European UnionAI Act, Articles 79 and 81 (AI systems presenting a risk: national procedure and Union safeguard procedure)
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Articles 79 and 81
In force since .
An AI risk obligations rule binding public and private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Market targeting, Operator establishment, Place of effect
- Obligation class
- Governance
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- These procedures apply from , the Regulation's general application date: Article 113, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, gives Chapter IX, which holds Articles 79 and 81, no date of its own. The requirements and obligations an authority evaluates apply on their own dates, for example Chapter III, Sections 1 to 3 from for a system classified under Article 6(2) and Annex III and from for one classified under Article 6(1) and Annex I (Article 113, third paragraph, point (c), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744).
- It reaches you if you are an operator of an AI system presenting a risk, meaning a product presenting a risk as defined in Article 3, point 19 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 in so far as it presents risks to the health or safety, or to fundamental rights, of persons (Article 79(1)); it does not reach an AI system related to a product covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Section A of Annex I where those legal acts already provide for procedures ensuring an equivalent level of protection and having the same objective (Article 74(4)).
- Cooperate as necessary with the market surveillance authority, and with the other national public authorities or bodies referred to in Article 77(1), when the authority evaluates your AI system under Article 79(2).
- When the market surveillance authority finds that your AI system does not comply with the requirements and obligations of the Regulation and requires it, take all appropriate corrective actions to bring the system into compliance, to withdraw it from the market or to recall it, within the period the authority prescribes and in any event within the shorter of 15 working days or the period in the relevant Union harmonisation legislation (Article 79(2)).
- Ensure that all appropriate corrective action is taken in respect of all the AI systems concerned that you have made available on the Union market (Article 79(4)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- When does an AI system 'present a risk' under Article 79(1), so that a market surveillance authority has 'sufficient reason' to evaluate it under Article 79(2)?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Articles 79 and 81 set the procedure by which an authority evaluates an AI system and requires corrective action; they create no logging or record-keeping duty.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
An AI system presenting a risk is understood as a product presenting a risk as defined in Article 3, point 19 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, in so far as it presents risks to the health or safety, or to fundamental rights, of persons. Where the market surveillance authority of a Member State has sufficient reason to consider an AI system to present a risk, it must carry out an evaluation of the system's compliance with all the requirements and obligations laid down in the Regulation.
The relevant operators must cooperate as necessary with the market surveillance authority and with the other national public authorities or bodies referred to in Article 77(1).
Where the evaluation finds that the AI system does not comply with the requirements and obligations of the Regulation, the market surveillance authority must without undue delay require the relevant operator to take all appropriate corrective actions to bring the system into compliance, to withdraw it from the market or to recall it, within the period the authority prescribes and in any event within the shorter of 15 working days or the period in the relevant Union harmonisation legislation.
The operator must ensure that all appropriate corrective action is taken in respect of all the AI systems concerned that it has made available on the Union market.
Where the operator does not take adequate corrective action within the period set under Article 79(2), the market surveillance authority must take all appropriate provisional measures to prohibit or restrict the AI system's being made available on its national market or put into service, to withdraw the product or the standalone AI system from that market or to recall it.
Where a market surveillance authority raises objections to a measure taken by another such authority within three months of the notification under Article 79(5), or within 30 days for non-compliance with the prohibition of the AI practices referred to in Article 5, or where the Commission considers the measure contrary to Union law, the Commission must consult the market surveillance authority and the operator or operators, evaluate the measure and decide within six months, or within 60 days for non-compliance with Article 5, whether the national measure is justified.
The procedures in Articles 79 to 83 do not apply to AI systems related to products covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Section A of Annex I where such legal acts already provide for procedures ensuring an equivalent level of protection and having the same objective, and the relevant sectoral procedures apply instead.
Articles 79 and 81 sit in Chapter IX, to which Article 113 gives no date of its own, so they apply from the Regulation's general application date of . Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 replaced points (a) and (c) of Article 113's third paragraph and added point (d), and none of them names Chapter IX.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions.