Comparison

Article 57 versus Article 60: testing in a sandbox or in the real world

Article 57 is about the regulatory sandbox: an environment supervised by an authority in which a system can be developed and tested before it reaches the market. Article 60 is about testing outside it, in real-world conditions, and sets its own conditions for that, including a testing plan, authorisation from the authority and informed consent from participants.

The official source remains authoritative. This is general interpretation and not legal advice about your situation.

The fields side by side

Every row comes from the objects themselves. Where a field is empty, it says so; we do not fill in an assumption where the source is silent.

Article 57 versus Article 60: testing in a sandbox or in the real world
Field	Article 57, sandbox	Article 60, real-world test
Status	Applicable	Applicable
Applies from	2 August 2026	2 August 2026
Who carries the duty	Outside the scope of this object	Provider of an AI system
Who is affected	Deployer, Provider of an AI system, Body governed by public law	Deployer
Who supervises	Not recorded	Market surveillance authority
When this applies	Relevant where you are a provider or prospective provider of an innovative AI system that you want to develop, train, test or validate before placing it on the market or putting it into service, and you want up-front certainty about classification or about how you meet the requirements of this Regulation.	Applies where you are a provider or prospective provider of an Annex III high-risk AI system and you want to test it in real world conditions outside an AI regulatory sandbox, before placing it on the market or putting it into service. If you are established outside the Union, Article 60(4), point (d), requires you to appoint a legal representative established in the Union; that is a different figure from the authorised representative under Article 22.
Exceptions	Participation is voluntary. Article 57 places the duty on the Member State to provide a sandbox, not on you to join one. A Member State may also fulfil that duty by participating in an existing sandbox with equivalent national coverage. Article 57(4) leaves other regulatory sandboxes established under Union or national law unaffected.	Article 60(1), third subparagraph, leaves Union and national law on real-world testing of high-risk systems related to products under the Annex I harmonisation legislation unaffected. Article 60(4), point (i), contains a law enforcement carve-out: where seeking informed consent would prevent the system from being tested, testing may proceed without consent, provided the testing and its outcome have no negative effect on the subjects and their personal data are deleted after the test. For the systems referred to in Annex III, points 1, 6 and 7, in law enforcement, migration, asylum and border control, registration runs through the secure non-public section of the EU database under Article 49(4), point (d). For the systems referred to in Annex III, point 2, Article 49(5) requires registration at national level.
First actions	Apply to a sandbox and agree the sandbox plan	Submit the testing plan, obtain approval and register the test
Evidence that belongs with it	Written proof of participation and the exit report	Dated and documented informed consent of test subjects
Control	Supervision inside the sandbox and the conditional fine shield	Oversight during the test, incident reporting and recall procedure
Version and review status	v1.0.0, placed against the official source	v1.0.0, placed against the official source

Status

Article 57, sandbox: Applicable
Article 60, real-world test: Applicable

Applies from

Article 57, sandbox: 2 August 2026
Article 60, real-world test: 2 August 2026

Who carries the duty

Article 57, sandbox: Outside the scope of this object
Article 60, real-world test: Provider of an AI system

Who is affected

Article 57, sandbox: Deployer, Provider of an AI system, Body governed by public law
Article 60, real-world test: Deployer

Who supervises

Article 57, sandbox: Not recorded
Article 60, real-world test: Market surveillance authority

When this applies

Article 57, sandbox: Relevant where you are a provider or prospective provider of an innovative AI system that you want to develop, train, test or validate before placing it on the market or putting it into service, and you want up-front certainty about classification or about how you meet the requirements of this Regulation.
Article 60, real-world test: Applies where you are a provider or prospective provider of an Annex III high-risk AI system and you want to test it in real world conditions outside an AI regulatory sandbox, before placing it on the market or putting it into service. If you are established outside the Union, Article 60(4), point (d), requires you to appoint a legal representative established in the Union; that is a different figure from the authorised representative under Article 22.

Exceptions

Article 57, sandbox: Participation is voluntary. Article 57 places the duty on the Member State to provide a sandbox, not on you to join one. A Member State may also fulfil that duty by participating in an existing sandbox with equivalent national coverage. Article 57(4) leaves other regulatory sandboxes established under Union or national law unaffected.
Article 60, real-world test: Article 60(1), third subparagraph, leaves Union and national law on real-world testing of high-risk systems related to products under the Annex I harmonisation legislation unaffected. Article 60(4), point (i), contains a law enforcement carve-out: where seeking informed consent would prevent the system from being tested, testing may proceed without consent, provided the testing and its outcome have no negative effect on the subjects and their personal data are deleted after the test. For the systems referred to in Annex III, points 1, 6 and 7, in law enforcement, migration, asylum and border control, registration runs through the secure non-public section of the EU database under Article 49(4), point (d). For the systems referred to in Annex III, point 2, Article 49(5) requires registration at national level.

First actions

Article 57, sandbox: Apply to a sandbox and agree the sandbox plan
Article 60, real-world test: Submit the testing plan, obtain approval and register the test

Evidence that belongs with it

Article 57, sandbox: Written proof of participation and the exit report
Article 60, real-world test: Dated and documented informed consent of test subjects

Control

Article 57, sandbox: Supervision inside the sandbox and the conditional fine shield
Article 60, real-world test: Oversight during the test, incident reporting and recall procedure

Version and review status

Article 57, sandbox: v1.0.0, placed against the official source
Article 60, real-world test: v1.0.0, placed against the official source

Article 57: AI regulatory sandboxes Article 60: testing in real world conditions outside a sandbox

Official sources and locators

Per side, the provisions the statements above rest on.

