It's all about product safety

This issue is part of a series: the AI Act in bite-sized chunks.

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A lot of people think that the AIA is like the GDPR, except that it’s for AI.

It’s not. It is fundamentally different.

The GDPR was about creating a legal regime whereby individuals had rights against people processing their data.

The AIA is not about rights for individuals. It’s about product safety. It’s about making sure that AI systems on the market in the EU are safe.

The EU has an existing legal framework covering product safety. It covers things like lifts, medical devices, toys, electrical devices, and so on. Each of those devices can only be put in the market in the EU if it has a CE mark, and it can only get a CE mark it confirms with the product safety rules that govern its product type.

And it’s a criminal offence in most member states to put on the market, or try to sell, a device or piece of equipment that doesn’t have the right CE mark.

The AIA is part of that product safety regime, and that’s where a lot of the terminology comes from.

“Essential Requirements” are the essential requirements of the relevant regulation. If your product does not comply with the essential requirements, it cannot be traded in the EU.

“Conformity Assessment” is the process whereby the relevant product is confirmed as complying with the relevant regulation. For some products you can self-certify, for others you need to get third party notification (see Notified Body, further down).

“Harmonised Standards” are technical standards.? If your product conforms to the harmonised standards, then you get an automatic presumption that your product conforms to the Essential Requirements of the relevant legislation.

“Notified Body”. Some regulations require an authorised third-party to carry out all or part of the conformity assessment: that’s a Notified Body. You can get a list of the existing Notified Bodies from the NANDO website.

“Notifying Authorities” are the member state bodies that authorise and regulate Notified Bodies.

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If you want to find out more about the product safety regime in the EU (which is useful if you want to get a better grip on how the AIA is going to work), take a look at the Blue Guide. It’s a free explanation of how product safety regulation works in the EU. It’s 156 pages long, but the first two chapters will give you an overview.

More on this and related elements in forthcoming issues of AI Legal.

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