EU AI Act Art.21: Cooperation with competent authorities
Article 21 of the EU AI Act binds the provider and authorities. It requires On a reasoned request by a competent authority, providers must supply that authority with all the information and documentation necessary. This page states what it requires, who it binds and the evidence to keep. Browsing is free; the conformance kit is USD 499.
Specifics
| Instrument | Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the EU AI Act), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 |
|---|---|
| Article | Art.21 |
| Binds | Provider and authorities |
| Group | High-Risk Operator Obligations |
| Evidence items | 5 |
| Linked NIST AI RMF controls | 0 |
| Linked ISO/IEC 42001 controls | 1 |
| Last updated |
Who does Art.21 bind?
The article binds the provider and authorities. The Act places each duty on a named party in the value chain, so a system can carry a provider duty and a deployer duty at once. Confirm your own position against the text; this page names the party, it does not rule on your facts.
Applies with the high-risk regime: 2 December 2027 for stand-alone systems listed in Annex III, and 2 August 2028 for AI embedded in regulated products listed in Annex I (Article 113, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744). See the full timeline.
What does Art.21 require?
On a reasoned request by a competent authority, providers must supply that authority with all the information and documentation necessary to demonstrate the conformity of the high-risk AI system with the Chapter III Section 2 requirements, in a language easily understood by the authority from among the official languages of the institutions of the Union as indicated by the Member State concerned. On a reasoned request they must also give the requesting authority access to the automatically generated logs referred to in Art.12(1), to the extent those logs are under their control. Information obtained by the authority is subject to the Art.78 confidentiality obligations.
This is our plain-language statement of the article, not the text of the regulation. Read the article: Art.21 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 on EUR-Lex).
What evidence should we keep for Art.21?
| Category | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|
| Regulatory cooperation | A named point of contact and a documented response process for reasoned authority requests |
| Regulatory cooperation | The conformity documentation set held in, or demonstrably translatable into, the official Union languages indicated by the relevant Member States |
| Regulatory cooperation | A register of requests received, what was provided and the response time |
| Regulatory cooperation | A rehearsed ability to extract and hand over the Art.12(1) logs for a named system and period |
| Regulatory cooperation | The language indication obtained from each relevant Member State, so translation is decided rather than guessed |
What does a linked control mean here?
A linked control is a NIST AI RMF or ISO/IEC 42001 control that the held rule set records as a topical match, with a confidence and a one-line reason. It does not establish that meeting one requirement satisfies the other, it is not legal advice, and it is not certification. Where no control is recorded, the page says so and does not guess. Sources: the NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001.
Which NIST AI RMF controls line up with Art.21?
No NIST AI RMF control is recorded as a match for this obligation in the held rule set. It is left unlinked and marked, never guessed.
Which ISO/IEC 42001 controls line up with Art.21?
1 control in the held rule set is recorded as a topical match for this obligation, each with its confidence and reason.
| Control | ISO/IEC 42001 | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
A.6.2.7 | AI system technical documentation Documentation demonstrating conformity supplied to competent authorities on reasoned request. | high |
What does the conformance kit add for Art.21?
The kit renders this obligation into your own role checklist with the evidence register, the linked controls and a CSV export, for USD 499 one off. See what is in the kit or open it.