Direct answer
What obligations does the provider of a GPAI model and the provider of an AI system have under Articles 40 to 42 of the AI Act?
Your question is about articles 40 to 42: standards, common specifications and presumption of conformity. That obligation applies today. Whether your system actually falls under it depends on conditions you assess yourself.
You determine this yourself
- The presumption in Article 40(1) arises only where the references of the harmonised standard have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, and it reaches only to the extent that those standards cover those requirements or obligations. The same holds for the cybersecurity certification of Article 42(2), the references of which must likewise have been published in the Official Journal.
- The justification duty of Article 41(5) arises only where a common specification has actually been established by implementing act for the requirement concerned and the provider does not apply it. Where no such specification exists, there is nothing to depart from and you demonstrate conformity by the ordinary route.
- A presumption of conformity is not a finding of compliance. The text says the system shall be presumed to be in conformity, and only in so far as the standard or the specification covers the requirements or obligations concerned. Outside that coverage the burden of proof rests fully on the provider, and a market surveillance authority can rebut the presumption where the system in fact does not meet the requirements.
- Article 41(4) makes a common specification lapse as soon as the standard exists: when reference to a harmonised standard is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the Commission repeals the implementing acts, or parts thereof, which cover the same requirements or obligations. A file leaning on a repealed specification thereby loses its basis.
First step: Record per requirement which standard or specification you rely on, and justify every departure.
Articles 40 to 42 of the AI Act covers standards, common specifications and presumption of conformity. A party applying a harmonised standard whose reference has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union is presumed to be in conformity with the requirements of Section 2 or with the obligations of Chapter V, Sections 2 and 3, to the extent that the standard covers them. As long as no such standard exists, the Commission may adopt common specifications by implementing act, and those carry the same presumption. If you do not apply such a common specification, you must duly justify that you have adopted technical solutions that are at least equivalent. Article 42 adds three narrow presumptions, and they do not all arise in the same way. Paragraph 1 gives the presumption of conformity with Article 10(4) to systems trained and tested on data reflecting the specific geographical, behavioural, contextual or functional setting within which they are intended to be used; no publication in the Official Journal is attached to it. Paragraph 2 does carry that condition: the presumption of conformity with the cybersecurity requirements of Article 15 applies to systems certified under a scheme pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/881 the references of which have been published in the Official Journal. The paragraph 3 added by Article 1, point (18), of Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 gives that same presumption to systems falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 that meet the conditions in Article 12(1) thereof. Each of these presumptions is rebuttable and reaches no further than what the standard, the specification or the certification covers. The duty sits with the provider of a GPAI model and the provider of an AI system. This obligation applies today.
This applies now
Your first actions
- Record per requirement which standard or specification you rely on, and justify every departure. Keep a coverage matrix of the requirements of Section 2 against the harmonised standards, common specifications and own documents applied, noting per row the publication status in the Official Journal, and write out the Article 41(5) justification for every common specification you do not apply.
General interpretation, not legal advice. Checked against Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 and the Digital Omnibus (EU) 2026/1744; the official source remains authoritative.
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