{"answer_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:answer:technische-documentatie","canonical_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/technische-documentatie","query":"What technical documentation does the AI Act require (Article 11)?","lang":"en","view":"full","mode":"scenario","question":"What technical documentation does the AI Act require (Article 11)?","situation":"You want to know which file a high-risk AI provider must build and what you can request as a customer.","likely_role":"Provider (builds it); deployer (requests it)","note":"Article 11 with Annex IV describes the technical documentation: system description, development process, data, human oversight, accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity. The duty follows the high-risk timeline to 2 December 2027. For buying organisations this is the checklist of what you must be able to request contractually from your supplier.","matched_terms":[],"dataset":{"id":"praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph","version":"2.2.0","schema_version":"1.5.0","effective_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","known_at":"2026-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","last_reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","licence":"https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms","canonical_url":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/entities"},"obligations":[{"slug":"article-11-technical-documentation","label":"Article 11: technical documentation","summary":"The technical file demonstrating before market placement that a high-risk system meets the requirements.","legal_status":"upcoming","deadline_at":"2027-12-02T00:00:00.000Z","high_risk_regime_from":null,"human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-11-technical-documentation","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Article 11 requires technical documentation drawn up before market placement, kept up to date and containing the Annex IV elements, so that compliance with Section 2 is demonstrable to supervisors.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 11(1)-(3) and Annex IV","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"For the Annex III route this requirement applies from 2 December 2027; for high-risk AI in regulated products (Annex I) from 2 August 2028.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","source_locator":"Amended Article 113 application dates","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"For buying organisations, Annex IV is the checklist of what you must be able to request contractually from your supplier; without that file you cannot meet your own Article 26 duties.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 11(1)-(3) and Annex IV","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Include the right to access the technical documentation in AI procurement and supplier contracts now.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 11(1)-(3) and Annex IV","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}]},{"slug":"annex-iii-high-risk","label":"Annex III: high-risk AI","summary":"Classification route for standalone high-risk AI systems under Article 6(2) and Annex III.","legal_status":"upcoming","deadline_at":"2027-12-02T00:00:00.000Z","high_risk_regime_from":null,"human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/annex-iii-high-risk","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"The core rules in Chapter III, Sections 1 to 3, for systems under Article 6(2) and Annex III become applicable on 2 December 2027.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","source_locator":"Amended Article 113, Article 6(2) and Annex III application date","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"The later application date does not remove the classification question. An early classification record avoids design and procurement decisions without evidence.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 6 and Annex III","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Document now the intended purpose, Annex III point, Article 6(3) assessment, profiling and selected registration path.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 6(2)-(4), Article 49 and Annex III","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}]},{"slug":"conformity-ce-registration","label":"Articles 43-49: conformity assessment, CE and registration","summary":"The route from assessment to CE marking and EU database registration before market placement of high-risk AI.","legal_status":"applicable","deadline_at":"2026-08-02T00:00:00.000Z","high_risk_regime_from":"2027-12-02T00:00:00.000Z","human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/conformity-ce-registration","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Article 43 governs the conformity assessment, Article 47 the EU declaration of conformity, Article 48 the CE marking and Article 49 the registration in the EU database before market placement or putting into service, including registration of the Article 6(3) assessment.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Articles 43, 47, 48 and 49","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"This provision is named in none of the three points of Article 113, third paragraph, and therefore falls under the general application date in the second paragraph: 2 August 2026. The move to 2 December 2027 and 2 August 2028 in point (c) concerns only Chapter III, Sections 1, 2 and 3, with the exception of Article 6(5). When a high-risk AI system that this provision addresses can practically exist is a second question: through Article 6(2) and Annex III that is 2 December 2027, and through Article 6(1) and Annex I 2 August 2028. That practical date sits in high_risk_regime_from and not in deadline_at. This is how decision D1 of 6 September 2026 is recorded; see data/ai-act/review/decision-d1-application-dates.json.