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Article 12: logging and traceability

Automatic recording of events over the lifetime of a high-risk AI system.

Article 12 requires high-risk AI systems to be technically capable of automatically recording events over their lifetime, for traceability, risk signalling and post-market monitoring; Article 19 and Article 26(6) govern log retention.

Praxikon tracks Article 12: logging and traceability under the EU AI Act, checked against the official source on 8 August 2026, citing the source for every statement.

Status
Upcoming
Application date
2 December 2027
Version
1.0.0
Last reviewed
8 August 2026

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.

From source to evidence

Why this obligation applies, what it asks of you, and what you show for it.

Applies

Upcoming · 2 December 2027

For whom

  • Deployer
  • Provider of an AI system

What you do

Design logging into the system

What you record

Logs and retention regime

Official source

Article 12, Article 19 and Article 26(6)

Who this is relevant to

When this applies

  • Deployer

    An organisation using an AI system under its authority, excluding personal non-professional use.

  • Provider of an AI system

    A party that develops or has an AI system developed and places it on the market under its own name.

  1. 1The system is high-risk; the provider designs the logging, provider and deployer retain the logs under their control.

What the official source establishes

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.

Our interpretation

The official source remains authoritative. This general interpretation is not legal advice.

Logging is the backbone of all other evidence: without logs an incident cannot be reconstructed and a monitoring duty cannot be fulfilled. Buyers should already test whether a system is technically capable of this.

What you can do now

Include logging capability and log access as a requirement in every AI purchase and assign the retention regime (who, where, how long) per system.

  1. 01

    Design logging into the system

    Ensure the system automatically records events relevant to risk identification and post-market monitoring.

What to retain

Logs and retention regime

Log files with a retention period appropriate to the purpose and at least six months for deployers (Articles 19 and 26).

Control and reassessment

  • Periodic log review

    Periodically verify that logging works, is complete and is retained according to the regime.

Public tools

Conditions and exceptions

  • The retention period may be limited by Union or national law, including data protection.

Official sources and locators

  • EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689

    European Parliament and Council | original-oj-2024-07-12

    Source locator: Article 12, Article 19 and Article 26(6)

    Open official source

  • Digital Omnibus on AI 2026/1744

    European Parliament and Council | official-journal-2026-07-24

    Source locator: Amended Article 113 application dates

    Open official source

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 12: logging and traceability",
praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-12-logging@1.0.0,
dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.2.0 (schema 1.5.0),
effective_at 2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z, known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z,
sha256 92daf8448d3471e5014ea66a2dc2731909f2689e5e3bdb243f49a75572002f20,
https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-12-logging
(https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-12-logging&effective_at=2026-07-27&known_at=2026-08-08&lang=en, accessed 2026-09-07)

Short form

praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-12-logging@1.0.0 (sha256 92daf844)

BibTeX

@misc{praxikon-eu-ai-act-obligation-article-12-logging-1-0-0,
  author       = {{Praxikon}},
  title        = {Article 12: logging and traceability},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.0.0},
  number       = {praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-12-logging},
  howpublished = {AI Act Change \& Evidence Graph, dataset 2.2.0, schema 1.5.0},
  note         = {effective_at 2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 92daf8448d3471e5014ea66a2dc2731909f2689e5e3bdb243f49a75572002f20},
  url          = {https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-12-logging},
  urldate      = {2026-09-07},
  language     = {en}
}

CSL JSON

[
  {
    "id": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-12-logging@1.0.0",
    "type": "dataset",
    "title": "Article 12: logging and traceability",
    "container-title": "AI Act Change & Evidence Graph",
    "publisher": "Praxikon",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "number": "praxikon:eu:ai-act:obligation:article-12-logging",
    "URL": "https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-12-logging",
    "language": "en",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          8
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          9,
          7
        ]
      ]
    },
    "note": "dataset praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph 2.2.0; schema 1.5.0; effective_at 2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z; known_at 2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z; sha256 92daf8448d3471e5014ea66a2dc2731909f2689e5e3bdb243f49a75572002f20; retrieved_from https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?id=praxikon%3Aeu%3Aai-act%3Aobligation%3Aarticle-12-logging&effective_at=2026-07-27&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

Version history

  1. v1.0.0

    27 July 2026

    Article 12: logging and traceability

    Automatic recording of events over the lifetime of a high-risk AI system.

Corrections to this obligation

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Open the correction log
Zahed Ashkara, lawyer and AI governance specialist

Expert behind this page

Zahed Ashkara

Lawyer and AI governance specialist

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