§ EU AI Act · Article 21
AI Act Article 21: Obligations, Deadlines & Penalties
At a glance
Article 21 of the AI Act imposes 3 obligations on competent authority, provider. At least one obligation carries an explicit compliance deadline.
§ Obligations
All obligations under Article 21
Obligation 1
Providers of high-risk AI systems must provide all necessary information and documentation to demonstrate conformity with Section 2 requirements upon a reasoned request by a competent authority, in an easily understood official language.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 21, Article 21
- Obligated entity
-
provider
- Sector scope
- high-risk AI systems
- Action required
-
provide
- Deadline
-
upon a reasoned request
- Penalty
-
—
Obligation 2
Providers must give competent authorities access to automatically generated logs of the high-risk AI system, to the extent such logs are under their control, upon a reasoned request.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 21, Article 21
- Obligated entity
-
provider
- Sector scope
- high-risk AI systems
- Action required
-
give access
- Deadline
-
upon a reasoned request
- Penalty
-
—
Obligation 3
Competent authorities must treat any information obtained pursuant to this Article in accordance with the confidentiality obligations set out in Article 78.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 21, Article 21
- Obligated entity
-
competent authority
- Action required
-
treat confidentially
- Deadline
-
—
- Penalty
-
—
§ Deadlines
EU AI Act compliance deadlines
-
2025-02-02
Article 4 AI literacy
in_force
-
2025-02-02
Article 5 prohibitions (unacceptable risk)
in_force
-
2025-08-02
GPAI model obligations (Articles 51 to 56)
in_force
-
2026-08-02
Article 50(2) machine-readable marking (watermarking) of AI-generated content
provisionally_amended
-
2026-08-02
Article 50 transparency obligations OTHER than the 50(2) marking grace (for example disclosure that a user is interacting with an AI system)
scheduled
-
2026-08-02
Annex III stand-alone high-risk obligations
provisionally_amended
-
2026-08-02
National AI regulatory sandboxes (establishment deadline)
provisionally_amended
-
2026-12-02
NEW Article 5 prohibition: AI generation of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) and CSAM
provisionally_amended
-
2027-08-02
Annex I embedded (regulated-product) high-risk obligations
provisionally_amended
§ Frequently asked
Questions about Article 21
Who must comply with Article 21 of the AI Act?
+
competent authority, provider.
What does Article 21 of the AI Act require?
+
provide give access treat confidentially
What is the compliance deadline for AI Act Article 21?
+
upon a reasoned request