European UnionAI Act, Article 13 (transparency and provision of information to deployers)
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 13
An AI risk obligations rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Market targeting, Place of effect
- Obligation class
- Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- This duty takes effect on (Article 113, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) for a high-risk AI system classified under Article 6(2) and Annex III, and on for one classified under Article 6(1) and Annex I, other than a system related to a product covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Section B of Annex I, to which, under Article 2(2), only Article 6(1), Article 60a and Articles 102 to 112 apply, and Articles 57, 58 and 59 apply only in so far as the requirements for high-risk AI systems under this Regulation have been integrated in that Union harmonisation legislation; a system already placed on the market or put into service before its date is reached only once its design changes significantly, or by if it is intended for use by public authorities.
- It reaches you if you are the provider of a high-risk AI system, that is, you develop it, or have it developed, and place it on the market or put it into service under your own name or trademark: Article 16, point (a), makes you responsible for the system complying with the requirements of Section 2, which include Article 13.
- Design and develop the system so that its operation is sufficiently transparent to enable deployers to interpret its output and use it appropriately, with a type and degree of transparency that supports compliance with the provider and deployer obligations of Section 3.
- Supply the system with instructions for use in an appropriate digital format or otherwise, containing concise, complete, correct and clear information that is relevant, accessible and comprehensible to deployers.
- Put in the instructions at least: your identity and contact details, and those of your authorised representative where applicable; the system's characteristics, capabilities and limitations of performance (Article 13(3), point (b)); the changes to the system and its performance that you pre-determined at the initial conformity assessment; the human oversight measures of Article 14, including the technical measures that help deployers interpret the output; the computational and hardware resources needed, the expected lifetime and the necessary maintenance and care measures, including software updates; and, where relevant, a description of the mechanisms that let deployers properly collect, store and interpret the logs in accordance with Article 12.
- Under the characteristics heading, state the system's intended purpose; the level of accuracy, including its metrics, robustness and cybersecurity against which it has been tested and validated, and any known and foreseeable circumstances that may affect that level; any known or foreseeable circumstance, in use according to the intended purpose or under reasonably foreseeable misuse, that may lead to risks to health, safety or fundamental rights; where applicable, the technical capabilities to explain its output; when appropriate, its performance for specific persons or groups; and, when appropriate, the specifications for the input data and information on the training, validation and testing data sets used.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalty structure
Article 99(4)(a): non-compliance with the obligations of providers under Article 16 is fined up to EUR 15,000,000 or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. Article 16, point (a), requires a provider to ensure its high-risk AI system complies with the Section 2 requirements this row states; brought in by Article 16, point (a)'s reference to Section 2, which covers the Article 13 transparency requirement. Article 99(6) requires the lower of the two amounts for an SME, including a start-up; Article 99(6a), inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, gives the same lower-of treatment to a small mid-cap enterprise, since both apply to paragraph 4 fines.
- Rule
- Lower of for SME
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 15,000,000
- Turnover percentage cap
- 3
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Article 13 requires a provider to supply instructions for use and does not itself require a record. The one place it touches logs is Article 13(3), point (f): the instructions must describe, where relevant, the mechanisms that let deployers properly collect, store and interpret the logs in accordance with Article 12. The logging capability is Article 12's and the provider's keeping of the logs is Article 19's.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Article 13(1) requires high-risk AI systems to be designed and developed in such a way as to ensure that their operation is sufficiently transparent to enable deployers to interpret a system's output and use it appropriately. An appropriate type and degree of transparency must be ensured with a view to achieving compliance with the relevant obligations of the provider and deployer set out in Section 3.
High-risk AI systems must be accompanied by instructions for use in an appropriate digital format or otherwise that include concise, complete, correct and clear information that is relevant, accessible and comprehensible to deployers. Instructions for use means the information provided by the provider to inform the deployer of, in particular, an AI system's intended purpose and proper use.
The instructions for use must contain at least the identity and the contact details of the provider and, where applicable, of its authorised representative, and the characteristics, capabilities and limitations of performance of the system, including its intended purpose and the level of accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity against which it has been tested and validated.
The instructions for use must also cover any known or foreseeable circumstance that may lead to risks to health, safety or fundamental rights, the changes to the system pre-determined by the provider at the initial conformity assessment, the human oversight measures referred to in Article 14, the computational and hardware resources needed and the expected lifetime of the system, and, where relevant, a description of the mechanisms that allow deployers to properly collect, store and interpret the logs in accordance with Article 12.
A provider is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system, or has one developed, and places it on the market or puts it into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. The provider carries the Article 13 requirement under Article 16, point (a), which obliges a provider of high-risk AI systems to ensure that they are compliant with the requirements set out in Section 2.
Article 13 sits in Chapter III, Section 2, so it takes effect on the schedule the Digital Omnibus on AI (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) wrote into Article 113: for a system classified as high-risk under Article 6(2) and Annex III, and for a system classified as high-risk under Article 6(1) and Annex I, rather than the Regulation's general application date.
Under Article 111(2), as the Digital Omnibus on AI rewrote it, the Regulation reaches the operators of a high-risk AI system placed on the market or put into service before the date Chapter III applies only if, from that date, the system's design changes significantly; in any case, the providers and deployers of a high-risk AI system intended to be used by public authorities must take the necessary steps to comply with the Regulation's requirements and obligations by .
Article 13 does not apply to a high-risk AI system related to a product covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Section B of Annex I, to which, under Article 2(2), only Article 6(1), Article 60a and Articles 102 to 112 apply, and Articles 57, 58 and 59 apply only in so far as the requirements for high-risk AI systems under this Regulation have been integrated in that Union harmonisation legislation.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions.