DefinitionIn forcev1.0.0

Serious incident

Four categories of consequence, one of which is an infringement of fundamental rights protection. No physical harm is needed before a notification duty arises.

The official source remains authoritative. This is general information about obligations and not legal advice. See this object on the map

Address and citation

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Identifier: praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident
Payload hash (sha256): b2c183f2dea17656eef982882a75bbebec3dec2519ac961d86b33fdd86801fbf

Citation line

Praxikon, "Serious incident", praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident@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 2026-08-14T00:00:00.000Z, sha256 b2c183f2dea17656eef982882a75bbebec3dec2519ac961d86b33fdd86801fbf

Version: 1.0.0
Legal time (effective_at): 8 August 2026
Knowledge time (known_at): 8 August 2026
Closed on: Not closed
Application date: 1 August 2024
Topics: definitions

Review status: Placed against the official source (8 August 2026). Next check due by 4 February 2027. The check date is the knowledge date of this version; no later recheck has been recorded.

What this object links to

Every relation appears below as a path: from the source with its locator, through the conditions and exceptions of the object carrying the relation, to the consequence. A locator belongs to a statement in the data and not to a relation, so the source is the source anchor of the carrying object.

What this object is about

2 of 2 shown

The object is about this role. Undifferentiated: it does not follow that the duty rests on this role.

Source
Official fact on this object, with its locator.
- EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689
  Locator: Article 3(49)
  praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689
  Open official source
Via
No condition or exception recorded on this object.
Consequence
- ActorDeployer
  praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:deployer
- ActorProvider of an AI system
  praxikon:eu:ai-act:actor:provider

What this object states

Official fact

Attributable to a named primary source, with a locator. Where they differ, the official source prevails.

Article 3(49) defines a serious incident as an incident or malfunctioning of an AI system that directly or indirectly leads to: (a) the death of a person or serious harm to a person's health, (b) a serious and irreversible disruption of the management or operation of critical infrastructure, (c) the infringement of obligations under Union law intended to protect fundamental rights, or (d) serious harm to property or the environment.
- Locator: Article 3(49)praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689Open official source

Our interpretation

Our own reading. It can change without the law changing, and it is not the position of a supervisory authority.

Point (c) is the provision organisations miss most often. An infringement of Union law protecting fundamental rights counts as a serious incident, even with no one physically injured. Systematic discrimination in a candidate screening system, in credit scoring or in the allocation of benefits can therefore be notifiable. "Indirectly" counts too: what matters is not only the direct output but the consequence further down the process. Providers of high-risk systems report to the market surveillance authority under Article 73, on short deadlines: in principle within 15 days of becoming aware, 2 days for a widespread infringement or serious disruption of critical infrastructure and 10 days in the event of death. That duty bites from the high-risk dates, Annex III on 2 December 2027 and Annex I on 2 August 2028, but incident logging should start now.
- Locator: Article 3(49)praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689Open official source

Recommended step

A practical step we consider appropriate. Not an obligation following from the Regulation.

Set up an incident register now that captures the four categories of point 49 separately, with a timestamp at the moment of awareness. Run one drill to confirm you can file a complete notification within two days; that is the tightest deadline and an ad hoc process will not meet it.
- Locator: Article 3(49)praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689Open official source

When this applies

No condition recorded on this object.

When this does not apply

No exception recorded on this object.

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, "Serious incident",
praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident@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 b2c183f2dea17656eef982882a75bbebec3dec2519ac961d86b33fdd86801fbf,
https://www.praxikon.com/en/verkenner/definition/definitie-ernstig-incident
(https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/entities?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Adefinition%3Adefinitie-ernstig-incident&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en, accessed 2026-08-23)

Short form

praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident@1.0.0 (sha256 b2c183f2)

BibTeX

@misc{praxikon-eu-ai-act-definition-definitie-ernstig-incident-1-0-0,
  author       = {{Praxikon}},
  title        = {Serious incident},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.0.0},
  number       = {praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident},
  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 b2c183f2dea17656eef982882a75bbebec3dec2519ac961d86b33fdd86801fbf},
  url          = {https://www.praxikon.com/en/verkenner/definition/definitie-ernstig-incident},
  urldate      = {2026-08-23},
  language     = {en}
}

CSL JSON

[
  {
    "id": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident@1.0.0",
    "type": "dataset",
    "title": "Serious incident",
    "container-title": "AI Act Change & Evidence Graph",
    "publisher": "Praxikon",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "number": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:definition:definitie-ernstig-incident",
    "URL": "https://www.praxikon.com/en/verkenner/definition/definitie-ernstig-incident",
    "language": "en",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          8
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          23
        ]
      ]
    },
    "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 b2c183f2dea17656eef982882a75bbebec3dec2519ac961d86b33fdd86801fbf; retrieved_from https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/entities?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Adefinition%3Adefinitie-ernstig-incident&effective_at=2026-08-08&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en; licence https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms"
  }
]

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