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 113, second paragraph","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"This provision is named in none of the three points of Article 113, third paragraph, and therefore falls under the general application date in the second paragraph: 2 August 2026. The move to 2 December 2027 and 2 August 2028 in point (c) concerns only Chapter III, Sections 1, 2 and 3, with the exception of Article 6(5). When a high-risk AI system that this provision addresses can practically exist is a second question: through Article 6(2) and Annex III that is 2 December 2027, and through Article 6(1) and Annex I 2 August 2028. That practical date sits in high_risk_regime_from and not in deadline_at. This is how decision D1 of 6 September 2026 is recorded; see data/ai-act/review/decision-d1-application-dates.json.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","source_locator":"Article 1, point (40)(b), replacing Article 113, third paragraph, point (c)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"For buyers this is the simplest supplier check there is: ask for the declaration of conformity and the registration number. No declaration means the system may not be there by 2 December 2027.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Articles 43, 47, 48 and 49","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Plan the conformity route backwards from 2 December 2027: standards selection, assessment, declaration and registration together take months, not weeks.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Articles 43, 47, 48 and 49","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}]},{"slug":"article-18-document-retention","label":"Article 18: documentation keeping","summary":"The provider of a high-risk AI system keeps the technical documentation, the quality management system documentation, the changes approved by notified bodies and the decisions they issued, and the EU declaration of conformity at the disposal of the national competent authorities for a period ending ten years after the system has been placed on the market or put into service.","legal_status":"upcoming","deadline_at":"2027-12-02T00:00:00.000Z","high_risk_regime_from":null,"human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-18-document-retention","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Paragraph 1 provides that the provider shall, for a period ending 10 years after the high-risk AI system has been placed on the market or put into service, keep at the disposal of the national competent authorities: (a) the technical documentation referred to in Article 11; (b) the documentation concerning the quality management system referred to in Article 17; (c) the documentation concerning the changes approved by notified bodies, where applicable; (d) the decisions and other documents issued by the notified bodies, where applicable; (e) the EU declaration of conformity referred to in Article 47. Paragraph 2 provides that each Member State shall determine conditions under which that documentation remains at the disposal of the national competent authorities for the period indicated for the cases when a provider or its authorised representative established on its territory goes bankrupt or ceases its activity prior to the end of that period. Paragraph 3 provides that providers that are financial institutions subject to requirements regarding their internal governance, arrangements or processes under Union financial services law shall maintain the technical documentation as part of the documentation kept under the relevant Union financial services law.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 18(1)-(3)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"The amended application dates for Chapter III, Sections 1, 2 and 3, with the exception of Article 6(5), are 2 December 2027 for the standalone Annex III route and 2 August 2028 for high-risk AI in products covered by the Annex I harmonisation legislation.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","source_locator":"Amended Article 113 application dates","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"Four things here are our reading and not the text. First the application date: Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 does not name Article 18 separately, so the fact that this duty moves with 2 December 2027 and 2 August 2028 follows from its placement in Chapter III, Section 3, and not from an explicit provision. Second the starting moment. Paragraph 1 names the placing on the market and the putting into service side by side without choosing, and for a system where both moments occur that is years of difference at the end of the period. Counting from the later moment is the only count that falls short under neither reading, and that is what we would advise a provider. The other reading is defensible: in Union product law the placing on the market is usually the moment that counts, and then the period ends earlier. Third a substantially modified version: the text is silent, and it is equally defensible that every version gets its own period as that the original one continues. Fourth the reach of paragraph 3: it names only the technical documentation, so we keep points (b) to (e) under the general regime until the contrary is settled. Paragraph 2, finally, is addressed to the Member State and not to you. The Netherlands has not yet determined those conditions, so what happens to your file on insolvency or cessation of activity currently follows from contract and not from law.