Article 26 for Autonomous Systems: Deployer Obligations

Article 26 sets these duties for deployers of high-risk AI systems.

• Art. 26(1)
  Use according to the instructions

  Take appropriate technical and organisational measures to use the system in accordance with the instructions for use.

• Art. 26(2)
  Assign human oversight

  Assign human oversight to natural persons who have the necessary competence, training and authority, as well as the necessary support.

• Art. 26(4)
  Check input data

  To the extent the deployer controls the input data, ensure that it is relevant and sufficiently representative for the intended purpose.

• Art. 26(5)
  Monitor, inform, suspend

  Monitor operation on the basis of the instructions for use and, where relevant, inform providers. If use in accordance with the instructions may present a risk within the meaning of Article 79(1), inform the provider or distributor and the market surveillance authority without undue delay and suspend use. After a serious incident, immediately inform the provider first, then the importer or distributor and the market surveillance authorities. If the provider cannot be reached, Article 73 applies mutatis mutandis.

• Art. 26(6)
  Keep logs

  Keep the logs the system generates automatically, to the extent they are under the deployer’s control, for a period appropriate to the intended purpose and of at least six months, unless Union or national law, in particular on the protection of personal data, provides otherwise.

• Art. 26(7)
  Inform workers

  Employers must inform workers’ representatives and the affected workers, before putting a high-risk system into service or using it at the workplace, that they will be subject to its use. This information is provided, where applicable, in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down in Union and national law and practice on information of workers and their representatives.

• Art. 26(8)
  Public authorities register

  Deployers that are public authorities, or Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, must comply with the registration obligations of Article 49. When they find that a high-risk system they envisage using has not been registered in the EU database referred to in Article 71, they must not use it and must inform the provider or distributor. For systems in point 2 of Annex III, see the registration row below.

• Art. 26(9)
  Data protection impact assessment

  Where applicable, use the information the provider gives under Article 13 for the data protection impact assessment under Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or Article 27 of Directive (EU) 2016/680.

• Art. 26(11)
  Inform people affected by decisions

  For Annex III systems that make or assist decisions about natural persons, inform those persons that they are subject to the use of the system, without prejudice to Article 50.

• Art. 26(12)
  Cooperate with authorities

  Cooperate with the competent authorities in any action they take in relation to the high-risk system.

Article 26 binds deployers of high-risk AI systems only. The rows below show which autonomous systems it reaches and which further rules reach operators and authorities.

• Autonomous systems is not a category in the Act

  The Act has no category called autonomous systems; its definition of an AI system refers to operation with varying levels of autonomy (Article 3(1)). This site uses the word for AI in vehicles, drones, robots and machinery, and for AI that helps manage road traffic. Such AI can be high-risk through three routes, and the route decides which high-risk rules apply: Annex I Section B (Article 2(2) limits the rules to a few articles), Annex I Section A (the Chapter III requirements from 2 August 2028, where the system is high-risk under Article 6(1)) and Annex III point 2 (the Chapter III requirements from 2 December 2027). Other rules do not depend on the route: Articles 4 and 5, Article 50, Article 53 for model providers and the other points of Annex III. Article 2(2) restricts only AI systems that are high-risk under Article 6(1) in Section B products. Find your high-risk route first.

• Vehicles, aircraft, rail, marine equipment and machinery: Annex I Section B

  Section B of Annex I lists, among others, motor vehicles (Regulations (EU) 2018/858 and 2019/2144), two- or three-wheel vehicles (Regulation (EU) No 168/2013), agricultural and forestry vehicles (Regulation (EU) No 167/2013), the rail system (Directive (EU) 2016/797), marine equipment (Directive 2014/90/EU), unmanned aircraft and their engines, propellers, parts and equipment to control them remotely, in so far as Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 covers them, and machinery (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, moved from Section A to Section B by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744). For an AI system that is high-risk under Article 6(1) and relates to such a product, only Article 6(1), Article 60a and Articles 102 to 112 apply (Article 2(2)); Articles 57, 58 and 59 apply only in so far as the requirements for high-risk AI systems have been integrated in that Union harmonisation legislation. Articles 9 to 15, 17 and 26 are not among them. Instead, Articles 102 to 109 add to eight of these laws a rule that the Commission takes the requirements of Chapter III, Section 2 into account when it adopts the acts they name for AI systems. For machinery, Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 requires the Commission to adopt delegated acts that add health and safety requirements for such AI systems, reflecting Chapter III, Section 2 and Articles 17, 19, 72 and 73; those acts are to apply by 2 August 2028.

