{"meta":{"dataset_id":"praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph","dataset_version":"2.2.0","schema_version":"1.5.0","lang":"en","effective_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","known_at":"2026-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","count":1,"filters":{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-78-confidentiality","type":"obligation","role":null,"duty_holder":null,"topic":null},"identifiers":{"canonical_namespace":"praxikon","canonical_form":"praxikon:<jurisdiction>:<regulation>:<type>:<slug>","legacy_namespace":"raip","legacy_resolution":"permanent","resolved":{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-78-confidentiality","role":null,"duty_holder":null}}},"data":[{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-78-confidentiality","legacy_id":"raip:obligation:article-78-confidentiality","type":"obligation","slug":"article-78-confidentiality","version":"1.0.0","effective_at":"2025-08-02T00:00:00.000Z","known_at":"2026-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","valid_until":null,"payload_hash_sha256":"fe3d73fa9cc874bc4fc12b0f664ff4e60e68de553dfc7bf0c64c38bc1350c8e3","label":"Article 78: confidentiality of what you submit to an authority","summary":"The Commission, the market surveillance authorities, the notified bodies and everyone involved in the application of the Regulation respect the confidentiality of what they obtain in carrying out their tasks, and in doing so expressly protect the intellectual property rights, the confidential business information and the trade secrets of a natural or legal person, including source code. They may request only data that is strictly necessary, must secure it, and must delete it as soon as it is no longer needed. For you this is therefore not a duty but a protection, with a limit: the exception in Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2016/943 remains, and the provision leaves the exchange of information and the dissemination of warnings between authorities untouched.","topics":["enforcement","governance"],"actor_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:deployer","praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:gpai-model-provider","praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:provider"],"duty_holder_ids":[],"affected_actor_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:deployer","praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:gpai-model-provider","praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:provider"],"oversight_actor_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:market-surveillance-authority"],"evidence_owner_ids":[],"duty_holder_uncertainty_status":"out_of_scope","interpretation_status":null,"interpretation_note":null,"obligation_ids":[],"change_ids":[],"action_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:action:mark-confidential-material-on-submission"],"evidence_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:evidence:article-78-submission-register"],"control_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:control:article-78-disclosure-review"],"template_ids":["praxikon:eu:ai-act:template:article-78-legal-text"],"conditions":[{"id":"article-78-scope","operator":"all","description":"Applies to all information and data obtained by the Commission, the market surveillance authorities, the notified bodies and any other natural or legal person involved in the application of this Regulation in carrying out their tasks and activities. The protection operates in accordance with Union or national law and not on its own."},{"id":"article-78-strict-necessity","operator":"all","description":"Paragraph 2 limits what an authority may request: only data that is strictly necessary for the assessment of the risk posed by AI systems and for the exercise of its powers in accordance with this Regulation and with Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. Two follow-on duties attach to that: adequate and effective cybersecurity measures, and deletion as soon as the data is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained."}],"exceptions":[{"id":"article-78-trade-secrets-directive-carve-out","operator":"not","description":"The protection of intellectual property, confidential business information and trade secrets, including source code, applies except in the cases referred to in Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2016/943. Point (a) of paragraph 1 says so in as many words."},{"id":"article-78-information-exchange-unaffected","operator":"not","description":"Paragraph 4 provides that paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 do not affect the rights or obligations of the Commission, the Member States and their relevant authorities, or those of notified bodies, with regard to the exchange of information and the dissemination of warnings, including in the context of cross-border cooperation, nor the obligations of the parties concerned to provide information under criminal law of the Member States. Confidentiality under this article is therefore not a duty of silence between authorities."}],"statements":[{"kind":"official_fact","text":"Paragraph 1 provides that the Commission, market surveillance authorities and notified bodies and any other natural or legal person involved in the application of this Regulation shall, in accordance with Union or national law, respect the confidentiality of information and data obtained in carrying out their tasks and activities in such a manner as to protect, in particular: (a) the intellectual property rights and confidential business information or trade secrets of a natural or legal person, including source code, except in the cases referred to in Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2016/943; (b) the effective implementation of this Regulation, in particular for the purposes of inspections, investigations or audits; (c) public and national security interests; (d) the conduct of criminal or administrative proceedings; (e) information classified pursuant to Union or national law. Paragraph 2 provides that the authorities involved in the application of this Regulation pursuant to paragraph 1 shall request only data that is strictly necessary for the assessment of the risk posed by AI systems and for the exercise of their powers in accordance with this Regulation and with Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, that they shall put in place adequate and effective cybersecurity measures to protect the security and confidentiality of the information and data obtained, and that they shall delete the data collected as soon as it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, in accordance with applicable Union or national law.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 78(1)-(5)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"source_checked"}},{"kind":"official_fact","text":"Paragraph 3 provides that, without prejudice to paragraphs 1 and 2, information exchanged on a confidential basis between the national competent authorities or between national competent authorities and the Commission shall not be disclosed without prior consultation of the originating national competent authority and the deployer when high-risk AI systems referred to in point 1, 6 or 7 of Annex III are used by law enforcement, border control, immigration or asylum authorities and when such disclosure would jeopardise public and national security interests. This exchange of information shall not cover sensitive operational data in relation to the activities of law enforcement, border control, immigration or asylum authorities. The second subparagraph of paragraph 3 provides that when the law enforcement, immigration or asylum authorities are providers of high-risk AI systems referred to in point 1, 6 or 7 of Annex III, the technical documentation referred to in Annex IV shall remain within the premises of those authorities, that those authorities shall ensure that the market surveillance authorities referred to in Article 74(8) and (9), as applicable, can, upon request, immediately access the documentation or obtain a copy thereof, and that only staff of the market surveillance authority holding the appropriate level of security clearance shall be allowed to access that documentation or any copy thereof.