Article 57, sandbox

EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689
Locator: Article 57(1)-(17), Article 58, Article 113; as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744
Open official source

Article 60, real-world test

EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689
Locator: Article 60(1)-(4), Article 60(9), Article 113
Open official source

Referring to these two objects

Each side has its own stable identifier, version and hash. Take them separately; you cite a comparison by citing the two objects.

Referring to this object

Citation block

Copy this reference into your advice, article or file. The identifier, the version and the hash keep the statement findable later, even once the dataset has moved on.

Reference

Praxikon, "Article 57: AI regulatory sandboxes",
praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-57-regulatory-sandboxes@1.0.0,
dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.1.0 (schema 1.4.0),
effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z, known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z,
sha256 2706a2688e0c2d602f40bf5b061f6dba9310214d79ef9a74b47600c72bf69226,
https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-57-regulatory-sandboxes
(https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-57-regulatory-sandboxes&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en, accessed 2026-08-24)

Short form

praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-57-regulatory-sandboxes@1.0.0 (sha256 2706a268)

BibTeX

@misc{praxikon-eu-ai-act-obligation-article-57-regulatory-sandboxes-1-0-0,
  author       = {{Praxikon}},
  title        = {Article 57: AI regulatory sandboxes},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.0.0},
  number       = {praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-57-regulatory-sandboxes},
  howpublished = {AI Act Change \& Evidence Graph, dataset 2.1.0, schema 1.4.0},
  note         = {effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 2706a2688e0c2d602f40bf5b061f6dba9310214d79ef9a74b47600c72bf69226},
  url          = {https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-57-regulatory-sandboxes},
  urldate      = {2026-08-24},
  language     = {en}
}

CSL JSON

[
  {
    "id": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-57-regulatory-sandboxes@1.0.0",
    "type": "dataset",
    "title": "Article 57: AI regulatory sandboxes",
    "container-title": "AI Act Change & Evidence Graph",
    "publisher": "Praxikon",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "number": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-57-regulatory-sandboxes",
    "URL": "https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-57-regulatory-sandboxes",
    "language": "en",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          8
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          24
        ]
      ]
    },
    "note": "dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.1.0; schema 1.4.0; effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 2706a2688e0c2d602f40bf5b061f6dba9310214d79ef9a74b47600c72bf69226; retrieved_from https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-57-regulatory-sandboxes&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en; licence https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms"
  }
]

How to verify a reference later is set out in the methodology. Terms

Referring to this object

Citation block

Copy this reference into your advice, article or file. The identifier, the version and the hash keep the statement findable later, even once the dataset has moved on.

Reference

Praxikon, "Article 60: testing in real world conditions outside a sandbox",
praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-60-real-world-testing@1.0.0,
dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.1.0 (schema 1.4.0),
effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z, known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z,
sha256 6306b9a0abce6764b0c4ebf4968aacf23cd2483dba7b750f1cb18716886ea751,
https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-60-real-world-testing
(https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-60-real-world-testing&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en, accessed 2026-08-24)

Short form

praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-60-real-world-testing@1.0.0 (sha256 6306b9a0)

BibTeX

@misc{praxikon-eu-ai-act-obligation-article-60-real-world-testing-1-0-0,
  author       = {{Praxikon}},
  title        = {Article 60: testing in real world conditions outside a sandbox},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.0.0},
  number       = {praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-60-real-world-testing},
  howpublished = {AI Act Change \& Evidence Graph, dataset 2.1.0, schema 1.4.0},
  note         = {effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 6306b9a0abce6764b0c4ebf4968aacf23cd2483dba7b750f1cb18716886ea751},
  url          = {https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-60-real-world-testing},
  urldate      = {2026-08-24},
  language     = {en}
}

CSL JSON

[
  {
    "id": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-60-real-world-testing@1.0.0",
    "type": "dataset",
    "title": "Article 60: testing in real world conditions outside a sandbox",
    "container-title": "AI Act Change & Evidence Graph",
    "publisher": "Praxikon",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "number": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-60-real-world-testing",
    "URL": "https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-60-real-world-testing",
    "language": "en",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          8
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          24
        ]
      ]
    },
    "note": "dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.1.0; schema 1.4.0; effective_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 6306b9a0abce6764b0c4ebf4968aacf23cd2483dba7b750f1cb18716886ea751; retrieved_from https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-60-real-world-testing&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en; licence https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms"
  }
]

How to verify a reference later is set out in the methodology. Terms

Execution

Put the route to market in order

The continuous arrangement and the assessment moment call for different documents, in a different order, with different owners. Praxikon does not carry that out; Embed AI lays out that order and names what has to be finished at each step.

See the Embed AI approach

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The fields side by side

Official sources and locators

Article 57, sandbox

Article 60, real-world test

Referring to these two objects

Citation block

Citation block

Put the route to market in order

Other comparisons