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 18(1)-(3)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Designate per high-risk system one place of retention where the five components of paragraph 1 come together. Record side by side when the system was placed on the market and when it was put into service, and calculate the end date from the later of those two moments, so that you do not fall short under either reading. Set that end date as a commitment in a system that survives a change of staff, and keep the Article 19 logs separately with their own period. If you work with an authorised representative, record who holds which copy, because Article 22(3)(b) places the same availability on them as well. When procuring a high-risk system, put in the contract what happens to the documentation if the supplier stops or goes bankrupt, because paragraph 2 leaves that arrangement to national law that does not yet exist in the Netherlands.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 18(1)-(3)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}]},{"slug":"article-16-provider-obligations","label":"Article 16: the twelve duties of a provider of a high-risk AI system","summary":"Article 16 is the summary list of duties for providers: twelve points that route onward to the quality management system, the documentation, the logs, the conformity assessment, the EU declaration of conformity, the CE marking, the registration, corrective actions and accessibility requirements.","legal_status":"upcoming","deadline_at":"2027-12-02T00:00:00.000Z","high_risk_regime_from":null,"human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-16-provider-obligations","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Article 16 requires providers of high-risk AI systems to do twelve things. They must ensure their systems comply with the requirements of Chapter III, Section 2 (point (a)); indicate on the system or, where that is not possible, on its packaging or accompanying documentation, their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark and the address at which they can be contacted (point (b)); have a quality management system in place complying with Article 17 (point (c)); keep the documentation referred to in Article 18 (point (d)); keep the automatically generated logs referred to in Article 19 when under their control (point (e)); ensure the system undergoes the conformity assessment procedure referred to in Article 43 prior to being placed on the market or put into service (point (f)); draw up an EU declaration of conformity in accordance with Article 47 (point (g)); affix the CE marking in accordance with Article 48 (point (h)); comply with the registration obligations referred to in Article 49(1) (point (i)); take the necessary corrective actions and provide the information required under Article 20 (point (j)); upon a reasoned request of a national competent authority, demonstrate conformity with the requirements of Section 2 (point (k)); and ensure the system complies with the accessibility requirements of Directives (EU) 2016/2102 and (EU) 2019/882 (point (l)).","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 16(a)-(l)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"Article 16 reads like a table of contents and is therefore often planned as a single roadmap line. It is twelve separate duties with widely differing lead times: building a quality management system takes months, affixing a CE marking takes a day. The bigger trap sits in Article 25(1): anyone who puts their own brand on an existing high-risk system, substantially modifies it, or changes the intended purpose of a non-high-risk system so that it becomes high-risk counts as a provider and inherits all twelve points without ever having built anything. In the branding scenario of point (a) this applies without prejudice to contractual arrangements stipulating that the obligations are otherwise allocated, but you must have made and be able to show those arrangements in advance. In practice this catches parties that white-label AI or apply a general-purpose model to an Annex III use case.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 16(a)-(l)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"First determine whether you are a provider or whether Article 25 makes you one, then work out the twelve points as twelve separate work packages with an owner and a date. Start with points (c) and (f), because they set the lead time of the whole track.