and not delete) specific data for 60 days, while law enforcement prepares a production order.
Who Does It Apply To?
The rules apply to any company — inside or outside the EU — that provides any of the following services to EU users:
Electronic communications services (email, messaging, internet telephony)
Internet domain name and IP address services
Information society services that allow users to communicate with each other
Services that store or process data on behalf of users — including cloud storage, SaaS, AI platforms, and hosting
One estimate suggests the rules affect approximately 9,000 companies in Germany alone. The total number of non-EU companies caught by the rules runs into the tens of thousands globally.
What Happens If You Don't Comply?
Service providers that fail to register a legal representative or that fail to respond to orders face financial penalties (up to 2% global annual turnover), enforced by the national authority in the EU Member State where their representative is registered. In Ireland, enforcement sits with the proposed International Cooperation Office established under the Criminal Justice (International Cooperation Office) Act 2026.
Service providers and their legal representatives are jointly and severally liable for non-compliance — meaning both can be held responsible.
Why Appoint EU Evidence Rep?
We are an Irish-registered company specialising in e-Evidence legal representative services. Ireland is the EU home of many of the world's largest technology companies — making it a natural and trusted choice for your EU legal representative. We are run by specialists in EU digital law and compliance, and we offer a straightforward, fully managed service that takes the complexity out of your compliance obligation.