• Section A products and Annex III point 2: Chapter III applies

  Two hooks bring the Chapter III requirements into play. First, an AI system is high-risk under Article 6(1) if it is intended to be used as a safety component of a product covered by Annex I legislation, or is itself such a product, and that product must undergo a third-party conformity assessment under that legislation. Section A (items 2 to 12) covers, for example, lifts, cableway installations, recreational craft and medical devices; Chapter III applies to such systems from 2 August 2028 (Article 113, point (c)(ii)). A safety component is a component that fulfils a safety function or whose failure or malfunctioning endangers the health and safety of persons or property (Article 3(14)); AI used solely for non-safety related aspects such as performance optimisation, automation or convenience does not qualify, but AI whose failure would endanger health and safety does (Article 6(1a) and (1b)). A product that needs a third-party assessment solely because of risks other than health and safety, such as radio spectrum use or electromagnetic interference that does not affect health and safety, does not meet that condition (Article 6(1c)); this matters, for example, for radio equipment (item 6). Second, Annex III point 2 covers AI systems intended to be used as safety components in the management and operation of critical digital infrastructure, road traffic, or the supply of water, gas, heating or electricity; Chapter III applies to them from 2 December 2027 (Article 113, point (c)(i)). On its wording, point 2 names the management and operation of road traffic, not vehicles.

• Deployer and provider

  A natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that uses an AI system under its authority is a deployer (Article 3(4)); for example, a transport operator, a fleet owner, a factory operator or a road authority that uses a vendor’s system. Article 26 binds it where the system is high-risk, for example under Annex III point 2 or, as a Section A product, under Article 6(1); the other points of Annex III also trigger it, and Section B products do not (Article 2(2)). A deployer becomes a provider if it puts its name or trademark on a high-risk system already on the market, makes a substantial modification that leaves the system high-risk, or changes the intended purpose of a non-high-risk system so that it becomes high-risk (Article 25(1)). Natural persons who use a system in the course of a purely personal non-professional activity are not bound as deployers (Article 2(10)).

• Serious incidents

  A serious incident includes an incident or malfunctioning of an AI system that directly or indirectly leads to the death of a person or serious harm to a person’s health, to a serious and irreversible disruption of the management or operation of critical infrastructure, to the infringement of obligations under Union law intended to protect fundamental rights, or to serious harm to property or the environment (Article 3(49)). A deployer that has identified a serious incident immediately informs first the provider, then the importer or distributor and the relevant market surveillance authorities (Article 26(5)). The provider reports to the market surveillance authorities: not later than 15 days after the provider or deployer becomes aware of the incident, not later than 10 days in the event of the death of a person, and not later than two days for a widespread infringement or an incident of the kind in Article 3(49), point (b) (Article 73(1) to (4)). Article 73 is not among the provisions that Article 2(2) lists as applying to Section B products.

• Registration of point 2 systems (Article 49)

  Systems referred to in point 2 of Annex III are not registered in the EU database by the provider or by public-authority deployers (Article 49(1) and (3)); they shall be registered at national level (Article 49(5)). The Act does not say how national registration works; ask the national authority and counsel. The Act does not define “public authority”; whether a given operator is one is not answered by the Act, and it matters for Article 26(8), Article 49(3) and Article 111(2), under which providers and deployers of high-risk systems intended to be used by public authorities must take the necessary steps to comply by 2 August 2030.

• Fundamental rights impact assessment: point 2 is excluded (Article 27)

  Article 27(1): before deploying a high-risk AI system referred to in Article 6(2), with the exception of systems intended to be used in the area listed in point 2 of Annex III, deployers that are bodies governed by public law or private entities providing public services must assess the impact on fundamental rights that the use of the system may produce. A utility, operator or authority that deploys a system under point 2 therefore has no Article 27 duty for that system, whether or not it is a body governed by public law or provides a public service. Article 27(1) can apply to the same deployer for a high-risk system in another area of Annex III, and it also covers deployers of systems under points 5(b) and (c) of Annex III. Annex I Section A systems are high-risk under Article 6(1), which Article 27(1) does not name.

• Explanation of decisions (Article 86) and information (Article 26(11))

  Under Article 26(11), deployers of Annex III high-risk systems that make or assist decisions related to natural persons must inform those persons that they are subject to the use of the system. Separately, an affected person subject to a decision taken by the deployer on the basis of the output of an Annex III high-risk system (other than point 2) that produces legal effects or similarly significantly affects that person in a way they consider adverse to their health, safety or fundamental rights has the right to obtain from the deployer clear and meaningful explanations of the role of the AI system in the decision-making procedure and the main elements of the decision (Article 86(1)). This applies only to the extent the right is not otherwise provided under Union law (Article 86(3)). Paragraph 1 does not apply where exceptions or restrictions follow from Union or national law in compliance with Union law (Article 86(2)). Article 86(1) excludes systems listed under point 2 of Annex III.