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 16(a)-(l)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}]}],"conditional":[{"slug":"article-61-informed-consent","id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-61-informed-consent","label":"Article 61: informed consent of test subjects for testing in real world conditions","status":"possibly_applies","source_locator":"Article 60(4), point (i), with Article 61(1)","addressee":"reader","human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-61-informed-consent"}],"sources":[{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","title":"EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689","publisher":"European Parliament and Council","canonical_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","source_version":"original-oj-2024-07-12","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","title":"Digital Omnibus on AI 2026/1744","publisher":"European Parliament and Council","canonical_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","source_version":"official-journal-2026-07-24","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:commission-draft-high-risk-classification-guidelines","title":"Draft guidelines on the classification of high-risk AI systems","publisher":"European Commission (AI Office)","canonical_url":"https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/draft-commission-guidelines-classification-high-risk-ai-systems","eli":null,"source_version":"draft-for-consultation-2026-05-19","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:cen-cenelec-jtc21","title":"CEN-CENELEC JTC 21: European standards under standardisation request M/613","publisher":"CEN-CENELEC JTC 21","canonical_url":"https://www.cencenelec.eu/areas-of-work/cen-cenelec-topics/artificial-intelligence/","eli":null,"source_version":"work-programme-checked-2026-08-08","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"}],"first_actions":[{"label":"Build the technical file per Annex IV","summary":"Document system description, development process, data, oversight measures, performance and risk management before market placement."},{"label":"Justify the Article 6(3) exception against each individual condition","summary":"Name which of the four Article 6(3) conditions you invoke, with facts, and separately justify why the system poses no significant risk of harm to health, safety or fundamental rights and does not materially influence the outcome of decision making."},{"label":"Complete the conformity route before market placement","summary":"Select the correct assessment procedure, draw up the EU declaration of conformity, affix the CE marking and register in the EU database."}],"evidence":[{"label":"Technical file (Annex IV)","summary":"Technical documentation kept current per system version, ready for a supervisor’s request.","url":null},{"label":"Article 49(2) registration record for the system assessed as not high-risk","summary":"Proof that the system for which you invoke the Article 6(3) exception is registered as Article 49(2) requires, with the registration number linked to the underlying assessment.","url":null},{"label":"Conformity file","summary":"The assessment, EU declaration of conformity, CE marking and registration proof, per system version.","url":null}],"guidance":[{"label":"Annex I lists legislation, not products","statement":"The draft guidelines of 19 May 2026, published for consultation and expressly non-binding, clarify that Annex I AI Act does not list individual products to be classified as high-risk, but Union harmonisation legislation regulating the safety aspects of certain products. Whether an AI system falls within the scope of Annex I therefore depends on whether the system, or the product of which it is a safety component, falls within the material scope of one of the listed legislative acts. According to the draft guidelines the list in Annex I is exhaustive; products can only be added or removed by amending the scope of the harmonisation legislation itself or by adding new harmonisation legislation to Annex I. The draft guidelines also state that through Article 6(1) the AI Act does not itself extend the scope of harmonisation legislation to new or additional products, and that the AI Act does not determine or change the risk profile of a product but builds on the sectoral risk classification. Products mentioned include machinery, toys, lifts, equipment and protective systems for potentially explosive atmospheres, radio equipment, pressure equipment, recreational craft, cableway installations, appliances burning gaseous fuels, medical devices, in vitro diagnostic medical devices, and products in the automotive and aviation sectors.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines Annex I, points (23) to (26)"},{"label":"Section A and Section B of Annex I trigger different requirement sets","statement":"The Commission draft guidelines of 19 May 2026, which are non-binding as long as the final version has not been adopted, draw a distinction that is often missed in practice. AI systems classified as high-risk under Article 6(1) in respect of products covered by the harmonisation legislation in Section A of Annex I are subject to the requirements for high-risk systems in Section 2 of Chapter III AI Act. By contrast, for AI systems classified as high-risk under Article 6(1) in respect of products covered by the harmonisation legislation in Section B of Annex I, only Article 6(1), Articles 102 to 109 and Article 112 AI Act apply. The draft guidelines refer to Article 2(2) AI Act for this. Section A contains harmonisation legislation based on the New Legislative Framework, Section B the other Union harmonisation legislation.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines Annex I, point (60), referring to Article 2(2) AI Act"},{"label":"Two cumulative conditions for high-risk under Annex I","statement":"The European Commission draft guidelines of 19 May 2026, which are expressly non-binding and not final, read Article 6(1) as two cumulative conditions. First, the AI system must be intended to be used as a safety component of a product, or the AI system must itself be a product, covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Annex I. Second, that product, or the AI system itself where it is the product, must be required to undergo a third-party conformity assessment. The draft guidelines state explicitly that not all AI systems that are components of regulated products are high-risk, but only the subset that satisfies both criteria.