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 78(1)-(5)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"source_checked"}},{"kind":"official_fact","text":"Paragraph 4 provides that paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not affect the rights or obligations of the Commission, Member States and their relevant authorities, as well as those of notified bodies, with regard to the exchange of information and the dissemination of warnings, including in the context of cross-border cooperation, nor shall they affect the obligations of the parties concerned to provide information under criminal law of the Member States. Paragraph 5 provides that the Commission and Member States may exchange, where necessary and in accordance with relevant provisions of international and trade agreements, confidential information with regulatory authorities of third countries with which they have concluded bilateral or multilateral confidentiality arrangements guaranteeing an adequate level of confidentiality.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 78(1)-(5)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"source_checked"}},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","text":"Read this article as the answer to the question your supplier asks and that you ask yourself as soon as you have to hand something over. The protection is real and it names source code expressly, which is unusually explicit in Union law. But it is a duty of the recipient and not a right of refusal for the party submitting. Article 21(1) requires the provider, upon a reasoned request, to give all the information and documentation necessary to demonstrate conformity; Article 78 does not say you may withhold anything, it says what the recipient must do afterwards. Anyone who inverts that and refuses on grounds of confidentiality is legally empty-handed. Two limits on top, because they get missed in practice. The first is Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2016/943: that exception sits verbatim in point (a) and it covers, among other things, exercising the right to freedom of expression and information and revealing misconduct in the general public interest. The second is paragraph 4: between authorities, and when disseminating warnings, confidentiality does not operate as a lock. Your file can therefore reach another Member State without that being a breach. What does work in your favour is paragraph 2. That is a strict necessity test on the request itself, with a retention limit attached: deletion as soon as the data is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained. That is a question you can put to an authority and whose answer you can record.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 78(1)-(5)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"editorial"}},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","text":"There is an asymmetry in this article that is rarely noticed. Paragraph 3 gives one set of parties a heavy extra protection: where a high-risk system from point 1, 6 or 7 of Annex III is used by a law enforcement, border control, immigration or asylum authority, information exchanged on a confidential basis may not be disclosed without prior consultation of the originating authority and the deployer, and the technical documentation stays physically within the premises of that authority where it is itself the provider. For a commercial provider in exactly the same Annex III areas that arrangement does not apply. The practical conclusion is not that one is better protected than the other, but that you need to know which side you are on: if you supply such an authority, your documentation travels a different path from your own archive, and you settle that path in the contract rather than after the fact. Note also what this article does not govern. It says nothing about the public availability of the EU database in Article 71, whose public part is meant to be found, and nothing about what a deployer must explain to an affected person under Article 86. Confidentiality towards a regulator and transparency towards a citizen are two separate tracks in this Regulation, and it is a mistake to try to close one with the other.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 21(1); Article 74(8) and (9); 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"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"editorial"}},{"kind":"recommended_action","text":"Mark on every submission which part you regard as confidential business information, trade secret or source code, and why, and keep a register of what you handed to whom on what date. That register is your only starting point if you later want to know whether something left the circle. When asked for additional data, ask about the necessity within the meaning of paragraph 2 and about the purpose for which the data is obtained, and record the answer; that is not a refusal and it is the only way to be able to invoke the retention limit of paragraph 2 later. Put in supplier contracts who receives a request from an authority, who decides what is handed over, and that the other party is informed within an agreed period. If you supply a law enforcement, border control, immigration or asylum authority, record where the technical documentation stays physically and who has access to it. Finally, do not assume that confidentiality releases you from Article 21: the duty to deliver on request stands apart from the recipient’s duty to handle what is delivered with care.","citations":[{"source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 21(1); Article 74(8) and (9); 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"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"editorial"}}],"legal_status":"applicable","deadline_at":null,"timing_basis":null,"high_risk_regime_from":null,"links":[{"relation":"public_page","href":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-78-confidentiality","label":"Open the human explanation"},{"relation":"official_source","href":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","label":"Article 78 on EUR-Lex"},{"relation":"public_page","href":"/en/ai-act/artikel/78","label":"Read Article 78 in the AI Act Explorer"}],"review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"source_checked"},"source_review":{"level":"source_verified","last_checked_at":"2026-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","next_review_due_at":"2027-03-05T00:00:00.000Z","date_basis":"first_publication"}}],"included":{"sources":[{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","title":{"nl":"EU AI-verordening 2024/1689","en":"EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689"},"publisher":{"nl":"Europees Parlement en Raad","en":"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","fingerprint_basis":"canonical_url|source_version|verified_at","source_record_hash_sha256":"bf0fca3e1fb47ce58924f6e736d572bb5db3812c3276c0b2891fbf328c42a5c6","review":{"reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","reviewer":"Praxikon release validation","review_method":"source_link_and_rule_validation","legal_status":"source_checked"},"legacy_id":"raip:source:reg-eu-2024-1689"}]},"links":{"self":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-78-confidentiality&lang=en","alternate":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-78-confidentiality&lang=en&format=jsonld","licence":"https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms"}}