• Dates

  Annex III point 2 systems must meet Chapter III from 2 December 2027, and Section A systems from 2 August 2028 (Article 113, point (c)). For Section B systems, no date applies to Articles 9 to 15, 17 and 26, because those articles do not apply to them; Article 113, point (c)(ii), applies Chapter III, Sections 1 to 3, which include Article 6, to Annex I systems from 2 August 2028, and Articles 102 to 110 apply since 27 July 2026 (Article 113, points (c)(ii) and (d)). A system placed on the market or put into service before the date of application of Chapter III is covered only if its design changes significantly afterwards; in any case, providers and deployers of high-risk systems intended to be used by public authorities must take the necessary steps to comply by 2 August 2030 (Article 111(2)).

• Fines

  Breaches of provider obligations under Article 16 and of deployer obligations under Article 26 can be fined up to EUR 15 million or, for an undertaking, up to 3% of total worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year, whichever is higher (Article 99(4)). For SMEs, including start-ups, each fine is capped at whichever is lower (Article 99(6)). The same cap applies to small mid-cap enterprises (Article 3(14b), Article 99(6a)). Each Member State lays down rules on to what extent administrative fines may be imposed on public authorities and bodies established in that Member State (Article 99(8)). Article 99 is not among the provisions that Article 2(2) lists as applying to AI systems that are high-risk under Article 6(1) in Section B products.

• AI literacy (Article 4)

  Providers and deployers of AI systems must take measures to support the development of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context of use (Article 4(1)). This applies to AI systems in general, not only to high-risk systems. Chapter I, which contains Article 4, applies from 2 February 2025 (Article 113, point (a)). It does not require providers or deployers to guarantee a specific level of AI literacy of any individual. Competence, training and authority of the people assigned to human oversight are separately required by Article 26(2).

• Limits of the Act’s scope

  The Act applies to providers that place AI systems on the market or put them into service in the Union, or place general-purpose AI models on the market in the Union, wherever they are established (Article 2(1), point (a)), and to providers and deployers in a third country where the output of the AI system is used in the Union (point (c)). It does not apply to areas outside the scope of Union law and does not affect Member States’ competences on national security, nor to AI systems used exclusively for military, defence or national security purposes (Article 2(3)). The Act does not apply to AI systems or AI models, including their output, specifically developed and put into service for the sole purpose of scientific research and development (Article 2(6)). It does not apply to research, testing or development before a system or model is placed on the market or put into service; testing in real world conditions is not covered by that exclusion (Article 2(8)). It does not apply to AI systems released under free and open-source licences, unless they are placed on the market or put into service as high-risk AI systems or as an AI system that falls under Article 5 or 50 (Article 2(12)).

• No staffing or training numbers

  Article 26 sets no staffing level, training hours or qualification for the people who oversee a system. It requires the necessary competence, training, authority and support (Article 26(2)). The Commission is to develop guidelines on the application of the requirements and obligations in Articles 8 to 15 and Articles 25 and 26 (Article 96(1), point (a)).

• Log retention

  Article 12(1) requires high-risk AI systems to technically allow for the automatic recording of events (logs) over the lifetime of the system; that is a design duty of the provider. Article 26(6) sets at least six months for logs under the deployer’s control and gives way to other Union or national law, in particular on personal data. The Act names no retention period for autonomous systems.

• Design choice: oversight roles

  A common design choice, not an Act requirement: name the oversight persons by role for each site, vehicle fleet or control room, and record their training.

• Stopping the system: a provider design duty

  Article 14(4), point (e), requires the system to be provided so that the persons assigned to human oversight are enabled, as appropriate and proportionate, to intervene in its operation or interrupt it through a ‘stop’ button or a similar procedure that allows the system to come to a halt in a safe state. That is a design duty of the provider. Article 26(2) requires the deployer to assign oversight to persons with competence, training and authority. The Act does not say who may halt a vehicle, aircraft or machine, or when, and names no remote-operator role.

• Other laws apply alongside

  Article 26(1) and (2) are without prejudice to other deployer obligations under Union or national law (Article 26(3)). Whether a notification under another law is also due after an incident is decided by that law, not by the AI Act.

• Article 26: Deployer Obligations for High-Risk AI

  Article 26 for all sectors: who is a deployer, the duties, Article 27 and fines.

• EU AI Act Compliance for Autonomous Systems

  The autonomous systems overview: which Act hooks apply to vehicles, aircraft, machinery and traffic AI.

• Article 17 for Autonomous Systems: Quality Management System

  Autonomous systems and Article 17: the 13 aspects and who is the provider.

• Annex I High-Risk AI Systems: The Product-Safety Route

  Annex I: which AI systems in regulated products are high-risk, with Section A and Section B.