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines Annex I, points (27) and (21)"},{"label":"The Article 6(3) filter: four exhaustive grounds, to be read narrowly","statement":"According to the non-binding draft guidelines of 19 May 2026 on the classification of high-risk AI, Article 6(3) sets out four grounds on which a provider may exempt a system from high-risk classification: performing a narrow procedural task, improving the result of a previously completed human activity, detecting decision-making patterns or deviations from prior patterns without replacing or influencing the previously completed human assessment absent proper human review, and performing a preparatory task. Paragraph (88) of this draft states these grounds are exhaustive but alternative, that there is no separate independent risk test, and that they must be interpreted narrowly because Article 6(3) is an exception to rules that among other things protect fundamental rights. Paragraph (87) states the filter applies only to systems under Article 6(2) and not to systems under Article 6(1). Paragraph (89) states a system always remains high-risk where it performs profiling. Paragraph (90) adds that the filter does not apply where the system forms part of a complex system whose combined intended purpose or joint outputs materially influence an individual decision, including agentic AI. Paragraphs (113) to (116) of this draft describe that this is a self-assessment by the provider, that Article 6(4) requires documenting the assessment before placing on the market and registering in the Article 71 EU database, and that the assessment must contain at least the intended purpose, why the system falls under Article 6(2), which Article 6(3) condition applies and why, and why the system does not perform profiling. Paragraph (117) of these draft guidelines points to Articles 80 and 99 where an authority finds a system was misclassified as non high-risk to circumvent the rules.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines on high-risk AI classification (19 May 2026), Annex III chapter, sections 2.7, 2.7.1, 2.7.3 and 2.7.4, paragraphs (84) to (90) and (113) to (117)"}],"examples":[{"label":"Webshop builds its own consumer credit check: what belongs in the file","situation":"A non-food retail chain lets customers pay later in its webshop and decides at checkout whether a consumer qualifies. The team builds that assessment system in house, on top of a pre-trained model supplied by a vendor. The question is what has to be on record before the feature goes live, and who has to put it there.","outcome":"Article 11(1) requires the technical documentation of a high-risk AI system to be drawn up before that system is placed on the market or put into service, and to be kept up to date. It must be drawn up so as to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of that Section and to give national competent authorities and notified bodies the necessary information, in a clear and comprehensive form, to assess that compliance; it contains at a minimum the elements set out in Annex IV. Annex IV lists those elements as applicable to the AI system concerned, and asks among other things for the methods and steps performed for development, including, where relevant, recourse to pre-trained systems or tools provided by third parties and how those were used, integrated or modified by the provider, for the validation and testing procedures used, and for a description of relevant changes made by the provider to the system through its lifecycle. SMEs, including start-ups, may supply those elements in a simplified manner; where they take that route, they must use the simplified form the Commission is to establish for that purpose.","lesson":"Article 11 puts the documentation duty on the provider, so the first open question here is who that provider is. If the creditworthiness assessment of consumers counts as high-risk in your situation, then in our reading there is a strong case that a webshop assembling the system itself and putting it into service under its own name is no longer merely a deployer but ends up on the provider side, carrying the documentation duty that comes with it. Article 11 does not settle that allocation of roles, so test it against the definitions and against Article 25 before assuming the file is your vendor's problem. In our reading the hard part in retail is not the first version of the file but the pace afterwards, because a webshop often ships changes per release while the file stays frozen at the state it had when the feature went into service. So contract for the provenance, training and testing information that Annex IV expects from you when you buy the pre-trained model, and assign per release who updates the file.","source_locator":"Article 11(1) and Annex IV","provenance":"editorial"},{"label":"Security monitoring by a SaaS company: cybersecurity alone is not a safety component","situation":"A software company supplies a SaaS platform that monitors network traffic at an operator of critical digital infrastructure and reports anomalous patterns to that customer's security team. Its developers see that use at such an operator may fall under point 2 of Annex III and wonder whether their own product therefore becomes a high-risk AI system.","outcome":"The Commission draft guidelines of 19 May 2026 state that point 2 of Annex III lists AI systems intended to be used as safety components in the management and operation of, among other things, critical digital infrastructure, and that Recital 55 draws a clear distinction between a safety component and a cybersecurity component. To fall within point 2, an AI system must not be used solely for cybersecurity purposes; without a direct safety role it cannot be a safety component in critical infrastructure and therefore cannot be classified as high-risk under Article 6(2). As examples of systems used solely for cybersecurity and thus falling outside point 2, they list an AI honeypot that identifies and neutralises cyber threats in real time, technology that actively engages with potential attackers to learn new attack patterns, a system supporting the detection of unauthorised access, and a system that detects suspicious email addresses and identifies stolen data. They add that an AI system is classified as a safety component in critical infrastructure only where it is used by an entity identified as a critical entity by a Member State under the CER Directive, and that this interpretation does not require that status to be disclosed to a third-party provider. The document is a consultation version: non-binding and not yet final.","lesson":"We read this passage as a line drawn function by function rather than customer by customer: the fact that your client operates critical digital infrastructure does not by itself turn your monitoring product into a safety component. What we cannot settle from the text is where mere flagging ends and a safety function begins, because the same guidelines also count monitoring and detecting situations that may directly lead to physical harm among the safety functions. The open question is therefore whether your SaaS platform stands apart from the systems that drive physical control, or in practice becomes part of them. So record, per product function, what the system performs and what it expressly leaves to the operator, because that distinction carries your entire classification and is hard to reconstruct after the fact.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines on the classification of high-risk AI systems, 19 May 2026, annex on Annex III, paragraphs (187), (188), (190) and (191)","provenance":"official"},{"label":"Two AI systems at one grid operator, two regimes","situation":"A grid operator uses an AI model that automatically balances load and disconnects parts of the electricity network to prevent outages. The same organisation also runs a chatbot that helps customers with billing questions.","outcome":"The Commission draft guidelines of 19 May 2026 address this case when determining whether an application falls under Annex III. The document is a consultation version: non-binding and not yet final.","lesson":"Map your AI function by function rather than organisation-wide, because only systems that directly protect the physical integrity of the infrastructure are safety components, while supportive and customer-facing tools fall outside.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines on high-risk AI classification, 19 May 2026, annex on Annex III","provenance":"official"},{"label":"Candidate recommendation that automatically becomes a decision","situation":"An employer uses a system that ranks applicants and recommends a candidate to hire. In one setup a recruiter weighs that recommendation in their own assessment; in the other the outcome is applied automatically and a candidate is rejected without anyone looking at it.","outcome":"The Commission draft guidelines of 19 May 2026 address this case when determining whether an application falls under Annex III. The document is a consultation version: non-binding and not yet final.","lesson":"Assess a recruitment system on its intended purpose rather than on whether a recruiter reviews the output, because adding or removing human involvement does not change its high-risk classification.","source_locator":"Draft guidelines on high-risk AI classification, 19 May 2026, annex on Annex III","provenance":"official"}],"standards":[{"label":"prEN 18285: conformity assessment framework for AI systems","summary":"The draft European standard operationalising the conformity assessment procedure of Article 43 and Annex VII.","statement":"prEN 18285 (Conformity assessment framework) is the JTC 21 deliverable under M/613 covering the conformity assessment of high-risk AI systems under Article 43 and Annex VII of the AI Act. As at June 2026 the deliverable was at the drafting stage. It has not yet been published as an EN and is not cited in the Official Journal. Standardisation request M/613 was amended by Implementing Decision C(2025)3871 of 23 June 2025 and expires on 28 February 2027."}],"definitions":[],"answer_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/technische-documentatie","follow_up_questions":[{"question":"We build an AI product for customers. What are a provider’s duties?","url":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/ai-product-bouwen"},{"question":"What does \"reasonably foreseeable misuse\" mean in the AI Act?","url":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/redelijkerwijs-te-voorzien-misbruik"},{"question":"How do conformity assessment and CE marking work for AI?","url":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/conformiteitsbeoordeling-ce"}],"disclaimer":"General interpretation, not legal advice. The official source remains authoritative.","methodology":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/methodologie"}